Fairfax County voters appeared ready to give their current Board of Supervisors another four years as early returns pointed toward victory for all incumbents.
In the tightest and most closely watched battle, Supervisor John C. Cook — a Republican who had won the swing Braddock District in a 2009 special election after more than 20 years of Democratic control — eked out a victory over Democratic challenger Janet S. Oleszek with all precincts counted, according to late unofficial results.
Va. election 2011
With three of 10 supervisors running unopposed and others lining up against nominal opposition, the supervisors’ campaign this year was overshadowed by intense interest in Fairfax School Board races and the statewide battle for control of the Virginia Senate. Yet the election still represented a referendum of sorts on the direction of Virginia’s biggest jurisdiction and one of the wealthiest suburbs in the country.
“I consider this an affirmation that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has been a responsible steward,” said Board Chairman Sharon S. Bulova (D) who appeared headed toward a commanding victory with 80 percent of the vote tallied. “I’m also pleased that my colleagues were reelected by such comfortable margins.”
Bulova said her first order of business would be to hold a retreat among the supervisors with at least one day devoted to working with the county’s new school board.
Bulova and fellow Democrats in the 7-to-3 majority had urged voters to reelect a team that guided the county through the worst recession in generations with limited cuts in services and relatively steady rates of taxation. They ran on excellent schools and a business-friendly environment that has lured several Fortune 500 companies.
Michael J. “Spike” Williams, Bulova’s challenger for the chairmanship, led the GOP in arguing that the board — under Bulova and her predecessor, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) — enacted policies that have squeezed middle-class taxpayers.
“My big overarching message is that we need a new form of leadership in Fairfax County,” Williams said Tuesday before the polls closed. Williams and other Republicans said that besides doubling real estate taxes from 2000 to 2007, the Democratic-led board has devoted too many resources to nonessential programs — such as affordable housing — and building a bureaucracy at taxpayers’ expense.
“My expectation is they would see their tax bill go down” with new leaders, Williams said.
But Bulova noted that the true effective tax on many homes — including Williams’s in Herndon — had fallen during her tenure. Tax records show that Williams’s tax dropped from $6,918 in 2005 to $5,484 last year.
At Lake Braddock High School, voters from two precincts — Signal Hill and Lake Braddock — voted in style, accompanied by the aroma of fresh coffee wafting from a refreshment stand and classical music from a high school string quartet.
Bob Hicks, Republican precinct captain for Signal Hill and Lake Braddock, said turnout was reasonably strong in the swing district because of the closely watched matchup between Cook and Oleszek.
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