Abramoff's Specter Rises Again, Troubling GOP Hopeful

This is not the first time the odor from the Abramoff affair has wafted down to local government. Former Montgomery County executive Douglas M. Duncan (D) had some explaining to do about $20,000 in donations to his 2006 gubernatorial campaign from Guam- and Saipan-based clients of Abramoff -- as the county was considering leasing a school to a Jewish organization Abramoff supported. Duncan said he returned the money.

You Could Be Living On Long Island

Fairfax County residents are a pretty happy bunch, at least when it comes to their government.

That's the message Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly has been imparting in recent public appearances, based on a new survey comparing public attitudes toward local government on Long Island, N.Y.'s Nassau and Suffolk counties and Northern Virginia's Fairfax and Loudoun counties.

Nearly nine in 10 Fairfax and Loudoun residents rate local government services as good or excellent, compared with 75 percent on Long Island. This comes from a survey of 600 Virginians that was conducted by Stony Brook University for the Long Island Index, an organization that compiles information about the region.

Researchers sought out what they regarded as "peer" counties to determine whether a more centralized local government structure provides a higher degree of citizen satisfaction. According to the index, Long Island has 239 jurisdictions; Fairfax and Loudoun have 17.

Fairfax and Loudoun residents regard police, schools and parks as better managed by a significant margin, and feel overall that they get better value for their property taxes. They also tend to be optimistic about the future, researchers found.

"I think the county is in very good shape," Connolly said at a March 24 town meeting in Springfield. "We were superior to Long Island by a mile."

But Connolly's sunny assessment was not necessarily what town hall attendees wanted to hear. They had come to the Franconia Government Center with a long list of grievances about zoning code enforcement and traffic. In a recording of the meeting, a scattering of derisive laughter and skeptical murmurs could be heard from the crowd as Connolly spoke.

A closer look at the survey reveals a few less flattering findings for Northern Virginia officials. Only 51 percent of Fairfax and Loudoun respondents said they felt they could count on the county government to do what was right all or most of the time. Forty-six percent said "some of the time" or "almost never." Forty-five percent said it would be "very easy" or "somewhat easy" to get the attention of a county official in case of a problem.

One thing Long Islanders and Northern Virginians had in common: More than half said they were likely to move in the next five years. Housing costs were the primary factor on Long Island. In Fairfax and Loudoun, housing, crowding and lack of job prospects figure to send people packing.