Gainesville Challenger Says He's for Consensus

Immigration at Issue in Supervisor's Race

A Democratic challenger charged that District Supervisor John T. Stirrup Jr. (Gainesville-R) has a "divisive and polarizing approach" to governing.

Corey R. Riley, who announced his intention Tuesday to run for the Gainesville District seat on the Board of County Supervisors, said he wanted to bring a "creative and exciting" approach to government in Prince William County, using "teamwork and consensus" and getting away from "the divisive and polarizing approach to government that our current Gainesville supervisor is putting forth."

Riley said he questioned the timing and methods behind Stirrup's July resolution that aims to withhold county services from illegal immigrants and enforce residency status.

"The way the resolution came out, where it was crafted by individual groups . . . [and] dropped on the county board of supervisors in our community with no input from our police force, county budget officer or attorney's office -- it makes me question the motivation behind this," said Riley, who wondered whether there was a need for this in the first 3 1/2 years of Stirrup's term. "The results of this resolution have already caused a fracture within our community."

As executive director of the nonprofit Greater Prince William Community Health Center, Riley said he has seen a drop in patients since the resolution was approved.

"We had some patients that we knew weren't illegal citizens not feeling comfortable coming into the health center for care," he said.

Stirrup, the one-term incumbent, said the board has tried "several approaches over the years" to address problems with "overcrowding, which is the root of many of these issues," such as property code enforcement and zoning sweeps.

"The problem has continued to grow, and I think the board recognizes that we needed to take a step, we needed to go beyond the traditional channels of property code enforcement," said Stirrup, who noted that the resolution was passed unanimously.

As for how the resolution came about, Stirrup said he meets on a weekly basis with many community groups. One group, Help Save Manassas, which Stirrup said has been characterized as a special interest group, is made up of his constituents. He said they came forward with concerns about their community and its safety.

"I'm very comfortable with the way we went about developing the resolution and the discourse and debate we've had on this," he said.

Riley acknowledged a problem with illegal immigration but said he would have sat down with the community organizations and county officials "that deal with this problem every day" to learn more about the issue before formulating a resolution.

In addition, Riley does not agree with Stirrup's hard-line voting record against the county budget. He especially took umbrage at Stirrup's position against full-day kindergarten in all county schools, Riley said.

Stirrup voted against three of four county budgets because, he said, "They were all double-digit increases in spending over the previous year." The last budget gave the average residential homeowner a tax cut, although the cut averaged out to about $20 per person per year.

Riley said his announcement will help kick his campaign and fundraising efforts into "high gear."

Stirrup vowed to run "an extraordinarily aggressive campaign" on his record of accomplishments.

The most recent campaign finance reports showed that Stirrup led his opponent in fundraising, with nearly $13,500 more cash on hand as of June 30. The Republican incumbent reported nearly $46,000 raised with more than $17,300 on hand, compared with Riley's $4,420 and more than $3,800 on hand.