By Bill Turque
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 19, 2007; B05

s The two major candidates for chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors clashed on transportation, immigration and government spending in their first full-blown debate yesterday, with Republican challenger Gary H. Baise saying that the "failed leadership" of Democrat Gerald E. Connolly has led to a decline in the county's quality of life.

"I think it's beginning to deteriorate," said Baise, 66, a lawyer and Nixon-era Justice Department official running for his first elective office. He said the county needs "a new approach, a private-sector approach."

Connolly, 57, seeking his second term as chairman, urged the audience not to "buy the salesmanship" that the county is in trouble.

"He would have you believe that things are going to hell in a handbasket. Nothing could be further from the truth," Connolly said, citing high test scores in the Fairfax school system, declining tax rates and unprecedented investments in transportation improvements.

"We've built a quality of life that is the envy of the United States," he said.

The one-hour exchange, sponsored by the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce at the Westin Tysons Corner hotel and moderated by Derek McGinty of WUSA (Channel 9), was lively but civil and substantive.

Baise, a trial lawyer who represents corporate and agricultural clients in environmental cases, went on the offensive from the start. He said the chairmanship is the only elective office he will ever seek, a reminder to the audience that Connolly is expected to run for Congress if Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) gives up his Northern Virginia seat to run for the U.S. Senate.

"I'm not running for higher office," Baise said. Later in the debate, Baise asked Connolly about his plans for Congress.

"Yes or no?" he said.

Connolly refused to answer, saying that Fairfax residents will decide in November whether he is committed to the chairmanship. "My voters will make up their minds about this race and my future."

The two candidates displayed differences on immigration policy. Connolly and the supervisors have resisted pressure from Prince William County and other jurisdictions to follow their lead in trying to drive out illegal immigrants.

Connolly said that immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility and that the county is best suited to focus on symptoms of the immigration problem, such as overcrowded housing. The county created a task force on the housing problem this year.

Baise accused Connolly of "ducking leadership" and said that if he is elected, police and other local agencies would take a more active role in removing illegal immigrants, whom he called "these people."

"We're focused on what we can do something about," Connolly said. "You cannot ask local government to somehow step in for the federal government. What we're not going to do in Fairfax County is political posturing for demagogic reasons. . . . That's a past era, something that doesn't represent Fairfax County and its values."

On government spending, Baise depicted Fairfax under Connolly and the board as wasteful. He promised stricter scrutiny of tracking where county dollars go.

"We are in a spending frenzy in this county," he said. "If the money comes in, spend it."

Baise cited a study by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, a conservative Springfield think tank, that said Fairfax has spent a billion dollars more over the past four years than would have been the case if spending had kept pace with the consumer price index. (Baise said after the debate that he didn't know whether the study was accurate.)

As an example, Baise cited the "four or five lobbyists" assigned by the county to Richmond when the General Assembly is in session. "That's one of the first things I'd cut," he said.

Connolly defended the lobbyists, saying that all but one are assigned to Richmond temporarily and return to other duties when the session ends. "That lobbying team has brought home hundreds of millions of dollars and protected us from predatory legislation," Connolly said.

Baise replied: "I wonder what some of the state senators and state delegates [in the audience] thought of that answer?"

"I thought it was great," said a voice from a table near the back of the hotel ballroom, to laughter.

The two men also highlighted their differences on transportation and development. Baise said the planned Metro extension to Tysons Corner and Dulles International Airport has been plagued by excessive costs and lack of competitive bidding and transparency.

"Mr. Connolly, that's not leadership. That's not even abdication of leadership. That's lunacy," Baise said. He proposed scrapping the project as planned and placing the rail line along the median of the Dulles Access Road, skipping Tysons Corner.

Connolly said that the rail construction contract is online for anyone to see and that the real catastrophe would be not having a rail link to the airport.

Baise also criticized Connolly and the board for relying on campaign contributions from developers of Tysons Corner and other projects.

"You can't take money and make fair decisions," said Baise, who has declined donations from developers who do business with the county."

Connolly said Fairfax has some of the most stringent laws requiring elected officials to disclose their financial ties to builders.

Baise aggressively parsed Connolly's record, while the incumbent was silent during the debate about Baise's career as a corporate litigator in environmental cases.

But at a news conference before the luncheon, where he accepted endorsements from the Fairfax chapters of the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters, Connolly raised questions about Baise's representation of what he called "environmentally challenged" clients.

Among Baise's past clients is FMC Corp., former owner of Avtex Fibers in Front Royal, once among the state's biggest corporate polluters.

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