Herrity Enters Race for Chairman

Republican Urges Fiscal Restraint in Contest to Replace Connolly

With one of the most renowned names in Fairfax County politics, Supervisor Pat S. Herrity launched his campaign yesterday for board chairman two decades after his father held the same office.

Herrity, 48, is one of just two Republicans on the 10-member board and faces Democrat Sharon S. Bulova, the board vice chairman, in a special election likely to be held in February. They are vying to replace Gerald E. Connolly, who was elected to Congress last week.

Herrity said he will emphasize the need for change in what he views as the county's profligate spending in recent years, and the need to expand commercial activity to keep residential taxes low.

"Current leadership of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has consistently spent money like there's no recession looming," Herrity told a small group of journalists and supporters in the living room of his childhood home in West Springfield. "Now, Fairfax County is facing its most severe shortfall in years. Our projected shortfall is 17 percent of the budget, and it's the largest in the region. How did we get here?"

Herrity, who has held office for less than a year, is the son of the late John S. "Jack" Herrity, who served 16 years on the county board in the 1970s and '80s, 12 of them as chairman. Herrity believes the current board has been coasting on the successes of past supervisors, including his father, who concentrated on expanding the county's commercial tax base.

He is particularly critical of one of Connolly's highest priorities in his five years as chairman -- the expansion of affordable housing across Fairfax. Herrity said the county should not be in the business of homeownership and should not be spending, as it does, the equivalent of one penny of the real estate tax rate each year -- about $23 million -- on affordable housing.

Bulova, 60, announced her candidacy Wednesday, surrounded by colleagues and lawmakers. She is counting on the advantage of a strong Democratic organization in Fairfax, as well as county residents' satisfaction with schools and other public services, to carry her. Herrity, who has positioned himself since taking office in January as a voice of dissent on budget matters, hopes to persuade residents that tax bills have grown too big too fast and that county programs are due for a scrubbing.

Herrity has clashed repeatedly with Connolly, 58, who has criticized Herrity's simultaneous support of higher teacher salaries, opposition to across-the-board personnel cuts and cries for lower spending. Those views are contradictory, Connolly and other board members have said.

So far, the battle line between Bulova and Herrity is clear. She is a more soft-spoken consensus-builder than Connolly. But as chairman of the board's Budget Committee for 16 of her 21 years on the board, and as Connolly's closest board associate, she has promised to keep the county on the same path.

While Herrity will emphasize the need for change, Bulova will play up her experience.

Once Connolly steps down in January, a Circuit Court judge will set an election date, most likely in February. The campaign will be quick and will probably not be expensive, as the candidates have limited time to raise money. Also, turnout for the election might be low, as with most special elections, meaning the candidate whose organization is able to turn out the most voters will prevail.