News

Thank you for attending our Annual Road to Richmond Legislative Breakfast, Sunday, January 2 at the Springfield Golf & Country Club. The event was a great success!

Check out the photos and read all about it in this write up from Michael McKee:
“The Road to Richmond.”
By Michael McKee
That’s what a very large meeting of Fairfax County Democrats was called and it involved every prominent elected official and many more political leaders and supporters.
Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-11), Senators Janet Howell (D-32), Dave Marsden (D-37 & George Barker (D-39), many Delegates, Board of Supervisors and School Board members, plus a huge turnout of other influentials flooded the Springfield Country Club Sunday morning and afternoon. The objective was to show support for elected officials and the work they would be doing during 2011.
Fairfax County Democratic Committee Chair Rex Simmons urged the crowd to turn the county “Far Bluer.” His counterpart at the state level, Brian Moran, reminded the crowd that 680 total positions across the U.S. had been lost last November and that all needed to work together to “Stop the Red Tide.” Sen. Janet Howell continued, fervently stating that in the Senate the numbers were only 22 to 18, Democrats to Republicans.
Senator Howell added that in fact there was no “surplus” in the budget and that borrowing and bonds to fix today’s problems, such as transportation, would only gravely harm the financial picture of the Commonwealth in the future. Her estimate was that the new U.S. Census data would begin to be utilized in February. As Chair of the important Redistricting Committee, she said that there would be a need for a Special Session, followed by legislation, a Dept. of Justice review and then possible court challenges before the new political districts would be established.
The always fiery past candidate for Governor, Terry McAulliffe, then spoke eloquently but very bluntly about the lack of clarity in the Democratic message leading up to the November elections. He then gave an absolutely rousing introduction of Congressman Gerry Connolly that had everyone clapping, laughing and on their feet.
Congressman Connolly quickly reminded everyone that “Winning is a passing phenomenon,” adding that the Democrats had done a poor job of communicating their accomplishments to the American people. Stating that “Fears must be addressed, not dismissed,” he added that intelligent and passionate communication, not the presentation of reams of information, is what is absolutely necessary. Repeating the idea that “Votes come from Values,” he said that Democrats must work far harder and need to ensure that over the next two years, voters who had just gone Republican will experience vast “Buyer’s Remorse.”
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Acknowledgment: Mike McKee
Nine (9) photographs with captions are found at this link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mmmckee101/CountyWideDemocraticMeeting2Jan11?authkey=Gv1sRgCLm99ZXSvPSXCg&feat=directlink