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House Speaker John Boehner swears in Gerry Connolly to his fourth term in the U.S. House of

Representatives on the opening day of the 114th Congress. Accompanying Connolly are his

wife Catherine Smith Connolly, his daughter Caitlin Connolly, his parents, his siblings, and

friends and staff.

Democrat The Newsletter of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee

January 2015 Volume 2, Issue 1

www.fairfaxdemocrats.org

U.S. House and Senate Swearing-In Ceremonies:

Proud to be a Democrat

House Speaker John Boehner swears in Donald Beyer to the

U.S. House of Representatives on the opening day of the

114th Congress. Accompanying Beyer is his wife Megan

Beyer.

Vice-President Joseph Biden swears in Mark Warner to the U.S. Senate on the

opening day of the 114th Congress. Accompanying Warner is his wife, Lisa

Collis and his daughter, Eliza Warner.

2

The Democrat 2

Deadlines for The Democrat

February 2015 Edition

Friday, January 30, 2015

March 2015 Edition

Friday, February 27,

2015

Articles/ photos must be submitted as attach-ments to thedem-ocrat@fairfaxdemocrats.org. All submissions are subject to a word limit and editing. For more information, contact the-democrat@fairfaxdemocrats.org.

Published monthly by the

Fairfax County Democratic

Committee 2815 Hartland Road, Suite 110

Falls Church, VA 22043

Tel: (703) 573-6811

Fax: (703) 560-7004

http://www.fairfaxdemocrats.org

Editorial Team: Terry Matlaga Bell,

Michael Fruitman, Linda Waller

Views expressed do not necessarily

represent those of the FCDC unless

expressly approved by an appropriate

committee resolution.

Copyright@2014

Message from the FCDC Chairman Sue Langley

We usher in the New Year with

warm greetings and wishes for a

fresh start, prosperity, health,

and happiness in 2015. There is

much hope for Fairfax Demo-

crats this year, as incumbent

candidates will be seeking

reelection to both state and lo-

cal government offices. Our vol-

unteer energy will be critical to

the success of those efforts.

Compared to our opponents,

what we lack in campaign cash

we make up for with a volunteer

force of unmatched vigor—as

we just saw in Kathleen Mur-

phy's magnificent win..

The Road to Richmond brunch

was a resounding success, in

that the dining room at the

Springfield Golf and Country

Club was filled to capacity, the

crowd full of Democratic activ-

ists was ready to be entertained

and informed, and the speakers

did not disappoint. Nearly 40

elected officials from national,

state, and local government lev-

els were recognized in attend-

ance.

Every member of the Virginia

General Assembly, from both

the Senate and the House of

Delegates, stands for election

this year. A Democratic senator

represents every citizen of Fair-

fax County, and we strive to in-

crease our dominance among

the delegates we send to Rich-

mond. Presently 4 of the 17 del-

egates with precincts in Fairfax

County are from that other par-

ty. Democratic challengers have

been recruited in three of those

races. Even though Democrats

serve in the minority in both

houses of the General Assembly,

Governor McAuliffe’s veto pen

stands at the ready should Re-

publican majorities stray too far

from mainstream Virginia.

In Fairfax County local elections,

the Board of Supervisors and the

School Board will appear on the

2015 fall ballot along with Con-

stitutional Offices of the Com-

monwealth’s Attorney, Sheriff,

and Clerk of the Court. The Soil

and Water Conservation District

will also stand for election. We

intend to have Democratic can-

didates for all of these local posi-

tions.

With an election every year in

Virginia, alternating between

Federal and non-Federal years,

there is always much to do.

While we have much to cele-

(continued on page 4)

3 The Democrat 3

Kathleen Murphy Wins 34th District Delegate Special Election

The walk routes were walked, doors were knocked, and phone num-bers were dialed and dialed again. Voters were pressed to show up on Special Election Day, January 6. The winter weather was lousy. And when the votes were counted, Kathleen Murphy emerged victorious over her phantom opponent, Greg Parisot. When the Virginia House of Delegates convenes for session on January 14, Kathleen Murphy will

become the newest Democratic Delegate to represent a former Republican district in Fairfax Coun-ty. She fills the unexpired term of Barbara Comstock, who resigned from the 34th House District seat and won Frank Wolf's seat in the U.S. Congress. Kathleen will represent the district in the Vir-ginia General Assembly, encompassing areas of McLean, Great Falls, and Eastern Loudoun County.

In Fairfax County, Democrats have a good record of winning Special Elections. Having a deep bench gives us an advantage when a vacancy must be filled on short notice. A compressed time frame for campaigns to get their voters to the polls poses another significant challenge. Comstock resigned around Thanksgiving, and the Speaker of the House (Republican Bill Howell) set the Special Election for January 6, allowing only the month of December for campaign-ing.

We knew before all the votes were counted that our candidate, Kath-leen Murphy, had a modest lead in absentee votes. Volunteers from around the county showed up and knocked doors, entered data, filled the phone lines, and supported an admirable field operation of paid staff.

Kathleen ran an outstanding race that led to her Special Election victo-ry. Democrats everywhere can be proud of the way she focused her message on Democratic values. Her opponent’s negative television adver-tising and false attacks are character-istic of Republican strategy. Kathleen’s message was positive and emphasized the values Democrats embrace, including sensible gun controls, a woman’s right to choose, compassion for the poor, ex-pansion of Medicaid, and a fair shake for working Virginians. In electing Kathleen Murphy, the vot-ers of the 34th House District made the smarter choice.

Congratulations, Kathleen, and best wishes in Richmond.

Fellow Northern Virginia Democratic delegates congratulate

their newest caucus member. (L-R) Mark Sickles, Eileen Filler-

Corn, Alfonso Lopez, Rip Sullivan, Kathleen Murphy, Marcus Si-

mon, Vivian Watts, Michael Futrell, and Scott A. Surovell (Photo

Courtesy of Alfonso Lopez.)

4

Another Sellout Crowd for Road to Richmond Brunch

The Democrat 4

Despite this year’s early out-break of flu threatening to limit attendance, FCDC hosted its fifth consecutive sellout Road to Rich-mond brunch at the Springfield Golf and Country Club on Sun-day, January 4. Former FCDC Chair Rex Simmons and wife Nancy are club members and sponsor our use of this facility each January. Turnout included over 200 Democratic activists from all over Northern Virgin-ia, and featured elected officials from all levels of government as well as local press and public access television coverage.

In attendance were nearly 40 current and former Democratic elected officials, including Con-gressman-elect Don Beyer, Lieu-tenant Governor Ralph Northam, and Congressman Gerry Connol-ly.

FCDC Chair Sue Langley wel-comed the crowd; other speak-ers included Northam, Connolly, Beyer, Senator Janet Howell, House Democratic Caucus Chair and Delegate Scott Surovell, and Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Sharon Bulova. Each offered insights on the functions and current priori-ties of government at the local, state, and federal levels.

Delegate Surovell offered a trib-ute to the first progressive Dem-ocrat elected in Fairfax County, Congressman Herb Harris, who passed away at the age of 82 last Christmas Eve. With his election in the post-Watergate era, be-ginning in 1974, Herb Harris launched Northern Virginia’s long and persistent growth in the number of Democratic elect-ed officials to today, when our

local governments are both dominat-ed and effectively governed by Demo-crats. Turning Vir-ginia purple and Northern Virginia blue started with Congressman Har-ris’ election and continues today.

In closing remarks by event chair Bruce Neilson, the Road to Rich-mond committee was recog-nized, including FCDC Executive Director Frank Anderson, Mason District Committee Chair Rachel Rifkind, Finance Chair Sue Thomas, Treasurer Nadja Gold-ing, Dranesville District member Sue Boucher, FCDC Vice Chair Matthew Bell, and Fairfax Young Democrats President Morgan Jameson. Visit the event photo collage on page 8.

Photo Credits: Alfonso Lopez, Cathy Read, Terry Matlaga Bell.

Message from the FCDC Chairman Sue Langley

(continued from page 2)

brate from last year, the vision

must always be forward. So

we are on to the state and

local elections. The challenge

we face is inspiring and in-

forming our Democratic voters

so they go to the polls in No-

vember because when Demo-

crats vote, Democrats win.

And when Democrats win,

good things happen. Let us

face the challenge with re-

newed energy and enthusi-

asm.

Mark Your

Calendar:

FCDC General Membership

Meeting, Tuesday, January

27, 2015 at 7:30 PM Location:

Falls Church High School

7521 Jaguar Trail, Falls Church

Visit the FCDC meeting and

event calendar for an up-to-

date schedule of county com-

mittee, subcommittees, and

magisterial district meetings

and upcoming democratic

fundraisers.

5 The Democrat 5

Fairfax County is one of the best places in the en-tire country to live, work, play, and raise a family. With our current population at over 1.1 million residents and growing, Fairfax County is planning ahead when it comes to services, redevelopment opportunities, and transportation options.

In 2014, Fairfax County and the entire region made significant progress in transportation. As one of the founding members of the Virginia Rail-way Express, I was especially pleased last summer with the groundbreakings for two new VRE sta-tions: Spotsylvania, opening this year, and Poto-mac Shores, opening in 2017. VRE is a real success story. It moves the equivalent of an entire lane of traffic during rush hour that would otherwise be on I-95.

The I-95 Express Lane project opened in Decem-ber, providing added lane capacity and faster, more predictable travel options. The I-95 Express Lanes operate for about 29 miles, from Garrison-ville Road in Stafford County to the Edsall Road area on I-395.

And of course, the main event in transportation was the opening of Phase I of Metro’s new Silver Line! Since opening day on July 26, the Silver Line has been off to a solid start, carrying approxi-mately 15,000 riders per weekday, exceeding ex-pectations. The Wiehle-Reston East Metro station

is already surpassing ridership projections, and is one of the busiest Metro stations in the entire system.

Coming up this year, I am proud to say that Fair-fax County will host the second largest interna-tional multi-sport event in the world: the World Police and Fire Games. This event will showcase the best firefighters, police officers, and first re-sponders from around the world during 10 days of spectacular competitions, games, and sporting events. The games will be held June 26 through July 6; visit http://fairfax2015.com to find out how you can volunteer, donate, and otherwise get in-volved.

Finally, 2015 is an election year for the Board of Supervisors. All 10 Board seats, including the Chairman’s, are up for election or re-election, as well as members of the Virginia General Assembly and the School Board. There will be many oppor-tunities for you to participate in campaign-related forums, debates, and activities.

An informed and engaged community is a well-served community. Thank you for playing an im-portant role in making our community a great place to live, work, and play. It is my honor to serve you as Chairman, and I look forward to working with you during the year ahead. It’s going to be a great year.

From 2014 to 2015

Report from Sharon Bulova, Chairman

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors

People In the News Condolences to the family of the Hon. Herb Har-ris. Former VA Eighth District Democratic Con-gressman Herbert Harris passed away peacefully on December 24. His funeral mass and interment was January 5. He was buried at Quantico Veter-ans Cemetery with military honors.

After serving as a member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Harris was elected to the House of Representatives in 1974 and served for

three terms. He was a confident and outspoken elected official. In Congress, he introduced legisla-tion to provide $1.9 billion in federal funds to com-plete the Metro system, pushed for Metro expan-sion to Dulles International Airport and other parts of Northern Virginia, and shepherded the 1980 expansion of Manassas National Battlefield Park and the establishment of the Quantico National Cemetery.

6 The Democrat 6

National Affairs Committee

No Democrat Left Behind Pat Hynes, Fairfax County School Board Member and National Affairs Guest Author

Democrats trying to follow the na-tional debate on education policy could be forgiven for not knowing which side to take. Going to the mat for schools, unions, and public serv-ants is what we do. Yet, at every level of government, we’ve seen elected Democrats joining Republi-cans in union busting, privatization, and massive disinvestment in public schools. The confusion is that, for some pub-lic school reformers, the goal is to make public schools better. For oth-ers, the goal is to take public school dollars out of public schools and put those dollars into the hands of pub-lishers, bankers, real estate inves-tors, and religious institutions. The true reformers, unfortunately, have not been watching their backs very well. This story starts with accountability. Quite rightly, the public expects pub-lic schools to provide a good educa-tion to every child, regardless of zip code. The devil is in how and what to measure. We want to measure the skills we really care about, in a way that tells the community and the educators what to do to improve. And then we want to provide the resources for improvement. A de-ceptively simple task that the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law got wildly wrong from day one. Under NCLB, we have spent the last decade measuring mastery of trivia, of content standards a mile wide and an inch deep. Each state has devel-oped its own standards and tests, further deepening the zip code effect. The tests have been poorly designed, skewing results in favor of children from higher income house-

holds with rich English vocabularies. Test results have been misused, twisted from their designed purpose of measuring a snapshot of fact re-tention–—a type of assessment use-ful only in the classroom to plan for next steps—and given power over everything from teacher compensa-tion to school closures. Students who don't "test well" end up in years-long remediation tracks. Teachers leave the remediation-heavy schools, or the profession al-together. Classroom instruction be-comes a stressful, stultifying test score chase. In all, a punitive system, seemingly designed to frustrate stu-dents, demoralize teachers, and ex-acerbate socioeconomic achieve-ment gaps. Eventually, whole communities suffer. When schools are labeled as failures, property values plummet. And the cycle builds, with more well-to-do parents abandoning struggling schools for other neighborhoods, charters or private schools, deepen-ing the divide and further segre-gating schools and communities into haves and have-nots.

Cue the vultures. When President Obama describes your school as a "drop-out factory," good luck de-fending yourself against the venture capitalists with the corporate take-over playbook. Good luck protecting your neighborhood from the banker who happens to sit on the local char-ter review board, deciding whether a depressed property should be pur-chased by one of his mortgage cus-tomers for a new charter school. Good luck surviving the “disruptors” who know nothing about education, but get free rein to reinvent your

neighborhood school by firing every-one, replacing them with college graduates whose teacher training is a six-week summer camp, and then abandoning everyone a few years later when the numbers don’t add up. And good luck convincing anyone that Bill Gates is actually not an ex-pert in classroom instruction.

As long as schools can be labeled as failures, those who believe no public program should be allowed to live will have ammunition to defund pub-lic education—even better if they can blame the failure on teachers and, especially, their unions. In an era of job insecurity, when the small investor is unsafe on Wall Street, it’s no great challenge to convince tax-payers that teachers have too sweet a deal, with their due-process pro-tections and secure pensions. [Some of these cynical taxpayers are FCDC members, who argue with me about whether we owe our teachers a dig-nified retirement after decades of public service.] To be fair, NCLB and its supporters were reacting to a manufactured crisis. International comparisons show, quite plainly, that our stu-dents' apples are different in color and shape from their students' or-anges. In fact, when students from high-scoring nations are compared with U.S. students of similar eco-nomic backgrounds, our students do very well. We have an achievement gap crisis, but it won't be solved by bankrupting schools. It will be solved by taking lessons from other coun-tries that have no gaps. Lessons about income equality, family sup-port, integrated housing, teacher autonomy, relevant curriculum, and not testing the joy out of everyone..

(continued on page 7)

7 The Democrat 7

National Affairs Committee

No Democrat Left Behind Pat Hynes, Fairfax County School Board Member and National Affairs Guest Author

(continued from page 6)

The late Joe Bageant wrote this incisive, funny, and at times de-pressing account of the lives and attitudes of the white working class—that “great beery, NAS-CAR loving, church-going, gun-owning America that has never set foot in a Starbucks”—and tried to explain why they seem to repeatedly vote against their best interests in elections. Bag-eant returned to his hometown of Winchester, Virginia, after a 30-year career as a writer, to talk to his family, friends, and former neighbors and try to explain them to his liberal former col-leagues and other Americans who do not often interact with his people. With a little of the style of Hunter S. Thompson, he began by summarizing the strug-gles of the working class in America in 2007. He then moved

through five vignettes, in which he told the stories of a few peo-ple and their experiences with different aspects of life and cul-ture in the Shenandoah Valley: employment and the economy, housing, gun ownership and hunting, religion, and healthcare and the elderly. He discussed the role of Scots-Irish heritage in shaping working class Appalachi-an attitudes. Bageant concluded with his take on how a lack of education and inundation by cor-porate-influenced media has left his people largely unable to see the political forces arrayed against them. This book should be helpful to any Democrat who wants to try to understand how better to earn the support of working-class voters. Despite advocating for economic policies that the

white working class should favor, we Democrats find ourselves losing ground with them to the Republicans. The book suggests that this is caused by policies and messaging that offends them or their values and fails to seriously address the difficulties in their everyday lives. Messaging that does not inadvertently conde-scend and speaks the truth about the corporatist forces ar-rayed against working people; economic, housing, and healthcare policies that provide real help but that are not framed as handouts; and gun laws that allow for a modicum of common sense; can all help us win their support. Worth reading by Dems who would like to regain the trust of people who should al-ways have been natural allies.

The ultimate irony is that Democrats are now, at last, being led away from the corporate reformers by an erstwhile Republican. Diane Ravitch, not just any Republican, was George H.W. Bush's Asst. Secretary of Edu-cation and an architect of NCLB. She designed the punitive system of high-stakes tests. She made the Kool Aid, but unlike many around her, she soon saw how toxic it was.

Ravitch has joined with influential educators and Democratic activists to form The Network for Public Edu-

cation (NPE). Donna Brazile and for-mer Ohio Governor Ted Strickland are founding members. NPE de-scribes itself as "an advocacy group whose goal it is to fight to protect, preserve, and strengthen our public school system, an essential institu-tion in a democratic society." www.networkforpubliceducation.org.

Recent news briefs on NPE’s website include complaints from Ohio about “Common Core Test Mania,” a de-fense of teachers in response to Time Magazine’s cover story on those “Rotten Apples,” and a critical

look at Chicago’s charter school leg-acy. NPE endorses local school board candidates who are chal-lenged by Koch-supported rivals.

In short, NPE is the progressive, pro-public schools, pro-public employee advocacy organization many Demo-crats have been looking for. Take a look at the website, like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter. Support them if you can. And next time you get your photo op with the President, tell him the good news.

Book-of-the-Month contributed by the National Affairs Committee

Deer Hunting with Jesus, Dispatches from America’s Class War by Joe Bageant

8 The Democrat 8

FCDC Sustainers Honor Roll Join FCDC’s Sustainer

Society…

and make a commitment to

support the ongoing opera-

tion of the Fairfax County

Democratic Committee with

monthly or annual contribu-

tions. FCDC needs you as a

long term sustainer to assure

future Democratic victories.

Take a moment today and

pledge your financial sup-

port.

Visit http://

fairfaxdemocrats.org/wp-

content/uploads/2012/01/

Sustainer-Society-Form.pdf

and join today.

Champion Level

$166 per month/

$2,000 per year

Winners Circle Level

$100 per month/ $1,200 per

year

Benefactor Level

$50 per month/

$600 per year

Leadership Circle Level

$25 per month/

$300 per year

Friend Level

$10 per month/

$120 per year

(Please note FCDC member-

ship is not included in sus-

tainer contribution.)

Champions

Burma Bochner. Rick Bochner. Tom Greeson . Donna Rostant . Marie Ridder

Winner’s Circle

Nancy & Omar Kader . Sue Langley . Victoria and Steve Lee .

Nancy & Rex Simmons . Hon. Scott Surovell

Benefactors

Bill Ackerman . James Ebbitt . Robert Haley . Hon. Gerry Hyland .

Cathleen McCabe. Mary Lou Melley . Jehanne Arsian & Robert Tsien .

Bryan Graham

Leadership Circle

Chris Ambrose. Judy & Paul Anderson . Chris Baden-Mayer & Joseph Mayer .

Sean Barnett . Pris & Al Bornmann . Gregory Brandon . Roy Brooks .

Barbara & Chuck Caputo . Richard Chew . Martin & Janet Fadden .

Nancy & Fariborz Fatemi . Hon. Penny Gross & Hal Gross . Michael Howard .

Patricia Jack . George Jones . Nancy & Omar Kader . Herb Kemp .

Hon. Kaye Kory . Gene & Addy Krizek . William Lahue . Hon. Ilryong Moon .

Hon. Janet Oleszek . Ginny & Rob Peters . Nancy & Edward Rice .

Rachel Rifkind . Ian Rivera . Ken Sharma . Hon. Lins & Nigal Smyth .

Margaret & Howard Soroos . Robert Surovell . Jane Tarrant . Judy Thorne

Friends

Anonymous . Carole Appel . George Becerra . Pixie Bell . Alex Blakemore .

Andrea Bridgeman . Ellen Cantor . Janet Carver . George Cook .

Meg Copernoll . Karen Craft . Ralph Craft . Sherry Dana . Lowell Endahl .

Ronald Enlow . Earl Franks . Gabriel Goldberg . Nadja Golding . Ken Gubin .

Gloria Haher . Elisabeth Holmes . Mary Jablonski . Morgan Jameson .

Richard Joyce . Hon Mark Keam . Alex Kirkland . Hon. George Lamb .

Bettina Lawton . Keith Lutman . Bruce & Rita Macdonald . Wendy Maiwurm .

Bridget Murphy . Kathleen Murphy . Lola Quintela . Robena Reid .

Edward Robichaud . Matthew Robinson . Raleigh Romine . Cherie Root .

Alan Salisbury . Shana Singerman . Todd Smyth . Ellen Strauss .

Robert & Valerie Sutter . Allen Taylor . Lynn & Mark Terry . Henry Thomassen .

Florence Upson . Janet Vasak . Susie Warner . Bruce Waxman . Susan Weltz

Thank you to our donors who have made a commitment to support the opera-

tion of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee .

9 The Democrat 9

2015 Road to Richmond Legislative Brunch