Welcome to Fairfax: If You Vote Red

[MountainLaurel]

Just when you thought the political polarization of this country had gone as far as it could, here comes Rep. Tom Davis with a whole new frontier for the Red-Blue wars: The Republican congressman from Fairfax seems to believe that the only way he can guarantee himself reelection till the end of time is to prevent Democrats from moving into his district.

snip

But while he buddies up to residents of Vienna who are aghast at the thought of thousands of new neighbors, Davis -- who supported transit-oriented development when he was chairman of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors -- really has a different concern.

Three Fairfax elected officials told me that Davis explained his opposition to the MetroWest development to them as a matter of party politics: The congressman believes that the people most likely to move into condos and townhouses near a Metro station are -- oh, the horror! -- Democrats.

One politician who spoke to Davis says the congressman told him straight-out that he opposes Pulte Homes' MetroWest project because "all it does is produce Democrats."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12612-2005Apr23.html

[mhr]

1. Damn Those Lower Middle Class People That Can Only Afford A Condo

eom

[MountainLaurel]

2. It's not even that

These condos will be selling for $300K at least -- still out of reach for many. The issue is more that the buyers will be highly educated single people or DINKs, who are statistically less likely to be conservative Repukes.

[Frances]

3. OK--what does DINK stand for?

I worked in Vienna VA in the 80s and it was in the process of transformation then from the small town it originally was into an exurb. The same was true of the town where I was living, Rockville MD.

I don't think even Davis can stop the growth. There's just too much population pressure.

[DBoon]

6. DINK = Dual Income No Kids

tend to be Democratic

[autorank]

4. Davis is like the Picture of Dorian Gray...the longer he's in politics...

...the uglier he gets. He went from a fairly reasonable guy as County Executive to a nearly instant political whore in the House of Representatives. I take this as a sign that he's worried about getting elected for life. What a lazy guy? He was a corporate attorney (means you hire the real attorneys when trouble hits) then a County Executive, now a permanent House member (he thinks).

He needs to get out there and start a business on his own, carry a bag, make a productive career... live like the majority of the people in Northern Virginia, on their wits not their asses with government support for his stupid politics.

:hi: Earth Worshiping Tree Hugger

[lanlady]

5. this POS is my Congressman

In an area full of feds, he's been supporting Bush's plans to break up the govt employee unions. Why my neighbors keep voting agnt their own interests is beyond me. He's also involved in a sex scandal involving a young aide whom he's promoting through the ranks of the GOP. I saw Davis at my local Giant supermarket last summer (he was stumping for some junior Rethug) and had the pleasure of telling him to his face that he is a bad representative for the citizens of this District. Also got to tell him that I was the author of a long letter, published in the Wash Post region supplement, attacking him for his campaign activities on behalf of... Katherine Harris (Davis was chmn of the House Rethug Election Committee at the time).

[MountainLaurel]

7. Kudos on telling Davis what's what

He was my congresscritter too, and I got goosebumps every time I saw the slimeball on TV. He and Jeanne Marie Devolites truly deserve one another.

Of course, now I'm a DC resident and have no congresscritter.

[Penndems]

9. He's having ANOTHER affair, LOL?

Wow. First he's nailing Jeannemarie Devolites. She leaves her husband and four daughters. Then, Tom separates from his wife and three children. After ten years of putting up a "happy family" facade and denying there's anything between them (their affair was an open secret), they get married in the State Capitol. Has he got another "protege" on the side?

Geez, I love those Republican "family values".

[Penndems]

8. I'm literally slack-jawed reading this

That son of a bitch. He and the skeezer he had an affair with for about ten years decide to move into that area, and NOW he decides he wants to get involved in this mess?

In all honesty, I wholeheartedly opposed this development. I-66 and Metro are crowded enough as it is. If I had a nickel for every time over the past thirty-plus years I've heard that creating more "condo canyons" and "McMansions" would be "smart growth", Hubby and I would be residing in an "executive home" in Goochland County (like my cousin and her husband). "Smart growth" has NEVER turned out to be "smart" in Fairfax County.

A little personal history here (forgive me in advance for my long-windedness): My family and I lived in the neighborhood off of Five Oaks Road (Poplar Terrace) back in 1971. My father built some of those houses in the early 1950s, when he was a young man. I met my high-school sweetheart there, and he proposed to me on the street where we both lived. Nobody knew that neighborhood existed because, at the time, Five Oaks Road was a dead-end street (Metro bought the land where the Vienna Metro is back in 1965). Some of the people living there now moved into those homes when they were first constructed. I know several of the residents of Poplar Terrace, and they know me.

These folks raised their families - "baby boomers", like me - in those homes. Now their grandchildren are visiting them in those very same houses. But in the past 10-15 years, sprawl has encroached and destroyed the quality of life they (and I) once knew. They're ready to get out, and go someplace where they can obtain that quality of life again. I can't fault them for wanting to sell their property (it's their prerogative), but the idea of a company like Pulte shoving as many rows of townhouses and condominiums onto land the size of a postage stamp is absolutely revolting.

Now, as far as opposition voices go, as a Democrat, I'm in the minority. Quite a few of those voices are Republican. At the first plan hearing back in October, one of the opponents was none other than Jack Herrity. Fairfax County, in its present incarnation, is Jack Herrity's Frankenstein. Shortly after he became Chairman of the Board of Supervisors back in 1976, the joke was that "Tarmac Jack" was in bed with so many developers, he could've had their baby. Turns out it was no joke: Jack raised taxes on the farmers, so that his developer friends could buy 'em out and start the sprawl ball rolling. There was no planning, no forethought put into the development of Fairfax County. Now, it seems that Herrity has had a late-life epiphany, because he's completely against MetroWest. Go figure, LOL!

But I digress . . .

So now Tom Davis, New Home Owner in Mosby Precinct, has developed a case of the "NIMBYs" and doesn't want this development because he fears Dems will move in. The Dems on the county Board are firing back, and the war is on. (BTW, Saintsbury Plaza -- the condos -- is a senior citizen complex.)

Well, I've got just one thing to say:

Fuck you, Tom and your little dog, Jeannemarie, too.