Fairfax County’s top supervisor has amassed nearly a half-million dollars for his upcoming re-election bid, a war chest with tens of thousands in contributions from the building industry that operates in Fairfax County.
Gerald Connolly, chairman of the 10-member board, has accepted donations from developers, land owners, real estate agents and builders, among other contributors, according to a campaign finance report from the State Board of Elections.
Connolly, however, said he has broad support from the entire business community, as well as other donors like firefighters and the Korean American community. He said the building industry is not disproportionately represented over others.
“By no means is [the list of contributors] dominated in any way, shape or form by developers,” he said. “Most of them are not developers at all.”
Connolly is community relations director for technology firm SAIC and has led the Board of Supervisors since January of 2004. Like the rest of the board, he is up for re-election next year in November.
No challengers have officially announced their candidacy for the board chairmanship, but Connolly nevertheless raised $236,621.03 from January to June and spent nearly $30,000, bringing his balance to $481,883.59.
The Board of Supervisors directs the government of more than 11,000 employees and sets policies on a wide spectrum of issues, including permit applications that developers have clear interests in.
Top building industry donors include Clemente Development Co., which has given $21,000; Mark Fried of Fried Companies, who gave $10,000; Lerner Corporation, which gave $12,500; Jon M. Peterson of Peterson Companies, who gave $5,099; and RP MRP Reston LLC, which gave $5,000. Cyrus Katzen, a retired real estate investor, gave $25,000.
Other major contributors to the chairman’s campaign are FIREPAC Local 2068, the political action committee for the county’s firefighter’s union that donated $22,500, as well as Cox Communications, Korean Cable TV of Washington, World Bankcard Services and the George Vradenburg of the Vradenburg Foundation. Connolly’s own employer donated $1,000.
