Three environmental groups have endorsed Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald Connolly in his bid for a second term leading the massive Northern Virginia government.
The support from the Sierra Club, the Fairfax chapter of the League of Conservation Voters and the Clean Water Action Project lends heft to what the chairman touts as a strong environmental record. Connolly, a Democrat, is being challenged by Republican Gary Baise, a lawyer with Kilpatrick Stockton LLP and a former official with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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Connolly won the endorsements through “a combination of promises, deliveries on promises, confirmed leadership and vision,” said George Lamb, president of the Fairfax League of Conservation Voters. Lamb pointed to Connolly’s execution of the board’s 20-year environmental plan adopted in 2004 as a key reason behind the decision.
Connolly has also embarked on an ambitious mission to reduce the county’s carbon footprint through the “Cool Counties” initiative, which Baise has criticized as ineffective. The Baise campaign shrugged off the endorsements.
“It’s OK that some of the organizational leadership has endorsed Gerry Connolly,” Baise spokesman Dan Rene said. “However, we are grateful for the support of many of their rank-and-file members.”
