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Herrity declares in the 11th
Editor's Note: This is the first in a two-part series profiling the candidates for the GOP primary. Next week's story will focus on Keith Fimian.Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-11th) will be facing a familiar foe in the 2010 election no matter which Republican wins his party's nod in the June primary,
Connolly's 2008 challenger Keith Fimian is seeking the Republican nomination to run for the 11th District congressional seat, as is Connolly's former Fairfax County Board of Supervisors rival Pat Herrity (R-Springfield).
Herrity declared his bid for Congress last week, citing federal health care spending as one of his top issues.
"I personally think the people in the 11th District overall, whether they're in Springfield or Gainesville, (think) we have one of the greatest health care systems in the world and while there are problems we should address ... it's like taking a patient that needs a little stint put in and instead giving a transplant," said Herrity.
Herrity, serving in his first term on the Fairfax board, elaborated on his opposition to the health care bills passed separately by the Senate and House of Representatives, saying the federal government is overhauling the system too much.
"We're trying to fix a problem here where some 47 million people here don't have insurance and we are completely, completely destroying the entire system to take care of the 47 million, many of whom don't have insurance at their own choosing," said Herrity.
He recited GOP talking points about examining "the free enterprise system" and "tort reform" as areas of health care he would like to address instead of creating "a government bureaucracy."
When asked what he would do to help the uninsured gain access to health insurance, Herrity responded, "You're talking about a very detailed-specific question, as I said before, we need to look at private-sector solutions to address this, not develop a government program to address every single health care issue."
Herrity said he will be "developing this health care agenda as I move forward," later adding, "What I'm trying to say (is) the health care legislation that's proposed right now completely changes our health care system to address a narrow problem."
According to Herrity, "The biggest problem with health care is the cost."
Transportation
The Springfield supervisor, whose late father Jack once chaired the Fairfax board, said he would like more improvements to be made to the Interstate 66 corridor west of the Beltway. When he first joined the Fairfax Board of Supervisors in 2008, he pushed for a new environmental impact study regarding the widening of I-66.
"And I fought a year long battle to get the EIS restarted and it will be restarted in 2011," he said.
His next project is to have VDOT "implement a system to open the shoulder lanes on weekends when it's congested."
In order to do that, VDOT will have to weigh safety concerns from groups like AAA. According to Herrity, when traffic is moving at 55 mph or faster, the extra travel lane is unnecessary, but at slow speeds, "it's safe to open a shoulder lane."
Herrity supports "virtual signaling" to open the shoulder lanes to traffic, which means VDOT could control the red X or green arrow from its own monitoring station. That would be an option instead of VDOT relying on particular times on particular days -- like during rush hour -- to switch from red to green if traffic is congested during a non-peak hour.
When asked how he could do a better job than Connolly on transportation, Herrity said "basically, the government put in a list of projects, some of which made it into the stimulus bill. And other than that, I haven't seen a whole lout out of Congressman Connolly on transportation."
Connolly routinely rolls out transportation funding bills in his press releases, but what Herrity wants is more concentration on developing "an integrated mass transit network" for "dedicated or semi-dedicated lanes" like the upcoming I-495 HOT lanes. Such lanes could run express buses and bus rapid transit.
"The number one reason people use mass transit is to get a time advantage," Herrity said, adding that mass transit options must be "cost effective and reliable" to encourage commuters to use them.
As a former chairman of the Northern Virginia Technology Council's transportation committee, Herrity said he "was a leader in the telework issue and (creating) other transportation solutions."
In order to increase telework options, Herrity said, "I think a lot of it is looking at our laws in regulations to make sure there are not obstacles for companies to put in place telework solutions."
When asked what laws need to be changed or examined, he said, "I know there are certain workers' comp laws we should look at. Again, I'm not saying we should change anything ... Again, those have been obstacles in the past to allowing companies to do telecommuting."
Philosophy
Herrity and Connolly frequently clashed in 2008 over housing issues, especially over public housing. Herrity won a reduction in the qualifying income threshold for potential homeowners to earn government assistance, which he said saved "about $15 to 16 million."
He said at the federal levels, House spending items he opposed included the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) bailouts and cap and trade. Like many conservatives that identify themselves with the "Tea Party" movement that rails against government spending, Herrity said, "I have many principles in common with the Tea Party movement," such as limited government intervention.
However, he declined to affiliate himself directly with the group.
"I'm not a Tea Party candidate," he said.
He again emphasized though that "so many of my principles are consistent" with the Tea Party.
"Government is far exceeding the roll our founding fathers and our own government even 10, 20 years ago had taken and we really need to return government to its proper role," he said.
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