Barnett challenges Wolf on transportation, effectiveness

Taking on an incumbent with almost 30 years of experience is no easy task for a political hopeful during an introductory run for Congress.

Yet retired Air Force veteran and author is doing just that against Rep. Frank Wolf (R-10th), whose district includes parts of western Prince William County.

One of Barnett's gripes with Wolf is how the 15-term congressman has approached transportation, one of Wolf's signature issues. Neither of them like the idea of the Beltway HOT lanes, which are under construction currently near the Rte. 123 interchange at Tyson's Corner. Wolf has said he does not favor the cost of tolls, while Barnett said he suspects the Maryland-bound north lanes will ultimately create a bottleneck at the American Legion Bridge.

Wolf previously argued to former Gov. Tim Kaine (D) that while an underground tunnel connecting Dulles International Airport to Tysons would look nice, it would cost too much and take too long to construct, which would mean the project could have lost federal funding. Barnett, however, supported the tunnel.

He said public and private stakeholders in transportation projects need to be brought together more often by the district's representative.

"The 10th district congressman is perfectly positioned to build a consensus for transportation in this area," Barnett said. "And you need to build a consensus as to what the next generation of transportation will be.
Barnett particularly chided Wolf, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, for securing what his campaign claimed is a 17 percent federal match for the Metro Silver Line rail-to-Dulles project while other transportation projects receiving funding in the same bill netted 38 percent returns.

"And we have arguably the most federal impact on our project," said Barnett. A 2006 statement from Wolf contradicts this claim, stating, "The federal government is responsible for 50 percent of the funding while the state and local governments will make up the remaining 50 percent."

However, Barnett said Wolf is still responsible for not securing an extra billion dollars for the project. Though Barnett did not offer specifically how he would have gone about securing more funding -- he instead repeated his mantra about forming a consensus with public and private entities at the federal, state and local levels -- he did question Wolf's effectiveness in bringing home the bacon.

"I don't know what it is. I just know it's not happening," said Barnett. He later added, "The key is he's not... The reason I'm really running is to bring a new approach to leadership."

According to Barnett, the Washington-metropolitan area having the second worse traffic in the country is proof that something is not working with Wolf's approach to government.

"The man's been there for 30 years," said Barnett. "Either you have to say he's part of the problem or he's not part of the solution."

Regarding consensus building, Wolf has long been recognized for working with "Blue Dog" conservative Democrats, such as his recent parntnership with Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) on the SAFE Commission, designed to tackle the country's debt and deficit problems by forming a group government appointees to study the issues and report back to Congress.

The bill to create the commission has yet to pass Congress despite Wolf and Cooper leading on the initiative for years. Another is a telework bill championed by Wolf that failed this year due to procedural rules stating two-thirds of present members had to vote for it in order for it to pass. No Democrats voted against it, but only 24 Republicans, including Wolf, voted for it. Three of Virginia's five Republican House members voted for it with House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-7th), who represents Culpeper, and Hampton Roads Rep. Randy Forbes (R-4th) opposed.

"So it's (his) effectiveness that's got to be questioned," Barnett said of Wolf. Barnett's self-described "wheelhouse" on legislative issues is small business growth. During a 90-plus minute interview with The Times last month, Barnett focused on how defense contracts awarded by the federal government often go to large companies, such as Northrop Grumman, who then in turn hire smaller companies as subcontractors after taking a certain percentage of the award immediately.

Barnett said he wants to change that dynamic so small businesses can compete directly for contracts with the federal government instead of having only a handful of large businesses financially able to basically run the market.

In order to do that, Barnett recommended the federal government review how it can allot parts of an overall project instead of just offering the whole thing up in one large lump sum.

"You have to give them much better access to federal contracts," he said.

The London-born Barnett, raised as an Air Force brat during the 1950s and 1960s, is also a proponent of cutting what he considers wasteful defense projects and reallocating that money to intelligence budgets for research and development purposes with the hopes that projects developed for legitimate defense uses will eventually be spun off in the private sector in a manner similar to the Internet.

Barnett pre-butted arguments that he is soft on defense by noting both his children serve in the military, including his daughter who's served in Afghanistan, and that he has an active top secret security clearance.
"I want to be an articulate advocate for those guys in the intelligence component of national security," said Barnett.

Examples of wasteful spending he identified include the "legacy system," used within the military on computer programs, which he deemed antiquated; short-range jet fighters being built in excess and two armor divisions being stationed at Ft. Hood, Texas as being too many.

"Do you think that deters the Chinese?" asked Barnett. "We're going to borrow money from the Chinese to build weapons that we can't realistically use against China."