Nearly two years in the making, retired Air Force veteran Carl Genthner (D) kicked off his campaign for Gainesville District supervisor last Tuesday in Haymarket at the Lion and Bull restaurant in Dominion Valley, launching the formal start of the general election for the Board of County Supervisors' western-most seat.

The seat is currently held by two-term Supervisor John Stirrup (R), mostly commonly known for largely authoring the county's 2007 law on illegal immigration. Neither Genthner nor Stirrup face party primary challengers.

Genthner began contemplating a run for office in 2009, first considering running against Manassas Del. Bob Marshall (R-13th) before switching over to the county race.

"I felt like the county was going in the wrong direction for some time," he said.

During an interview Sunday in Gainesville, Genthner focused particularly on issues related to growth, transportation education and spending priorities while also discussing the effects of the county's controversial approach toward curbing illegal immigration.

Growth, transportation and education can be tied together in one aspect of Genthner's campaign as he advocated for "smart growth." Such a system of residential development to him focuses on the idea of growing "up" instead of "out," which means having mixed-used developments where there are apartments or condos on one floor and businesses below them, for example.

When asked if the mixed-use development at Madison Crescent off of the northeast intersection of U.S. 29 and U.S. 15 in Gainesville is what he had in mind, he said there was a problem with its approach when viewed through the lens of smart growth.

He mentioned that homes and businesses there are in their own different sections of the development instead of a better-connected grid. Genthner added that in his home community of Heritage Hunt, the lack of a grid means that the commute from the front gate to various people's homes means it takes a two-mile drive for some folks just to reach nearest 7-11.

"It's an issue of quality of life," he said, later adding, "If you have smart growth, than I believe that growth becomes less of a problem."

As for how the county should promote or enforce smart-growth policies, Genthner said the proffer system needs to be reviewed but proffers themselves shouldn't necessarily be increased.

"If it makes it too expensive for a developer to build these mixed-used" communities, then it's not good, he said.

Genthner also pointed out that developments where schools are isolated on one side and residential units are clustered around cul-de-sacs on other sides also means parents will have to sometimes drive longer than they should in order to drop their kids off. Though he did not specifically mention the school, that is a common issue parents deal with schools on the western end of Dominion Valley.

Putting the school in the center of the development and then building outward, he said, would be a more practical idea.

As for transportation, Genthner supports the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) extension from the Broad Run station near the Manassas regional airport off of Route 28 to Gainesville but said it's not the best idea to bring the rail line out to Haymarket.

"(That) turns Haymarket into a parking lot" for commuters from Fauquier, Loudoun and other areas, he said. Instead, Genthner added, "I think there's a lot of opportunity for the Gainesville VRE. I think it has the potential to create a place that controls growth and development."

Though he did not directly contrast his views on transportation and development with Stirrup's views, he said that, in general, "I just don't think there's a clear enough vision for where Gainesville will be in 20 to 30 years. We're sort floating along."

On the broader subject of education though, he did disagree in one area with the incumbent supervisor, specifically how Stirrup argued against taking federal stimulus dollars to help fund teacher salaries for one year.

The differences between Republicans and Democrats on the issue amount to some hard numbers and some philosophy.

Stirrup and Republicans at the time argued that they did not want the county to contribute further to the national debt by accepting stimulus money and that, even if the money did come in, it should be spent on one-time capital improvement projects instead of recurring expenses. As a result, the county would have to match funding the following year without extra federal money.

Genthner and other county Democrats say that federal taxpayers in the county should see a return on their tax contributions and that the turnover rate among teachers is annually high enough that the county would not have to fire teachers in future years without stimulus dollars.

Instead, they argue, that there would be enough vacancies from retirements or teachers leaving the county school system that they would be "absorbed into the system."

"I would have voted to take the money," Genthner said.

Another issue that also traditionally involves the federal government where Genthner and Stirrup have differences is illegal immigration.

Genthner did not offer any proposals to change the county's 2007 law nor did he critique it more than to ask a philosophical question about whether it is working like Stirrup and chairman Corey Stewart (R) say it is, citing mixed results of a study judging its effectiveness by the University of Virginia.

"I frankly don't know why the subject keeps coming up," Genthner said, taking a jab at Stirrup for its effectiveness.

When asked what should be done in the short-term, before more data becomes available, with illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes, said, "People are always committing crimes in this county" and should be punished accordingly.

Genthner commended Police Chief Charlie Deane for doing a "remarkable job" for his level of enforcement of the law but cited the need for more "objective" data to determine whether the benefits of the law itself outweigh its costs.

"There (have) been a lot of assertions that haven't been supported in fact," he said.