Posted on 08/12/2003 11:50:33 AM PDT by chambley1
It’s Northern Virginia’s smaller, slightly less insane version of the California gubernatorial recall free-for-all, and now County Board member Jay Fisette has stepped into the mix.
To no one’s surprise, Fisette announced last week that he would challenge incumbent U.S. Rep. James Moran, D-8th, in the Democratic nominating process. Fisette joins a growing list of potential challengers, which range from the serious (Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Kate Hanley) to the washed-up (outgoing state Sen. Leslie Byrne) to the essentially unknown.
“Jim deserves credit for his past work, but it’s time to move forward,” Fisette said in an interview. “I’m convinced that there’s an overwhelming number of people looking for a change.”
Moran has served in Congress since 1991, and remains popular – he has not had serious general-election challengers in years, and none at all within the Democratic Party.
But a series a well-reported missteps have cost the congressman some support. There have been financial questions, a fracas involving an 8-year-old boy, an alleged incident between two women purported to be his girlfriends, and anger over comments the congressman has made about American Jews and Israel.
Moran has not spoken publicly on the challenges, leaving that to his spokesman, Dan Drummond.
Drummond said that while it’s “early to discuss an election that’s 10 months away,” the congressman was already prepping for the primary.
“Jim recognizes that it’s going to be a competitive race,” Drummond said.
The 8th District once consisted primarily of Arlington and Alexandria. The Republican-controlled General Assembly’s congressional redistricting after the 2000 federal census changed the boundaries, extending the district west to Reston.
The redistricting plan for Northern Virginia was designed to concentrate Republicans in the 10th and 11th districts, which are occupied by Republicans Frank Wolf and Tom Davis. The side-effect of that decision was to make the 8th District even more Democrat-friendly than it was before, an acknowledgement that, barring some intra-party bloodbath, whoever wins the Democratic nomination is likely to take the general election in a walk.
Fisette was elected to the County Board in 1997, and served as chairman in 2001. In an interview, he said he’d focus on transportation, “smart growth” and environmental issues as a congressman.
There is little political risk for Fisette, whose County Board term runs through 2005 and would be unaffected if he loses the race for Congress.
Fisette said his run for Congress won’t interfere with his work on the County Board and won’t cause conflicts of interest. But eyebrows were raised last month, when the board member refused to sign a letter opposing a Major League baseball stadium in the county, a letter that all his board colleagues signed.
Fisette also stood out recently in his opposition to a day-laborer site in Shirlington. He proposed another site, but board members went ahead with their original plan.
“Is it a real difference of opinion, or is it just political posturing? That’s the $64,000 question,” said one local business leader.
Moran’s power base has long been in Alexandria, where he served as mayor before election to Congress. But he now lives in Arlington, and is a perennial vote-getter in the Democratic-leaning county.
Hanley announced earlier this year that she would not seek re-election as chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Her term expires Dec. 31.
In the position, Hanley served as the top elected official in the Washington region’s largest jurisdiction.
Over the past 50 years, Arlington has been represented in Congress by an Arlingtonian more often than not. From 1953-75, when Arlington was part of the 10th District, Republican Arlington resident Joel Broyhill served in Congress. County Board member Joseph Fisher defeated Broyhill in the post-Watergate Democratic landslide 1974, serving until 1981. Broyhill was defeated by Wolf, a Vienna resident, in the 1980 Reagan landslide.
After the 1990 census, the county became part of the 8th District for the first time since early 1950s, and Moran became congressman.
If Fisette wins election to Congress, a special election would be held in late 2004 or early 2005 to fill the remainder of his County Board term.
Also last week, Arlington civic activist Jim Hurysz announced he plans to seek the 8th District seat. Hurysz has been unsuccessful in several bids for County Board.
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