"Facts Are Facts"

Hey, Pat Herrity opened this can of worms when he said would never vote to increase taxes.  If your going to be a congressman, don't run away from the repercussions of your votes. 

1.  The official minutes of Fairfax County Board of Supervisors show Pat Herrity voted with every Democrat on the board to “set the real property tax rate at $1.04 per $100 of assessed value. As a result of this action, the real property tax rate for calendar year 2009 will increase by $0.12 over the real property tax rate for calendar year 2008 of $0.92 per $100 of assessed value.” Supervisor Herrity voting “AYE.” (emphasis added by me)

Read for yourself on the Fairfax County Government website. http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/bosclerk/summary/2009/09-04-27.pdf  the vote is on the top of page 5.

2. The Washington Post wrote, May 1, 2009, “Local officials have promoted their efforts to keep the average tax bill from rising. But not everyone was spared: More than 150,000 households in Fairfax County alone will owe more than they did last year.”

This is not rhetoric. It is fact. Pat Herrity can object to the facts, but it does not make them any less true.  Pat Herrity voted to raise the real property tax rate on Fairfax County homeowners by 12 cents per $100 of assessed value.  This rate change amounts to $550 on the average homeowner in Fairfax County.

Comments

[NovaRep]

Everytime you peddle this ridiculous accusation you show how naieve you are to the political process. As it has been stated numerous times if you conclude that Pat raised taxes than you must also agree that Gerry lowered them.

Second, this argument is being used by Fimian because he does not have a record to run on period. It further strikes me as odd when in 2009 Pat was the "conservative's conservative" when he ran for chairman, admittedly by folks such as Fimian and yourself. But now because he challenged your candidate he is somehow a tax-and-spend liberal.

Please, this argument being shopped around is stupid and baseless.

[David Stiles]

Yeah, Chris. You Jeff Frederick-supporter-types are like so misinformed and just plain stoopid.

There should be licenses to blog, and yours should be revoked.

[Real Conservative]

NovaRep did you fail to notice Herrity voted for the Rate Increase after he ran for Chairman?

150,000 people now pay more than they did last year in property tax how do you explain that?

Not sure if you own a home but people that do are hurting and Herrity is not helping them out.

The very people that voted for him are being punished by his votes.

[Chris]

Don't be silly, Spiker. None of those other people are running for Congress having taken a pledge to never raise taxes. Nobody told Pat to do that. If every other Republican in Northern Virginia voted to increase property tax rates, they would deserve to be "shit on," as you so poetically put it.

As for "you all" planning on Herrity to run for Chairman, that wasn't our plan. That was the party's plan until Pat realized that he couldn't win a chairman's race with all the Democrat incumbents running with Sharon. So yeah, maybe I'm a little bitter but that's just me. What I value is the hard work Keith put in in 2008 and 2009, going after Obama and his agenda while so many of the establishment types 'round these parts held thier fire until the president's poll numbers dropped.

But yeah, sorry. Pat voted for a tax increase. Deal with it.

[Herrity Lies!!!!!!]

VA Blogger apparently got the Herrity talking points about writing a unhinged diatribe like Herrity did in response to Fimian's Happy Anniversary email.

VA Blogger. True or False? Without raising the property tax rate as Herrity did, homeowners would have gotten a very large tax cut. Herrity should have supported that. As you know, the answer is true.

Afterall, he rails against Gerry Connolly for doubling taxes. But then he votes to keep the Connolly tax increase in place. Pat Herrity is the only liar here...Mr "I never voted to raise taxes."

[Chris]

One last thing . . . you throw those names at me like it should impress me or scare me. I don't care about names, nobody owes me. I'm not looking to work for those people, I'm not searching for the next job in politics. I take each race by itself and judge each candidate by what they say AND do. I have a tremendous life outside of all of this, so throwing all those names at me doesn't impress me or intimidate me. Those people are just that, names.

And I'm not attacking any of them. I know why they all are backing Herrity, its politics. But names like that might impress you, they don't impress me.

[PO'd taxpayer]

My tax bill went up because of Herrity's vote. Some conservative he is! So much for his much ballyhooed experience. Maybe he'll write me check for the extra money I'm paying in taxes now.

Put a fork in him, he's done.

[NovaRep]

Again, Keith has latched onto this as a last ditch effort to save his faltering campaign. He has no message that resonates with voters outside his tiny little universe of supporters.

I was unimpressed with Fimian in 2008 but gave him credit for stepping up. I was unimpressed with Fimian in 2009 when he started running again and I have become incensed at his dirty, unethical, slimy campaign practices in 2010.

As for Keith what did he do in 2009-2010? Has anyone checked VPAP regarding his donations to candidates in 2009. Its pathetic. I have personally spoken to NUMEROUS delegate candidates who said Keith promised lists and money and manpower and delivered on none of them. In August and September of 2009 he was vacationing out west.

Look: He lost by 12 points in 2008. That's not doing well, that's getting slaughtered and I may add that the argument about it being a bad year does not hold because in the 10th Frank Wolf ACTUALLY improved on his numbers from 2006! Keith ran a horrible race with little ground game and no strategy.

There are certain people in the conservative movement that have rallied around Keith like he is Ronald Reagan incarnate. He's not. And people ought to do more research before they make a decision to back a candidate. I understand and respect Keith's right to run for the nomination, and I make no qualms about that. However, I do take issue when he resorts to the lowest of low attacks on any candidate. This is not just towards Pat Herrity but also candidates like Kurt Riesenberg (potential candidate) who was asked REPEATEDLY to get out and back Fimian but Keith's own staff. Let me ask this question: What gave Keith the idea that this was his nomination? The nomination is that of the Republican Party and we confer that upon the candidate that the majority of "Republicans" say it should be conferred on. To assume it is yours is both arrogant and cocky.

As for some of the comments on this tax issue. There is no one on the County Board who has fought harder for lowering spending and cutting taxes than Pat Herrity and that is a fact. You can quibble amongst yourselves using you Fimian-logic or you can accept the truth as VA Blogger has outlined numerous times on this, and other blogs.

This attack by Keith is nothing more than to turn the attention on Pat because Keith has nothing to offer. Democrats WANT Keith to get the nomination and I have spoken to folks who support Gerry and would relish running against Keith. They are of the mindset he is a weak candidate and Gerry will have a field day with him. They are genuinely afraid that if they run against Pat there is a very good chance Gerry would lose.

[Chris]

Spiker, being against Herrity and going after him doesn't mean we don't support any other of those pols that support him. I see your game of trying to shame us into supporting Herrity. There is no bigger supporter of guys like Tim Hugo, and supporting Fimian has no bearing on that. Nice try.

Keith Fimian stood up in 2008 when every single other person in Northern Virginia - including Tom Davis - ran and hid. THAT is party loyalty. I still haven't heard exactly how its a smear . . . the language is pretty clear that that was increasing the property tax rate and Pat Herrity voted "aye." That is a tax hike. Sorry, you can throw names at me, question my party loyalty all you want.

My loyalty isn't to the Republican Party of Fairfax County. My loyalty is to the principles of the party and to fight for candidates who I believe best illustrate that. Sure its not always consistent, but there it is.

And yes, John Cook and Mike Frey voted to raise taxes. Sorry, they did. But they aren't running for Congress and aren't in this race. And if you don't think Dave Albo is an insider and establishment, I don't know what to tell you about your judgment.

Anthony Bedell did not single-handedly do anything. There was an entire network of activists and volunteers that helped bring it along, and your idolitry for one man does nothing good for the party. I'm sure Anthony would agree that it was much more than just him, that there was a massive team effort. And I've gone after Anthony not on anything but needlessly picking sides in a fight and perhaps undoing much of what he accomplished last year. I love that he has turned the committee into a real professional organization and gotten rid of all the consultants.

All those people are good people. Hell, Pat Herrity is a good person. All I'm pointing out is that the man has talked up never raising taxes and then there it is. What's wrong with that? How's that dirty or a smear? The man cast his vote, he should own it.

Attacking Pat Herrity on his vote doesn't mean I am attacking all those people you list. Stop hiding behind your endorsements and own up to it and talk about the vote instead of attacking me for attacking people who I am not attacking. This is about Pat Herrity and his vote. Throwing up all these smokescreens to hide behind is a nice spin.

PS - I don't know about anyone else, but I get no talking points. This is all me. All me.

[I support this blog!]

Go, Chris, Go! I hate how the Herrity team and their supporters try to bully others and throw names around as if to try to intimidate people.
And VA Blogger, explain this one: my property tax went up, while the value of my house went down this past year. That's a textbook definition of a tax increase. Why do you keep saying it isn't? Are you really just that stupid?