Pat Herrity Wants To Be Tom Davis And He's Failing Miserably

Sully District has always been considered the most Republican magisterial district in Farifax County, and for the first time since it was created we have an open election.  Readers of the Virginia blogosphere are well aware that the omnipresent Brian Schoeneman was the first out of the gate and applause from everyone not living in Sully district.  And while for some there is enjoyment in beating Brian up a little, that isn’t really the story here.  The larger story is Springfield Supervisor Pat Herrity attempting desperately to be some sort of 21st century Tom Davis, a Republican boss who can select and fund candidates himself and run the party.  Thus fair, whatever he is attempting, it has failed miserably.

First are the candidates, and right now we stand at three.  We have John Guevara, a local community activists both politically and non-politically who seems to have the grassroots support.  Then there is John Litzenberger, who has run for office before and is currently Mike Frey’s man on the county Planning Commission, usually a stepping stone to supervisor.  Brian would be the third.  This race hasn’t broken down into the traditionally establishment vs. conservative paradigm one might think because of Herrity’s funding of Schoeneman, who nobody in Sully really knows.  Brian’s chief reply to the carpetbagger question is he points out a majority of the delegate district he ran in 2011 has Sully in it.  That doesn’t really help his case when reminded that he lost to David Bulova by 20 points.  Brian literally moved to Centreville in the last month and announced less than a week after he moved.  In an election like this, for supervisor, local ties both in politics and civic associates are more important than almost anything else.  Right now Brian has Pat Herrity’s people and contacts, which have done him no favors.

The first skirmish in this just happened, and that was the vote on the method of nomination.  The procedure according to the party plan is that the unit committee, in this case FCRC’s voting membership, will select the method of nomination for the local and constitutional offices.  The RPV party plan apparently doesn’t recognize the existence of magisterial district committees as separate entities because they don’t exist in most of the state.  So by the rules, the county committee can’t actually devolve this decision to the districts.  The FCRC e-board made a decision that it would be a good idea basically for each magisterial district to unofficially select what method they want to use for nomination and it would be recommended to the full county committee for ratification.  This way the wishes of the districts are granted and aren’t forced upon by the entire committee.  It’s actually a clever way of keeping the natives happy within the districts and it’s worked well.

That is, until Boss Herrity (lol) tried to game the system for Schoeneman at the last meeting.  Sully voted overwhelmingly for a mass meeting instead of a firehouse primary or standard primary, with I believe the only two no votes coming from Brian and his wife.  What was especially embarrassing about this was according to the birdies chirping out there is that Brian nor Patt ever called any Sully activists or FCRC members ahead of this meeting and walked in having no idea how this would go.  He was completely blind-sided.  The interesting part is Litzenberger, who holds the support of much of the business and professional community in Sully (why Pat isn’t backing him, I’ll never know), is also pushing for a mass meeting.  So now Pat and Brian are left in the position of convincing the FCRC membership as a whole to set aside the overwhelming choice of the Sully committee (Mason district as well chose a mass meeting) and put in place a firehouse primary.  Guevara and Litzenberger, who represent the grassroots vs. business divide, both agree on a mass meeting.  I’m not sure neither Pat nor Brian have that kind of sway, and I’m certainly convinced that members as a whole do not want to pick a needless fight over the overwhelming support of a magisterial district and the candidates.  The key, again, is Litzenberger, who’s constituency in this race would naturally be allies of Herrity.  Since he is pushing for a mass meeting, it is unlikely we’ll see some long drawn-out establishment vs. grassroots fight over primary vs. mass meeting.  And this is all against the backdrop of the Democratic Party having a legit, A-list recruit in Kathy Smith as their nominee.  If Brian and Pat can’t find the time or effort to call Sully activists within the committee, how can we expect them to run a real general election campaign against the Connolly/Bulova-backed Smith?  

The real story for me is Pat Herrity once again grasping for influence in a county party that he has no sway over.  People like and respect him, and he does a good job as a supervisor, but Frey and John Cook get more done than Herrity does as far as the board Republicans go.  He tried running for Chairman and Congress and lost both, the latter badly.  Meddling in Sully’s open race has angered a lot of activists of both business/establishment and grassroots stripe and has really left Brian hanging in the wind.  Doing absolutely nothing to prepare for this race hasn’t helped either, as many Sully precinct captains found out about Brian’s announcement on Facebook and Bearing Drift like that rest of us.  One thing Brian and Pat do have going for them is an incredibly sharp campaign manager in Erika Dyer, who comes from BarbaraWorld, but I’m not sure that will be enough.  In a way I feel bad for Brian because he’s a good guy, has worked hard for the party (certainly harder than me LOL), and really I think would want to do a lot of good if he were elected.  But he got talked into something here that I’m not sure was very well thought out and with zero advanced preparation.  Does Pat Herrity really think he can wave a magic wand and make Republicans in Fairfax County do his bidding?  What major races has he won, what candidates has he groomed, what major donors does he control?  And what is the end game?  Fairfax County is Democratic, Gerry Connolly and Sharon Bulova rule it and there really isn’t much we can do about it.  The best we can do is create strong unit committees that develop good candidates from the grassroots, from civic associates, and from HOA leadership.  

If Herrity is trying to be a Boss like Tom Davis was, he’s doing a terrible job of it.  

Comments

[Not Larry Sabato]

Tom Davis wasn't that good at it either, which is what started to take him down.

[Chris B.]

He was until he realized he had one mouth and two ears if you know what I mean.

[Ron4VA]

Pat Herrity is the only vote against higher taxes on the Fairfax Board. He is the only vote against higher spending. As a former Fairfax resident, I appreciate his leadership--even if I don't agree with all his recent endorsements.

[We Need A Leader]

Thankfully Pat is stepping up and leading county republicans. Glad someone is doing it.

[Chris B.]

Everyone needs to get on record that they support Pat so he sees it, right?

[Not Larry Sabato]

"He was until he realized he had one mouth and two ears if you know what I mean."

I can't believe you went there. But still LMAO.

[Independent Green Party voter]

Marisa Wissar of the conservative Independent Green Party was the first candidate out of the gate in for Sully District Supervisor. Google it. See Fairfax Connection, Centreville Independent, and others. Marisa Wissar of the conservative Indy Green Party is a teacher, successful Green business woman, and mother of three children - all graduates of Fairfax County Public Schools. http://www.votejoinrun.us/

[Donna W]

Pat Herrity has many supporters. Unlike that moron Keith Fimian who turned out to be the worst candidate ever and has been missing in action ever since, lost both congressional elections because he was an empty suit. Connally feared Herrity as a challenger. Too bad folks were hoodwinked by Fimian especially those in PWC who thought he was the second coming of Jesus Christ. I spoke to a personal friend of Gerry Connolly after the last primary between Fimian and Herrity and asked his reaction to Fimian winning the Republican primary. His reaction was "ecstatic". After an unusually high turnout in Connolly's Mantua district during the primary I asked this individual if there was a organized effort to make sure Fimian comes out the winner and the response was ."You betcha! We can thank those who supported Fimian for having Connolly in office for life. We can thank those who changed the nomination process in state party central for Mc Auliffe as Governor rather than Bolling!

Pat Herrity has worked consistently on behalf of the residents of Fairfax County. He is out there working hard on behalf of his fellow Republicans.
Herrity should be thanked for all he does on behalf of the Republican Party rather than be attacked.
Go after the Democrats not a hard working elected official like Pat Herrity.

[Chris B.]

I must have missed all those candidates Herrity has recruited and gotten elected.

[Word Up]

John Litzenberger's campaign will implode, just wait. Guevara is a non-element here, has no money, supporters, endorsements, or clout. Kathy Smith on the other hand...she will take Brian by 10 points.