Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman
Gerald E. Connolly was elected President of the Virginia Association
of Counties (VACo) on Tuesday, November 9, 2004. VACo was
created in the 1930s and is now an association of all 95 counties
in Virginia. It strives to bring the various local governments
together to promote their common goals and become better,
more efficient advocates for the people they collectively
serve in Virginia
Chairman Connolly delivered the following
speech at his VACo inauguration.
Good afternoon. Thank you all for the confidence
of your vote.
Political pundits often speak of local government
with bemused disdain. Their focus is inevitably on Congress
or state legislatures. At best we get a passing reference
to "down at the level of some obscure county commissioner
somewhere"…But local government is the most accountable
level of government in a democracy. It is where services are
provided to citizens.
Local government is the front line in a changing,
challenging world. When the Pentagon was attacked in the second
worst terrorist act in our nation's history, it was not the
Army or the Navy or the Marines that responded it was Arlington
County's firefighters and paramedics. Local government provides
the nation's first responders.
When our residents were threatened by the Anthrax,
it was our local Health Departments that organized the response,
marshalling volunteers and distributing Cipro.
When Hurricane Isabelle devastated whole neighborhoods
in the Commonwealth, it was our Public Works and Public Safety
personnel who went door to door in the aftermath and stayed
on the job for weeks afterwards, seeing residents through
the enormous devastation.
In my view local government is the most noble
level of government -- the closest to our citizens. I believe
deeply in local government, and VACo is the face and the voice
of local government in Virginia. We must work hard to ensure
it is an effective and assertive voice for all of our citizens.
That voice will be most effective when we can
speak with a common purpose. From Fairfax to Tidewater, from
Hampton Roads to Fluvanna the counties of Virginia have more
in common than not. The need for education and transportation,
human service and public safety funding; the common threat
of gang violence, which is as virulent in the townships of
rural Virginia as it is at our urban core; the ever growing
burden of unfunded mandates imposed by Congress and the General
Assembly. And the common threat from challenges we must face--
the changing nature of the telecommunications industry for
example, that holds above us the threat of massive revenue
loss no matter how large or small your jurisdiction. Our tax
base must be diversified or the economic impact could be devastating.
It is imperative that we find common ground
and work together to translate that commonality into a dynamic,
effective legislative strategy. We have achieved success in
the past. Last year we made important advances in education
funding, but we must not let the legislature fall into the
familiar pattern of rolling back that progress. We must impress
our legislators with the need to build on those education
gains for the sake of all our children.
And, whether we come from dense congested urban
counties or struggling rural areas, we must impress on the
Governor and legislature that transportation funding MUST
be this year's primary focus. Whatever your motivation - releasing
residents from the oppression of traffic gridlock in Northern
Virginia or bringing jobs to economically distressed rural
communities, we have common cause in the need for transportation
funding now and we must speak with one voice if we are ever
going to be heard.
Finally, those who know me are aware of my love
of history. I have spent many happy hours traveling to Virginia's
battlefields and debating Civil War strategy or poring over
the papers of our Founding Fathers. But loving history and
being a prisoner of it are two very different things. I am
sure that there was a time in the history of this commonwealth
when local government needed babysitting and Judge Dillon
knew best. But that time was 1873 and that time has passed.
Devolution of power - home rule -- is a conservative principal
and should find receptive audience in the General Assembly.
My friends the time has come for a new compact
between the state and local governments in Virginia.-- a compact
that delineates where the state's responsibilities end and
ours begin. A compact that loosens the fiscal reins on local
government and provides us the requisite tools with which
to finance essential services, and the autonomy with which
to make decisions that are appropriate to our respective communities.
The era in which Richmond knows best is over.
It's been said that the best way to predict
the future is to invent it. The time has come to open a strong,
dynamic conversation about home rule for Virginia's localities.
I look forward to the discussion and to working and standing
with all of you as we face the challenging year ahead. Thank
you.
- Gerry Connolly
