IT'S THAT time of year again. The leaves are turning their mottled hues, the air has a crisp bite to it and the Nov. 4 local election that no one cares about is fast approaching. Problem is, this year people should care -- especially if they hail from Fairfax County. This year, there is a grave threat to free thought, tolerance and educational quality looming over Northern Virginia. That threat is Mychele Brickner.
Brickner, who currently serves on the FCPS school board, is running for chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors -- the most powerful position in the county. Her opponent, Board of Supervisors member Gerry Connolly, has received numerous accolades over the course of his eight-year tenure, including the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government's Scull Award, the region's highest honor. While Connolly is eminently qualified to run the Board, Brickner's election will undermine everything that makes Fairfax one of the most prosperous counties in America.
A complete ideologue, Brickner has managed to garner a "D" grade from the Fairfax Education Association for her performance on the school board, including an "F" in overall leadership. To give you some idea of her record, she feels that remedial education has no place in schools, has voted numerous times in support of banning books and opposes family life education. Brickner also cast her vote against adding sexual orientation to the school system's non-discrimination clause. As one Washington Post article stated, "In votes that come down to 11 to 1, she's likely the 1" ("Conservative Stands Set Brickner Apart," June 4, 2003).
A case study of Brickner's thought process is worthwhile because it goes to the mindset she brings to the table. Her daughter was struggling in school, and remedial education wasn't doing the trick. Desperate, Brickner tried a phonics program. The results were stellar. Thanks to this one point of data, Brickner can now unequivocally say -- and has said, many times -- that remedial education is ineffectual and only phonics-oriented programs work. No matter the innumerable studies discounting her claims or the thousands of children who have had success in remedial ed. This laughable attempt at logic shouldn't be let anywhere near the chairmanship.
Beyond her blind and asinine views on education -- the area she should have the most expertise in -- Brickner's other policy stances are also cause for alarm. She won the Republican nomination with the tried-and-true tactic of promising to put money in the voter's pockets. Specifically, she supports limiting the increase of property taxes. That would be great if the state wasn't in the midst of a massive budget shortfall and if Fairfax didn't need to be raising as much revenue as possible, both for itself and for Richmond.
This election affects the entire Commonwealth. Fairfax contributes more to state coffers than any other county in Virginia; if Brickner wins, the belts will be tightening from Staunton to Norfolk.
Gerry Connolly is a clear alternative. He doesn't stand for banning books, and he doesn't stand for lowering taxes during a budget crisis -- nor does he stand for raising them.
According to his Web site (www.gerry2003.com), Connolly also supports a comprehensive four-year transportation reform plan which includes recommitting to Metrorail, building rail through Tyson's Corner and widening perpetually gridlocked highways.
The key to this election will be mobilizing people to vote. Voter turnout in local elections is famously low; generally, that is a product of apathy and a sense that the results don't really matter. This time, they do matter. The chairman of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors has a great deal of power, and that power wielded by a reactionary bigot can do a great deal of damage.
A huge number of students at the University are from Fairfax County, and it is absolutely imperative that we vote. Residents of Fairfax should apply for an absentee ballot. In an election of this size, your vote really does count.
Mychele Brickner versus Gerry Connolly doesn't exactly sound like Bush vs. Gore -- but considering the danger Brickner poses to the daily lives of Virginia's citizens, it should be treated as such.
(Elliot Haspel's column appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at ehaspel@cavalierdaily.com.)
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