The meeting was called to order by Council President Mark McConn at 7:07 PM. He introduced Olga Hernandez from the League of Women Voters. The SDC and the League held the candidates’ forum jointly.

• CANDIDATES FOR SHERIFF:
  • Robert Rivera:
    Mr. Rivera said he served as a Provost Marshal in Afghanistan as an Army soldier. (The Provost Marshal is the officer in the armed forces who is in charge of the military police.) He worked with various jurisdictions in Afghanistan. He said he has experience working with people from different cultures and with prison inmates. Mr. Rivera noted that he speaks Spanish and some Korean. He said he wants to mentor children of inmates to reduce recidivism. He said reducing recidivism would help reduce taxes as well.
  • Bryan Wolfe:
    Mr. Wolfe said he has been a county resident since third grade. “I’m a community husband and dad.” After serving in the Air Force, he entered the Fairfax County Police force in 1996. He said he has served under four police chiefs and seen four different approaches to law enforcement and management.
  • Stacy Kincaid:
    Ms. Kincaid said she started working with the Fairfax Sheriff’s Office as an intern. She has been in law enforcement since. She graduated from high school in Fairfax County and from Frostburg State University in Maryland. She said the sheriff’s office is the largest in the Commonwealth and it needs to be diverse. She said she believes it’s important to be engaged in County communities. She has long history of outreach and community involvement with the police and fire departments, homeless prevention groups, etc. She’s a graduate of Leadership Fairfax. She will look for greater efficiencies. She said she wants to set up video interactions for inmates to help them communicate better with their families and health professionals.
  • Answers to Questions:
    • Mr. Wolfe said he is not in favor of unlimited phone calls for inmates.
    • Mr. Rivera supports universal background checks. He noted the relevance of the Naval Yard shootings last week.
    • Mr. Wolfe said he supports the 2nd Amendment and background checks for people with felonies and other criminal records. He said he believes law-abiding citizens should have the right to buy firearms, but not people who are mentally ill.
    • Ms. Kincaid said she supports background checks and she doesn’t belong to the NRA or any other similar organization.

• CANDIDATES FOR DELEGATE:
  • Patrice Winter Running for the 37th District:
    Ms. Winter (R) said she works at George Mason University and does breast cancer research. She has organized a walk for faculty and students in the health care profession. She served on the Fairfax City Council from 2002 to 2008, and has built a strong record for health care and support for small businesses. She supports health care for everyone, but noted that Medicaid expansion without reform would be a problem. As a former business owner and job creator for 17 years, she wants to reduce tax burdens on small businesses. She noted that GMU is in the 37th District and one of the Commonwealth’s largest universities. She wants to ensure that all students receive a quality education, and she wants state money allocated for Northern Virginia students in proportion to how much money their parents pay in taxes.
  • David Bulova Running for Re-election in 37th District:
    Mr. Bulova (D) said he grew up in Fairfax, and he and his wife settled down in the county. He has become involved in several health and community organizations. He’s proud of helping to pass the transportation bill in the 2013 General Assembly session. Mr. Bulova said he has worked hard to get a fairer share of education funding for NoVa. He is proud of his bills involved with identity theft and human trafficking. He would like to focus on helping small businesses and on tax reform. He thinks the Commonwealth should take advantage of research in Virginia’s colleges and universities to help solve problems. He wants to strengthen ethics laws for state officials.
  • Jennifer Boysko Running for the 86th District:
    Ms. Boysko (D) said her father was an Episcopal minister and a Democrat, and her mother was a nurse and a Republican. She began supporting women’s rights while in grade school in Arkansas. She worked for Rep. Shelby on Capitol Hill. She has served on the PTA in Herndon and on boards/committees at her church. She has worked in the community with Supervisor John Foust. She said she became upset about proposed legislation in Richmond regarding women’s reproductive rights and decided to run for office.
  • Tom Rust Running for Re-election in 86th District:
    Mr. Rust (R) served as mayor of Herndon for years. Under his administration, Herndon built its town center, a golf course, rec center, library, etc. He served as reactor of Longwood College. In the General Assembly, he serves on four committees, which is an unusually high number. He is the ranking majority leader in two of the four committees. He has worked with Governor on education, especially on efforts to keep tuition at state colleges and universities low. He has promoted duel enrollment for students in high school and community college. He was instrumental in getting additional resources put into reading for students. He reported that Virginia is ranked fourth in the nation for students in K-12, and number 1 in higher education. He noted that Forbes just ranked Virginia No. 1 for business. Mr. Rust wants to get STEM education down to the elementary grades, with emphasis placed on helping girls and minorities. Mr. Rust and Delegate Jim LeMunyon wrote the NoVa section of the “landmark” transportation bill.
  • Gary Foltz Running for the 40th District:
    Mr Foltz (D) is an ordained minister. He served on a school board in New Jersey. He works with a non-profit food co-op and with Habitat for Humanity. In Virginia, he is pastor of Wellspring Church of Christ, which he started. He said his work with congregations has given him experience in building consensus. He worked to get day-laborers off the street by setting up a day-labor center in Centreville. He supported bipartisan efforts to approve the transportation bill. He has grandchildren in local schools; therefore he supports quality education.
  • Tim Hugo Running for Re-election in the 40th District:
    Mr. Hugo (R) has represented the district since 2002. He has worked to help people obtain their tax refunds. He has worked to improve neighborhoods such as: getting roads in Virginia Run re-aligned to make them safer; and helping Gate Post Estates with power outages and sewage problems. He is opposed to the Bi-County Parkway in Prince William County, and the Cox’s Farm roundabout in Fairfax County. He said he works on the “nuts and bolts” for his constituents. Because he believes government should help people who cannot help themselves, Mr. Hugo pushed a bill through the General Assembly to help families affected by autism. He has strengthened laws against human trafficking; Virginia now has some of the strongest laws against it. He has support from many organizations, including local firefighters who endorsed him today, September 25.
  • Hung Nguyen Running for the 67th District:
    Mr. Nguyen (D) said he has been a community activist all of his live, starting when he was an altar boy. He wanted to be a Catholic priest, but chose another path. He is married. He has remained involved in the community. He lives near Rt. 50 and Stringfellow Road and knows that transportation is a problem. He said school education should be fully funded; he wants “the biggest bang for the buck.” He was appointed by Gov. Mark Warner to an Asian-American group. In his district, Asians comprise 21 percent of the population. Mr. Nguyen was appointed to the Commission for Community Service.
  • Jim LeMunyon Running for Re-election in the 67th District:
    Mr. LeMunyon (R) is completing his second term in the House of Delegates. He lives in Franklin Farms. He started a semi-conductor company and sold it. He is now in sales. In the General Assembly, he sponsored 24 bills and worked on the transportation bill. Transportation: Mr. LeMunyon said he introduced a bill to allow VDOT to comment on every road proposal. Today, Fairfax County is receiving a record amount of money from Richmond. Education: He said he and only eight other delegates have been endorsed by Virginia educators. Mr. LeMunyon wants more oversight on education. Jobs: He said the biggest task now is for tax reform for businesses, as well as for individuals. Mr. LeMunyon said he wants to work on ethics reform.
  • Answers to Questions to the Delegate Candidates:
    • Education Jurisdiction – Why aren’t students taught cursive handwriting anymore?
      • Mr. LeMunyon pointed out that local government instead of the federal government should handle education, including handwriting.
      • Regarding library supplements, Mr. Rust said funds for libraries should be equal for each jurisdiction, but funds were cut off for large counties. He said he has tried to get more funding.
    • Things incumbents are proud of, and most rueful about:
      • Tom Rust: He’s proud of approximately 100 bills he has sponsored for better education, library funding, and transportation. He is disappointed about a bill that addressed discrimination that did not pass. He said The Washington Post called him “one of the most effective delegates.”
      • Dave Bulova: He has tried to put forward a bill for tools VDOT needs for studying infrastructure, but the bill did not pass in the Senate. Mr. Bulova noted that it is difficult for the General Assembly to interfere with homeowner associations. He said some are run very well, but some are not. To change anything in governing documents, HOAs need to get a majority of homeowners to approve. Therefore, Mr. Bulova said he put forward a bill with standards for HOAs. It passed, but the Governor vetoed it. Mr. Bulova sponsored a bill to have more urban and suburban representation on the Commonwealth Transportation Bill.
      • Tim Hugo: He said one of the first things he discovered in Richmond is how much the rest of the state dislikes NoVa. Therefore, he has been working with delegates from the rest of the state to change negative feelings about the NoVa region.
    • Affordable Care Act – A resident asked why Virginia has not taken the full amount it is entitled to through the health care law. She noted that about 20 percent of population in the Sully District is Asian. Many have small businesses and cannot afford health insurance.
      • Winter: Virginia chose not to participate in the health care exchanges. She strongly supports the ACA.
      • Rust: He said Virginia will pay $29B in federal taxes whether we expand or not, but receive only $23B. Therefore, Virginia taxpayers will have to make up the $3B shortfall. He noted that with a $16 Trillion deficit, he is not sure that the federal government will follow through with its commitments to help fund health care programs. By not taking all the money available, Virginia has an “out” if the federal government doesn’t meet its commitment.
      • LeMunyon: He said Virginia cannot reform Medicaid without federal government approval. “We need the freedom to expand it.”
      • Winter: In Virginia, 50 percent of Medicaid funding is paid by the Commonwealth, and 50 percent is paid by the federal government. As the years go by, Virginia tax payers will pay a higher percentage. There are many Virginia providers who won’t accept Medicaid patients. Because of the ACA, businesses are hiring people to work only 29 hours a week so that the businesses won’t have to pay for employee health insurance. Therefore, more people will turn to Medicaid.
      • Foltz: He supports ACA. He said, “It will create jobs.”
      • Hugo: The ACA will pay for medical bills for the first few years, but taxpayers will have to pay more after that. He said even his liberal friend who is working on the tax end of the ACS told him, “It’s a mess.”
      • Nguyen: He says we need to take care of the poorest children.
      • Ken Plum (Delegate Plum arrived after attending another event.): He said Medicaid is a tough issue. “Virginia didn’t take the expansion because it wasn’t popular, but it’s the right thing to do.” He said we need to move forward because there are 1 million people who are uninsured in Virginia. The ACA will help insure 400K of them. Mr. Plum said he has lost 25 pounds since January and he believes Americans need to be healthier. The ACA will encourage better health and will pay for preventative care for more people. The other candidates noted the many opportunities that Fairfax provides for exercise and health information.
    • I-66 Improvements
      • Bulova: Mr. Bulova said Virginia needs funds for getting rid of bottlenecks, and paying for technology that will coordinate traffic lights and notify commuters of problems.
      • Hugo: Mr. Hugo believes I-66 and Rt. 28 is the biggest problem. He opposes closing Rt. 29 through the battlefield because those vehicles will have to use I-66.
      • Foltz: Mr. Foltz is for the Bi-County Connector. He noted that Mr. Hugo opposed the transportation bill.
      • LeMunyon: He supports new technology for managing roads.
      • Rust: He serves on the Super Nova group that is trying to coordinate roads with Maryland and West Virginia. Mr. Rust will be chairman of the Transportation Committee if re-elected.
    • Education Funding
      • Rust: He said the richer counties are supplementing education in the poorer counties. He said we need to raise the education level throughout the state so that everyone benefits.
      • Bulova: He said education funding needs to be fair. The Cost to Compete is a problem since the cost of living is much higher in NoVa.
    • Schneider Crossroad (Braddock and Pleasant Valley Roads) Roundabout:
      • Mr. Ted Troscianecki from Virginia Run thanked the delegates for their accomplishments. He said the roundabout proposed by VDOT and the Commonwealth Transportation Board for the intersection near Cox’s Farm (Schneider’s Crossing) will only benefit Loudoun County residents. He noted that 91 percent of Mr. LeMunyon’s constituents are in Fairfax County and only 1 percent of his constituents live in Loudoun. Mr. Troscianecki asked Mr. LeMunyon why he is supporting the proposal when many of his Fairfax constituents oppose it. Mr. LeMunyon said something needs to be done to improve the heavily-traveled intersection.
      • Mr. Nguyen and Mr. Hugo said they oppose the proposal. Mark McConn noted problems with the proposal. Priscilla Knight said she represents Sully Station II and noted that continuous traffic makes it difficult for Fairfax resident who live along Braddock Road to turn into and out of their neighborhood streets. She said a roundabout will make the problem worse since there will be no break in the traffic. She noted that traffic accidents have gone up tremendously at the roundabouts on and near Rt. 15 in Loudoun County. Mr. LeMunyon said VDOT will hold a public hearing on the roundabout at Stone Middle School on Oct. 9.

  The League of Women Voters and SDC President McConn thanked the candidates and all the residents who attended the forum.

  	Bonnie Hobbs of the Centreview attended the meeting and published two articles: Candidates Have Their Say Ready to Fight: Intersection Controversy Intensifies
  The League of Woman Voters asked Mr. Jim Southworth of the Fairfax Public Access station to tape the event. Here are links to his two YouTube videos: Virginia House of Delegate candidates and Sheriff Candidates Sheriff Only

• SDC First Vice President Jeff Parnes said there’s a need for Election Day officials. He asked for copies of photos of the meeting tonight.

• The October meeting will take place on the 23^rd
• Membership Presentation:
  • The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) will speak on the progress of rail to Delles and Dulles Airport infrastructure improvements

• There will be Land Use and Transportation presentations

The meeting and forum ended at 9:45 p.m.

Respectively submitted by,

Priscilla Knight
Secretary
Sully District Council