Pages 14 Serving FairfaxFairfax Areas of Burke Sweet Sweet WellbeingWellbeing SaturdaySaturday Page 9 Follow on Twitter: @ffxconnection on Twitter: Follow News, Page 13 Every Tweet Classified, Page 17 Classified, ❖ Counts News, Page 3 Sports, Page 16 ❖ Entertainment, Page 12 ‘It’s Not OK to Turn A Blind Eye to Bullying’ News, Page 10 From left, Cupcakes Actually owner Susan Woodhouse looks on while Supervisor John C. Cook (R-Braddock) serves a gourmet cupcake to Jill Westeyn of Oak Hill. Photos by Tim Peterson/The Connection www.ConnectionNewspapers.comDecember 5-11, 2013 online at www.connectionnewspapers.comFairfax Connection ❖ December 5-11, 2013 ❖ 1 Bulletin Board Send notes to the Connection at Jackson Memorial Highway, Fairfax. [email protected] or call 703-778-9416. The deadline for MONDAY/DEC. 9 submissions is the Friday prior to pub- lication. Dated announcements should Stroke & Osteoporosis Screening. 8421 Arlington Blvd., Fairfax. be submitted at least two weeks prior to Screenings identify potential the event. cardiovascular conditions such as blocked arteries and irregular heart SATURDAY/DEC. 7 rhythm, abdominal aortic aneurysms, and hardening of the arteries in the Saturday Morning Coffee with legs, which is a strong predictor of Delegate David Bulova. 9 a.m.-11 heart disease. Pre-registration is a.m. Main Street Bagel, 10268 Main required. www.lifelinescreening.com. Street, Fairfax. Constituents are invited to talk about issues of interest SATURDAY/DEC. 14 and to ask questions about legislation Dog Adoption. 12-3 p.m. PETCO affecting our community.º Greenbriar Towncenter, 13053 Lee Dog Adoption. 12-3 p.m. PETCO, Jackson Memorial Highway, Fairfax. 13053 Greenbriar Towncenter, Lee www.hart90.org 2 ❖ Fairfax Connection ❖ December 5-11, 2013 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Fairfax Connection Editor Kemal Kurspahic 703-778-9414 or [email protected] News by Photo Every Tweet Counts Ross Victoria How Republican Brian Schoeneman earned wrath of /The Connection his party by making sure every vote counted in county. By Victoria Ross The Connection n the morning of Brian Schoeneman in his Fairfax townhome with his Nov. 6, the day af- cat, Howie. His favorite portrait of Revolutionary hero O ter the general elec- George Washington hanging above the fireplace. tion, it appeared that Republican Mark Obenshain Brian Schoeneman — At a Glance had eked out a razor-thin victory Hometown: Born in Baltimore He is the legislative director for the over Democrat Mark Herring to and raised in Pennsylvania, Seafarers International Union of become Virginia’s next Attorney by Photo Schoeneman came to the D.C. met- North America, a maritime labor General. ropolitan area to attend The George union. Schoeneman is co-owner and Like most hotly-contested politi- Washington University, where he an active blogger for the right-lean- earned two degrees. He moved to ing political blog Bearing Drift. cal battles, the close race gener- Ross Victoria Fairfax County in 2007. Membership & Affiliations: ated even closer scrutiny. Education: B.A. in political sci- Member of the historic St. John’s National political analyst David ence, George Washington University, Episcopal Church on Lafayette Wasserman, with the Cook Politi- 2001. Master’s degree in political Square; Catholic University Law Re- management, George Washington view, published The Scarlet “L” – cal Report, thought there were University, 2004; Law degree, Catho- Have Recent Developments in Lob- anomalies in the absentee ballot /The Connection lic University School of Law, 2011 bying Regulation Gone Too Far?; totals for Fairfax County, which Family: Married to KayAnn, the vice president of the Wescott Ridge had been expected to vote strongly communications director for the Homeowners Association; an active Fairfax Chamber. The couple live in freemason, he has served as an of- Democratic. Fairfax with their 3 1/2 year-old son ficer in John Blair Lodge #187; Wasserman took to Twitter with Nick and cat, Howie. member of the International Propel- his evidence, pointing out there Public Office: Schoeneman ler Club of the United States, where served in President George W. Bush’s he serves on the Board of Governors must be absentee ballots missing administration as special assistant of the D.C. Chapter; founding mem- in Fairfax County, because the per- Brian Schoeneman, Secretary of the Fairfax County and senior speechwriter to Secretary ber of the GW Graduate School of centage of requested absentee bal- Election Board, at his “day job” as an attorney in of Labor Elaine L. Chao from 2008 to Political Management Alumni Asso- lots that had been returned and Fairfax County. 2009. In that capacity, he served as ciation, and served as its first the Secretary’s lead liaison to orga- president; communications director reported on election night was nized labor and as a member of her for the Fairfax County Republican much lower than the percentage senior staff. In the 2011 election, he Committee in 2010 and former gen- of other counties. Wasserman and ran against state Del. David Bulova, eral counsel for FCRC From 2012 to others noticed that there were ab- a Democrat, but failed to capture the March 2013. He is a member of the 37th house district seat. American Bar Association, the normally low totals in the 8th Con- Profession: Schoeneman earned Fairfax Bar Association and the Fed- gressional District, which includes his law degree at Catholic University. eralist Society. Bailey’s Crossroads. “Are we supposed to buy that just 7 percent of voters in Bailey’s “I’ve talked to the GR (general wrath of some in his own party, Crossroads who requested an ab- registrar) and we are working on who weren’t happy that Fairfax sentee ballot actually voted? Pre- this as we speak — I am convinced County’s revised count turned the posterous,” Wasserman concluded now too that there is an issue.” tide in favor of Democrat Mark in one tweet. Brian Schoeneman, Secretary of the Fairfax County Elec- “It was my worst nightmare as Herring. Meanwhile, Brian Schoeneman, tion Board, took to Twitter throughout Election Day and in an election official, the perfect “Anyone who knows Brian the senior GOP appointee to the days following the election, to communicate with storm of events,” Schoeneman said knows that he is honest to a fault, Fairfax County’s three-member political observers who questioned the discrepancy be- last week. “During the canvass, we and will do everything in his Electoral Board, was in the midst tween requested absentee ballots and actual vote counts spent most of the day catching power to make the (election) pro- of a post-election canvass, his first in the statewide elections. Schoeneman’s now infamous little errors, and we didn’t realize cess as fair and transparent as pos- since being appointed to the board “zero” tweet, posted on Wednesday, Nov. 6, went viral and we had a glaring error.” sible,” said Cameron Quinn, last spring. Essentially, a canvass sparked a fast and furious twitter sphere debate. Votes were temporarily Fairfax County’s general registrar. is checking and double-checking underreported when a voting ma- Chris Sanders, a local Twitter Election Day votes, the purpose of uncounted absentee ballots in ing Schoeneman with numbers chine in Bailey’s Crossroads mal- follower, said he was impressed by which is to catch inevitable human Fairfax County. We completed our showing abnormally low totals for functioned early on Election Day. Schoeneman’s candid responses errors. count last night,” Schoeneman absentee ballots. Although the machine was later during the election. “He is a stand- Schoeneman, a well-known posted on Wednesday, Nov. 6, at Schoeneman, in an effort to be repaired, an election official up guy, even though we don’t have Fairfax attorney, Republican 2:33 p.m. “hyper-transparent,” encouraged grabbed the totals generated when the same politics,” Sanders said. blogger and former Bush staffer, The “zero” tweet instantly went the crowd sourcing by engaging the machine broke down, rather On Nov. 25, the Virginia State had been posting tweets and viral. followers with real-time status re- than the final tally — a much Board of Elections certified elec- Facebook messages on Election Over the next 36 hours, the twit- ports. larger number for Herring. tion results with Herring defeat- Day to make the process as trans- ter sphere exploded as hundreds At 7:40 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. Schoeneman’s transparency and ing Obenshain by a mere 165 votes parent as possible for voters. of followers jumped into the fray, 7, Schoeneman tweeted: his willingness to explore what out of more than 2 million cast He had also been reading the providing numbers, offering theo- “I’m working on figuring this out went wrong on election night statewide. Obenshain has re- tweets from Wasserman and oth- ries, and, at times, hurling parti- as we speak … Nobody’s being thrust him into the epicenter of quested a recount, which is ex- ers. Finding no evidence of a dis- san insults. rude. Dave is keeping me honest, partisan politics. pected to be held in mid-Decem- crepancy after an initial review, he Wasserman and Ben Tribbett, a which is fine.” While his actions earned him the ber. tweeted a reply. Fairfax County Democratic opera- A half hour later, at 8:14 p.m., respect of many Democrats, both The “found” absentee ballots and “To respond to rumors going tive who writes the political blog Schoeneman sent out a “Houston, locally and nationally, around, there are zero – o – ZERO “Not Larry Sabato,” kept pepper- we have a problem” tweet: Schoeneman also earned the See Election, Page 6 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Fairfax Connection ❖ December 5-11, 2013 ❖ 3 News Local Non-profit Faces Decrease in Donations Our Daily Bread is in need of sponsors for their holiday pro- gram, which helps local fami- lies struggling to make ends meet.