Springfield Franconia ❖ Kingstowne ❖ Newington Sen. Dave Marsden (D-37) with wife Julia smile after Marsden defeated Republi- can Steve Hunt in Tuesday’s special election to fill the vacant 37th District State Senate seat. Classified, Page 12 Classified, ❖ SenatorSenator Calendar, Page 8 ❖ MarsdenMarsden News,News, PagePage 22 Sports, Page 10 RodneyRodney LuskLusk CitizenCitizen ofof YearYear News,News, PagePage 33 FedFed FundsFunds Requested in home 1-15-10 home in Requested Time sensitive material. sensitive Time ForFor LocalLocal RoadsRoads Postmaster: Attention PERMIT #86 PERMIT News,News, PagePage 77 WV Martinsburg, PAID U.S. Postage U.S. PRSRT STD PRSRT Photo by Justin Fanizzi/The Connection www.ConnectionNewspapers.comJanuary 14-20, 2010 ❖ Volume XXIV, Number 2 online at www.connectionnewspapers.comSpringfield Connection ❖ January 14-20, 2010 ❖ 1 Springfield Connection Editor Michael O’Connell News 703-778-9416 or [email protected] Marsden Takes Special Election Democrat defeats Steve Hunt (R) in special “We knew it was going to election for 37th District Senate seat. be close, but we felt we By Justin Fanizzi slightly more than 18,000 residents partici- had momentum.” The Connection pated overall, while 23,602 cast a ballot this — Del. David Marsden (D-41) year. Though Marsden won the overall vote, el. David Marsden (D-41) and Hunt actually won two more precincts, but by Photo a program to keep custodial spouses out of his fellow Democrats cel- the race seemed to be decided in the lop- jail. Debrated an election victory sided absentee ballot totals. Marsden gar- “As a senator, I want to work on legisla- Tuesday night, Jan. 12, that nered 800 absentee votes to Hunt’s 395, tion to create an environment to create jobs proved significant for not only the candi- which proved to be a larger margin than Fanizzi Justin and get our revenue back,” Marsden said. date, but for the party as well. the final overall vote total. “The budget is going to be an overriding Marsden, a two-term member of the “I hate it when they say I need 11,000 concern, though, and I look forward to be- House of Delegates, defeated Republican votes [to win] and I get 11,000 and I don’t ing able to have discussions on both sides challenger and former School Board mem- win,” Hunt said with a laugh. “We worked of the aisle and work together.” /The Connection ber Steve Hunt 11,954 to 11,627 in really hard and got an incredible turnout, As for Hunt and his fellow party mem- Tuesday’s special election to fill Attorney but [Marden’s team] did well. The margin bers, the loss stung a bit more. The 37th General-elect Ken Cuccinelli’s vacant 37th in absentee ballots was larger than the fi- District has been a Republican district since District State Senate seat. While the mar- nal count. It was a smart move on their part 1992, and Hunt said that he was disap- gin was a slim 327 votes, the victory per- [to target absentee voters].” pointed that he could not keep the seat haps reversed a Republican trend in recent within the party. However, Hunt would not rule out another run for public office, say- Fairfax County elections and helped ALMOST IMMEDIATELY AFTER the Del. David Marsden (D-41) with ing that he could not ignore his desire to strengthen a Democratic Party majority in unofficial election results came back and a wife Julia smile after Marsden serve his community. the Senate. victory speech was given, Marsden had to defeated Republican Steve Hunt in “It’s a little too early to tell [if I would “We knew it was going to be close, but hop in a car for a late night trip to Rich- Tuesday’s special election to fill run again for public office],” Hunt said. “I we felt we had momentum,” Marsden said. mond for the beginning of the General As- the vacant 37th District State have a great need to serve people. We had “Nobody can analyze what happened in sembly Wednesday morning. Marsden will Senate seat. November. There were a lot of folks who be sworn in as senator later in the day at a lot of people that got behind us, so we’ll stayed home and didn’t vote [in November] the General Assembly, but as of Tuesday economic woes. He said that he would work see what opportunities present themselves that started thinking ‘We need something night, was already ready to get to work in on legislation that will allocate money to in the future.” else’ and came out tonight.” his new position. the Governor’s Opportunity Fund and other Turnout, as both candidates were fully Marsden said that he is eager to work on bills that would attempt to bring more busi- THE NEXT STEP for both parties is to pre- aware, is the key in special elections, and legislation to create more jobs in his dis- nesses into the area. In addition, he said pare for the special election for the now that was the case Tuesday night. In a spe- trict and throughout the state, something that he wants to continue his work to im- cial election for the same seat in 2002, he believes would solve many of the region’s prove the juvenile court system and expand See Marsden, Page 7 This Is What Your Neighbors Want In their own words, locals speak out Then, Francese realized Little Rocky Run LIZ BRADSHER (Springfield), Fairfax was not alone. Other neighborhoods with County School Board member, was most at Virginia General Assembly hearing. state-controlled roads also need repaving. concerned with state funding cuts to the Virginia, he concluded, simply was not local school system but she also had harsh By Julia O’Donoghue Unlike his predecessor, newly sworn-in keeping up with words for one of The Connection Gov. Robert McDonnell (R) has said he will its road mainte- Bob McDonnell’s not raise taxes to balance the budget, which nance like it needs campaign prom- bout 60 people showed up to tes- could mean deeper cuts to services than the to. ises about educa- Atify before the Fairfax County del- ones proposed by Kaine. Francese urged tion funding. egation to the Virginia General As- About one-third of the people who took the local General McDonnell pro- sembly at a Jan. 9 hearing. The representa- their Saturday morning off to speak to Assembly mem- poses requiring tives, including state senators and del- Fairfax County’s senators and delegates had bers to push for a school districts to egates, headed to Richmond for the start of serious concerns about how Virginia’s bud- long-term solution spend a greater the legislative session on Jan. 13. get would impact residents with disabilities for bolstering percentage of Virginia’s budget is one of the top, if not who receive or are waiting to receive assis- transportation whatever state the top, priorities for most state legislators tance from the commonwealth. funding, which, in they receive fund- Albert Francese, Elizabeth in 2010. The General Assembly only passes Other speakers addressed a range of top- his opinion, did ing “in the class- Clifton resident Bradsher, Fairfax a new budget once every two years and the ics including taxes, the local court system not include more room.” County School current spending plan has a $4 billion short- and state funding for Fairfax schools. “creative solu- According to Board member fall. Here are excerpts of what people said to tions” like the [High Occupancy Toll lane] Bradsher, Kaine’s Former Gov. Tim Kaine (D) proposed clos- Fairfax County’s senators and delegates: project current under construction on the proposed budget ing Virginia’s budget gap through a mix of Capital Beltway. sets state funding for Fairfax schools at $20 tax increases and cuts in services before ALBERT FRANCESE first became con- “We need transportation solutions in Vir- million below the amount Virginia gave leaving office this month. Among other cerned with Virginia’s ability to maintain ginia and I am not talking about entering Fairfax in 2007, even though the local things, Kaine’s plan included a $60 million its infrastructure when he started noticing in more 80-year private-public partnerships school population has grown by approxi reduction in Fairfax County Public Schools’ the crumbling pavement in his Little Rocky with international companies who might state funding. Run community. not be around that long,” said Francese. See Neighbor, Page 5 2 ❖ Springfield Connection ❖ January 14-20, 2010 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com News Lusk Aims To Build a Better Future Chamber names “Rodney is an incredible Rodney Lusk 2009 community volunteer.” Herbert C. Citizen — Supervisor Jeff McKay (D-Lee) of the Year. career so I figured I’d try it and I loved it.” Lusk served with Connolly for nearly four years, working on land development By Justin Fanizzi projects such as the redevelopment of The Connection Tysons Corner Mall and Tysons II in the 1990s. That work laid the foundation for odney Lusk’s outlook on life is his transition to the Economic Development fitting for a man deemed “Citi Authority in 1998 after Connolly’s ascen- Rzen of the Year.” Ask him about sion to board chairman. In addition, he was his accomplishments, and, in- also appointed as the Lee District Planning stead of listing his contributions, he’ll talk Commissioner by former Lee District Super- about the people who helped him along the visor Dana Kauffman in 2004 and was re- way. Ask him about the motivation and com- appointed by Supervisor Jeff McKay (D-Lee) mitment he possesses to garner the recog- in 2008.