Braddock District Supervisor Cook Kicks Off Campaign

A crowd of supporters came out on Mar. 11 to a red, white and blue bedecked celebration of Braddock Supervisor John Cook's run for his first full term on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. The Braddock district includes part of Annandale.

Cook was sworn into office in March 2009, as a mid-term replacement for Sharon Bulova when she rose to the position of Chairman of the Board of Supervisors after 21 years in the Braddock district seat. He beat Democratic candidate Ilryong Moon by a mere 89 votes out of more than 13,000 cast in an extremely competitive special election.

Cook hopes to win his seat again this Nov. 8. Marc Greidinger has come forward as a Democratic challenger.

One of Cook's highest priorities is to get Fairfax County's transportation decisions into the hands of local government, instead of where it currently is at the state level. He reminisced about how he had to call the Virginia Secretary of Transportation to procure a snow plow during the "Snowpocalypse" of 2010.

"We got that street plowed but we also chuckled about the fact that there's something wrong with the system when a county supervisor has to call the Secretary of Transportation in Richmond to get a snow plow," Cook said.

As one of only three Republican members on the board, along with Springfield Supervisor Pat Herrity (whose campaign kickoff is next week) and Sully Supervisor Michael Frey, Cook said he is hoping to get a few more from his party in local government.

"I’ve had a lot of people approach me over the last year and tell me 'John, I’ve never voted for a Republican before but I’m going to vote for you,'” Cook said. "And that means something. It’s the bread and butter stuff. That’s what people want from county government."

He also pointed out that he's the only current Board of Supervisors member with kids in Fairfax County Public Schools.

"I’ve got kids in school-I run a business--I run a family," Cook said, while holding one of his baby sons. "I've gotta make ends meet and that brings a certain understanding to the job that some people on the Board have lost."

Several other current officials and candidates for office turned out for the event, including Herrity, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors candidate Michael "Spike" Williams and Jason Flanary, who's just announced that he's running for the state senate seat in the 37th district, currently occupied by Democrat Dave Marsden.

"I plan to use my business background to create more jobs, to help more jobs come here, and to provide a better transportation infrastructure to help everyone get to their jobs," Flanary said.