Braddock District Supervisor John Cook on his Work and Run for Re-Election

Braddock District Supervisor John Cook doesn’t seem too worried about his re-election campaign despite the furor around the Democratic candidate for his seat in recent weeks. He says he's concentrating on just doing his job.

“Really, since I’m the incumbent it’s really a question of whether people like the job that I’ve done in office,” Cook said in his typical forthright manner. “If they support the things we’ve been doing than we’ll be fine and if they don’t support them then people ought to support somebody else.”

Cook’s been a busy man since taking office. Among the “things” he’s been doing, he named off training over 150 Braddock residents in his leadership institutes, working to involve more people with disabilities in the community and speaking with individual communities on specific issues, from the new plans for to .

He’s also expanded his office’s communication into the new age, using Facebook to reach his constituency.

“People are hungry for communication about what’s going on in their local community because that information isn’t there,” Cook said. “When you’re trying to communicate with people, you have to communicate in the way that those people want to receive communication. That’s more and more through social media.”

Cook is also continuing to push for more local control of roads (“Only three states have the antiquated system that Virginia has where the state government runs local roads.”), property tax exemptions for nonprofits  (“Let’s make sure that we’re not taxing through the property tax the non-profits that are there not only to do good work but work for those that are most in need.”) and new plans and solutions for the Rail to Dulles project (“Phase two is a problem.”)

It's quite a lot considering he's just finishing out his first term. Cook won his seat in a March 2009 special election to replace 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.

Cook chucked a bit at hearing that his seat was considered a key target for county Democrats.

“That’s politics,” Cook said. “…Some activists understandably thought of this as a Democratic seat because it was for 20-some years or more. It’s really not. It’s the people’s seat. I’m very honored that the people chose me two years ago and would be honored if they chose me again.”

One recent move that Cook suspects to be politically motivated was a proposal by Chairman Sharon Bulova to set up a voting precinct at George Mason University.

“We have an unwritten rule that when something’s being done in somebody’s district the district supervisor has the lead or at least is consulted,” Cook said. “That didn’t happen. When I’m told five minutes before a board meeting during an election year that somebody wants to change the election rules, my antenna goes off.”

Cook said that he already had been in discussions with the Mason registrar about the possibility of switching Mason students from voting in the Woodson precinct at Woodson High School to the Villa Precinct at Villa Elementary School, which is in walking distance of some of the dorms on the western side of campus. (Mason students that live on campus have the option of registering to vote at school or voting in absentee from their permanent address)

Cook has been active in talks with Mason’s College Republicans group, many of whom work with him and other GOP-ers in the area.

“It’s great to see so many young people enthusiastic about the Republican party,” Cook said.

In the meantime, the Braddock District race has already heated up with three separate candidates having announced for the Democratic nomination in recent months. , saying he would throw his support behind , despite previously questioning Wade’s Democratic credentials in an interview with Burke Patch. Greidinger hasn’t been the only one – several Virginia bloggers have expressed concern and confusion over .

Cook himself expressed concern at what he perceives as Wade’s lack of background in neighborhood service.

“I believe this job is about communities and it's about getting into neighborhoods,” Cook said. “. . . To me, the first qualification for this job is a proven record in your neighborhood."

Former at-large school board member , saying she wanted Democrats to have “a winning campaign in Braddock. . . that can defeat the incumbent.”

Cook’s been watching the action from where he sits.

“It's a circus,” Cook said. “ was running a substantive campaign - talking issues and meeting voters. They kick him out and now there is a fight between two factions, neither of which is talking any substance. . . . When the other candidates are ready to talk substance, I'll be ready and waiting.”

One district over, fellow Republican Supervisor Pet Herrity, who's running unopposed this year, has said he'll do what he can to help Cook with his race.

"Braddock District just got a whole lot more interesting," Herrity said. ". . .I will be doing what I can to get Supervisor Cook re-elected. He’s a good man and he represents his district well."