Profile: John Cook, Supervisor, Braddock District

At a Glance

• Born: Delhi, New York
  
• Education: B.A. in political science at Gettysburg College, 1985. J.D. George Washington University, 1988.
• Family: Married, six children
• Occupation: Managing partner at Fairfax law firm of Cook, Kitts & Francuzenko, PLLC.
• Public Office: Braddock District Supervisor, March 2009 to present

Homeowner’s association leader turned Braddock District Supervisor John Cook is seeking to retain his seat on the board.

“I learned a lot in that process about what people can do in their neighborhoods to make their lives better and how the county can help facilitate that,” Cook, 48, said. "It seemed like a natural progression to politics."

Cook, a Republican, will be running against a Democratic opponent, either Janet Oleszek or Christopher Wade. The Democratic primaries take place in late August.

Cook grew up in Delhi, New York. He moved to the Northern Virginia area when he was working toward his law degree at George Washington University. He was an appointee to the Regan administration, where he worked with welfare reform regulation.

Cook went on to a private practice as the managing partner at the Fairfax law firm Cook Kitts & Francuzenko, PLLC, where he has worked for the last 16 years.

“I am at the point in my life where the law practice is able to sustain itself so I’ve been fortunate to have the ability to take a significant amount of time to be Supervisor,” Cook said. “It’s significant and rewarding to be able to help communities.”

Cook had his first brush with community politics in early 2006, when he was the president of in the King’s Park Citizens Association. The association's initiatives focused on solving problems for the Burke homeowners including everything from zoning issues, illegal boarding houses, and perceived neighborhood decline, Cook said. The association's membership doubled during his tenure as president.

“Too often you get cliques who usually do this or that. But you need to reach out to people who don’t usually get involved,” Cook said. “Tell them that if you have an interest in getting involved that their opinion matters.”

Tony Vellucci was the King's Park West Civic Association president when Cook worked as president of the neighboring association. 

"King's Park was starting to go downhill and he brought life back into their civic association," Vellucci said.

Cook, who he himself has six children, said that he would want to encourage more people in the community to be empowered to get involved. He said he has helped start several “community engagement initiatives” where volunteers learn how they can help. 

“I would want to continue that work to get people involved in their neighborhood and give them in contact with county resources,” Cook said. “We need to get people active. We have 150 people who have gone through these training programs. There are a lot of things happening now at the neighborhood level, which is a good place for things to be happening.”

Cook also said that he would want to expand the community outreach to George Mason University, potentially creating an advisory board where residents of Mason area neighborhoods could weigh in on upcoming projects.

“Usually, governments design a project then present it to the community in a public meeting and the plan is laid out,” Cook said. “My model is to have a lot of civic engagement right from the outset.”

Another concern of Cook’s district is transportation.

“We should, as the county, take a greater look at taking care of our secondary roads,” Cook said. “For 20 years, it’s been the same discussion with the state. The state has general stance where there just isn’t support from other parts of the state for them to help us in maintenance of our local roads.”

"Certainly, fiscally we have had to be more careful about the money that we spend," Cook continued. "You have to think of the cost benefit of certain programs. There is no simple answer."

To find out more information about John Cook, view our social media guide to the elections and our ongoing political coverage.