Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Connolly says he planned to vote while "holding my nose." Moran says measure puts Northern Virginia "on the chopping block."
The U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday night passed HR 8, the Tax Relief Extension Act, a permanent extension of many Bush-era tax cuts by a vote of 257 to 167. The late-night vote was taken at 10:57 p.m. Annandale, which is split between two congressional districts — the 8th District (Congressman Jim Moran) on the east side and the 11th District (Congressman Gerry Connolly) on the west side, saw both a "yes" vote (from Connolly) and a "no" vote (from Moran). The legislation keeps the Bush era tax cuts for individuals making less than $400,000 and couples making less that $450,000. It also makes permanent the fixes for the Alternative Minimum Tax and delays government spending cuts for two months. Here's the breakdown of Northern …
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Virginia Democrat says he's "holding his nose," but wants to avoid fiscal cliff, sequestration and extend middle class tax cuts.
Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-11th) said Tuesday while he is "holding his nose," he is urging his colleagues to vote for a fiscal cliff deal the Senate passed in the early hours of the new year.gg “This is not a perfect package, but it is something that gets us by until we can tackle the larger issues in the next Congress,” Connolly said. “I pray God that the next Congress is more willing to compromise than this one.” It was not certain Tuesday when the House, controlled by Republicans, would take up the fiscal cliff legislation. The Virginia Democrat said the Senate-passed measure provides an opportunity to: “There is a lot of good in this package," Connolly said. "But there is also a lot that is not addressed at all." “We have a debt …
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Forty House members sign letter backing proposed program added to any end-of-the-year fiscal cliff deal.
A letter co-written by Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-11th), and signed by 40 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, urges Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to support an immediate $200 million gun buyback program in any end-of-the-year fiscal cliff deal. Connolly, whose district includes the national headquarters for the NRA, and U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch of Florida authored the letter to the House leaders. “Gun buybacks have proven successful in communities across the nation,” Connolly and Deutch said in a “Dear Colleague” to House members. “Adding $200 million to the final compromise on the fiscal cliff could remove as many as one million guns from our streets.” Including the gun buyback program…
Friday, December 14, 2012
U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly will speak with 11th District residents.
Want to tell Rep. Gerry Connolly what is on your mind? Connolly will hold a telephone town hall for residents of Virginia’s 11th Congressional District residing in Fairfax and Prince William Counties and the City of Fairfax at 8 p.m. Dec. 17. Connolly (D) was elected to his second term in Congress on Nov. 6. Since Connolly started the telephone town halls shortly after he took office in January 2009, more than 190,000 district residents have participated in a call with the congressman, his office says. On one call in 2010, more than 30,000 people dialed in. Constituents will be called shortly before the meeting begins at 8 pm. Connolly will give a brief rundown of the top issues in Congress and issues he is working on and will then open it…
Friday, December 7, 2012
Jack Faulconer was a machine gunner under U.S. Army General George S. Patton.
On Nov. 28, 1944, U.S. Army Pvt. John "Jack" Faulconer was charging up a hill in the Saar Valley in Germany. In an instant, the 19-year-old machine gunner was hit in the arm by German machine gun fire. Faulconer was badly injured, and crawled to a German trench, where he hid for hours until the enemy pulled back. His two ammunition carriers were killed. The machine gunner's life would forever be altered by the experience, and, on Friday, he was finally awarded the Bronze Star for Heroism by U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-11th District). "What an honor to get this. It's very nice," said Faulconer, 88, who was accompanied by his wife, Joyce. The war "was terrible. All those young men in the prime of life losing their lives." Connolly …
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
A look at how candidates fared at Annandale precincts.
Annandale residents headed to the polls on Tuesday to vote for the next U.S. president, U.S. senator and representatives for the 8th and 11th congressional Districts in Virginia. In addition, Annandale residents voted on several bond issues in Fairfax County and two Virginia constitutional amendments. In 2008, Fairfax County gave then-candidate Sen. Barack Obama 60.11 percent of the votes, to Sen. John McCain's 38.93 percent. Fewer than one percent of votes went to third-party candidates. Former Virginia governors George Allen (R) and Tim Kaine (D) faced off for the open U.S. Senate seat, and Kaine won. In the 8th congressional District, incumbent Jim Moran (D) succeeded in his bid for reelection against challengers Patrick Murray (R), …
Monday, November 5, 2012
The Independent Green candidate for Virginia's 11th congressional District seat talks about why he's running, and how the U.S. government should work.
(Editor's note: One of the greatest powers Americans have is their right to vote. Patch respects that, and wants our readership to be as informed as possible before walking into that voting booth on Tuesday. With that in mind, this is the sixth and final in a series of in-depth interviews with candidates vying for Virginia’s 11th congressional District seat.) Disgust with Congress, ridding America of it's dependence on foreign oil and the importance of third-party candidacies were just a few of the topics discussed recently between Patch and Peter Marchetti, the Independent Green candidate for Virginia's 11th congressional District seat. Marchetti spoke with Patch from the Starbucks coffee shop at the Bradlick Shopping Center in Annandale…
The Green Party candidate for Virginia's 11th congressional District is fed up with politics in Washington. How would he change things up?
(Editor's note: One of the greatest powers Americans have is their right to vote. Patch respects that, and wants our readership to be as informed as possible before walking into that voting booth on Tuesday. With that in mind, this is the fifth in a series of in-depth interviews with candidates vying for Virginia’s 11th congressional District seat.) Playing hardball with China, reforming America's two-party political system and running as a third-party candidate were discussed this week in an interview with Joe Galdo, the Green Party candidate for Virginia's 11th congressional District seat. Galdo spoke with Patch from his home in Fairfax. Galdo, 66, has less than $10,000 campaign cash on-hand, and faces incumbent Democrat Rep. Gerry …
Saturday, November 3, 2012
The Independent candidate for Virginia's 11th congressional District seat raps with Patch about taking money out of politics.
(Editor's note: One of the greatest powers Americans have is their right to vote. Patch respects that, and wants our readership to be as informed as possible before walking into that voting booth on Tuesday. With that in mind, this is the fourth in a series of in-depth interviews with candidates vying for Virginia’s 11th congressional District seat.) Taking money out of political campaigning, hoping to rid the U.S. political system of corruption and promising to run in a political election every year were all touched on in a recent in-depth interview with Chris DeCarlo, the Independent candidate for Virginia's 11th congressional District seat. DeCarlo spoke with Patch this week from Fairfax Propane, his business along Lee Highway in …
Friday, October 26, 2012
Economist discusses why he’s running as an Independent for Virginia’s 11th congressional District seat.
(Editor's note: One of the greatest powers Americans have is their right to vote. Patch respects that, and wants our readership to be as informed as possible before walking into that voting booth on Nov. 6. This is the third in a series of in-depth interviews with candidates vying for Virginia’s 11th congressional District seat.) Reforming the U.S. government and economy, the effectiveness of Congress and ending partisan gridlock were a few of the topics discussed this week in an interview with Mark Gibson, the Independent candidate for Virginia's 11th congressional District seat. Gibson candidly spoke with Patch from the Starbucks in Springfield Plaza in Springfield. Gibson has $258 cash on-hand for his campaign, compared to $1.5 million …
Jamela Sweets
7:16 pm on Tuesday, January 1, 2013
And one other thing. Do these ivory tower people really think that some lunatic planning a mass murder or the gang bangers or the drug dealers are going to give up their guns for a few extra bucks? Really? Lunacy! more ›