'There is a place for common sense conservative elected officials in Fairfax County'

"I grew up with public service around the kitchen table, but always swore I'd never run for office," said Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity and son of former Board of Supervisors Chairman "Jack" Herrity.

Instead, Herrity, whose district includes parts of Burke, focused on business, becoming an accountant and working as a chief financial officer. Despite this reluctance, in 2008 Herrity decided to run for Springfield District Supervisor. "I didn't like the direction the county was headed," he said.

Two years into holding office, Herrity remains intently involved with maintaining Fairfax County's standard of living. "We've got to protect what makes Fairfax County unique, and that's our suburban community," he said. He takes his civic duties seriously. At one point, when the grass on the median in front of his alma mater West Springfield High School became too high, Herrity went and mowed it himself, instead of calling up VDOT about it.

As a participant in "slugging," an organized carpooling system designed to take advantage of high occupancy vehicle lanes, Herrity is worried that our current transportation infrastructure is inadequate. "We spend too much of our lives on the road.  It destroys our quality of life," he said.

Herrity realizes the public schools are Fairfax County's single biggest draw. For Herrity, a top priority "is keeping our schools at a high level by focusing our resources on the classroom, on the teachers, and on the kids." 

Another major issue that bothered Herrity was the increasing tax burden on county residents. "We doubled people's taxes in the seven years before I took office.  We've gotten better in the last three," Herrity said. "In these tough economic times, we shouldn't be raising the tax burden on our homeowners." 

As a self-described "business guy, fiscal conservative, [with] strong family values," Herrity sees himself as a natural Republican. Still, he believes most local issues are not partisan ones.

"You boil things down to common sense," Herrity said. "Whether you're Republican or Democrat, common sense is common sense."

One common sense issue idea is Governor McDonnell's plan to privatize the state run liquor stores.

"I support privatization in general to reduce the size of government," Herrity said. "As far as impact on the community, what you are going to have is what you have in most states of this great nation - another shelf or two at Safeway and at the Giant [for liquor]." 

Herrity recently sought the Republican nomination to run against Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly in November's election for the 11th district seat and lost a tough primary battle to businessman Keith Fimian.  Herrity says his late entrance into the race and low expenditure, combined with Fimian's negative ads, did him in. "[Fimian's Campaign] took a negative message that was factually incorrect and stayed with it," Herrity said. "It worked for them." Herrity does not feel his loss represents polarization of the GOP to more extremist sections of the party.

Despite this setback, Herrity said, "I still think there is a place for common sense conservative elected officials in Fairfax County and that's what I think I am."

For Herrity, character is important. "I don't compromise on principle. If it violates my conservative principles, I vote against it."  At the end of the day, he hopes to be remembered the way his father is. "You may not always agree with him, but you always know where he stood."