15 May 2005 Pity Poor Fairfax County

Posted at 11:26h in Articles, Blog by

While parts of the U.S. are reeling after the Pentagon’s announcement of proposed base closings in their areas, some lawmakers in Northern Virginia are complaining because a local base, Fort Belvoir, is gaining 18,000 jobs.

One of the lawmakers, Fairfax County, VA Board Chairman Gerald E. Connolly, a Democrat, says the Pentagon and federal government should “provide resources to help localities absorb the impacts that they are creating with these changes.”

Senator John Warner of Virginia (R-VA), and Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), are said to be working with Connolly to get the federal government to pony up hard cash — and lots of it — to help Fairfax County deal with the hardship posed by these new jobs.

Based on its median household income of $81,050, Fairfax County, Virginia is the second-wealthiest county in the U.S.

The median household income for the U.S. is $41,994.

Addendum 5-16-05: Virginia can’t seem to decide what it wants. Check out this May 8 AP story, Virginia Working To Keep Its Military Bases Off Closing List:

(AP) – Virginia’s robust military community is on edge, awaiting release of the Defense Department’s list of bases that it wants to be closed or consolidated.

A commission appointed by Gov. Mark Warner has spent nearly $2 million building a case to the Pentagon to preserve — or even expand — the military presence in the state when the Base Realignment and Closure Commission makes the first cutbacks in 10 years.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is to let his choices for downsizing be known by the end of this week, a Warner spokesman said. ‘We’ve been focused on this … date for two years,’ said David G. Dickson, executive director of the Virginia Commission on Military Bases. ‘People are ready to get to it.'”

The commission has been working under the Defense Department’s premise that up to 25 percent of military installations would be close or consolidated, but Rumsfeld said last week that only about half that number would be affected.

Even so, Virginia has a lot to lose…



The National Center for Public Policy Research is a communications and research foundation supportive of a strong national defense and dedicated to providing free market solutions to today’s public policy problems. We believe that the principles of a free market, individual liberty and personal responsibility provide the greatest hope for meeting the challenges facing America in the 21st century.