From the Connection:
"At least one member of Dale’s staff, the school’s acting chief operating officer Susan Quinn, implied that the students had moved from Prince William County because of that locality’s effort to crackdown on illegal immigration. Critics of Prince William’s efforts have accused the county of scaring away legal immigrants, as well as illegal immigrants, with its new policies.
"We are seeing a significant increase in enrollment, due to decisions made by neighboring jurisdictions," said Quinn, who was quickly interrupted by Fairfax County Boad of Supervisors chairman Gerry Connolly (D).
"I hope you didn’t say what I think you just did," said Connolly in the middle of Quinn’s presentation.
Last summer, Connolly had publicly refused to implement measures similar to those put into place by Prince William. Now Connolly, who is running for U.S. Congress, objected to the implication that his decision might have had a negative impact on Fairfax in a time of limited resources.
This is a "very sensitive if not explosive" issue, said Connolly to Quinn.
But Dale stood his ground.
It is very unusual for a large group of students to move from Prince William schools to Fairfax schools.
Additionally, about 80 percent of the students who had left Prince William County schools had settled in Fairfax, said the superintendent.
Yet Connolly said it was not appropriate to speculate about why people were moving from one locality to another."
There's more at the story itself about Gerry Connolly melting down during this meeting.
I agree with Gerry's position on immigration, local governments should not be spending local tax dollars to catch illegal aliens.
But the problem here is the same on almost every issue with Gerry. He does not want accountability.
In this case it is clear that his policy has caused Fairfax school enrollment to spike in a tough budget year. I agree with his policy. But why is it that Gerry is unwilling to stand behind it and say he made the tough and correct choice? Why does he have to pretend like the bad and unpleasant things (i.e. increased school spending in a tough budget year) are never his fault?
This is not the kind of person people should want in public office. Even when he is right on this particular issue.
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I missed this flip flop at the end of the article:
"The chairman also added that it does not make sense for immigrants who have limited resources to move from a more affordable locality like Prince William to a more expensive place like Fairfax.
He added that some Prince William residents might have just chosen to move to Fairfax because of the rising gas prices."
Hahahaha. Did he just say it makes no sense for immigrants to move to Fairfax because it is more expensive... and then claim they moved to Fairfax to save on gas money? So they will spend more money if they can save a little on gas? Which is it Gerry?