Check This Out

As per the logo/slogan, they're "Sustaining our Community" and "Shaping our Future".  Huh?  That's a  big responsibility for an organization I've never heard of.

The mailers go on to say (paraphrased or consolidated):
1. They will continue to increase citizen involvement
2. They will encourage parties to be smarter about growth
3. They will "Turn Tyson's Corner into an interesting, walkable urban center..."
4. They will Improve mass transit, avoid sprawl, preserve neighborhoods, parks, and green space, and achieve world peace.

Er, ok, I made up that very last thing about world peace.  But the rest of it is from their mailers.  Sounds pretty good.  Who would be against that stuff?

And they also talk about all this other stuff...
1. There's a Primary Election on June 12
2. My Supervisor has supported the above efforts
3. My Supervisor has promoted more citizen participation in planning
4. My Supervisor has required Builders to work with the community to preserve neighborhoods
5. Some candidates for local office are attacking Supervisors for not involving citizens in planning
6. Supervisors have promoted active citizen involvement in creating transit oriented development
7. Over the past four years, Supervisors have kept our community connected, informed, and involved.
8. Don't be fooled by campaign rhetoric.  Review the FACTS for yourself.
9. This June 12, there is a clear choice for Supervisor.
10. This June 12, before you cast your vote for Supervisor, review all the facts.

Curious.  Not one mention of a name.  Or even what district they're talking about.  There are some detailed points that would apply to, say, the Hall/Smyth race in Providence.  But that isn't mentioned once.  Odd.

They seem to love my supervisor even though they don't know who she it is. 

They want me to check my facts.  From where?  They don't tell me where to find any facts.  Perhaps these mailers are the facts.  That sounds a little fishy given how elusive these mailers are.

Perhaps their website http://www.fairfaxtomorrow.org?  Nah, not much there.  The handful of links provide nothing useful and the date is even wrong.  Nice website.  The only thing of use is the video of the LWV debate between Hall and Smyth.  Oh, so I guess they figured out which race their mailer is referring to... although on the website they don't endorse or support anyone.

But we do find out who they are on the website.  Big surprise: the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce.  Yeah, that's right, the same FCCC that supports development at any cost and the aerial option in Tysons (because if we don't we won't get anything).  The same FCCC that's a good friend to Supervisors like Linda Smyth and Gerry Connolly.  The same FCCC who's blog, Policy Soup, has perpetuated complete lies about Charlie Hall.

Anyway, that colossal waste of money thing...

Two, page sized, four color mailers were produced that more or less said nothing.  Well, they said a lot but it wasn't clear what they were talking about and they didn't provide a simple message for a voter to absorb for tomorrow. 

Hell, most voters don't even know there's an election and don't care.  This mysterious bunch of happy talk isn't going to help "my supervisor" get re-elected.  Even though they never said that she should be.  Or even mentioned her name or who she's running against.  They did mention that there's an election on the 12th - at least they provided some useful actionable information.

It's pretty simple: if you support Linda say so and use the mailer to encourage readers to do the same.  Instead, the FCCC were not only cowards for failing to stand tall behind their candidate but they produced two meaningless mailers that only those of us who are following the race (and who care) would understand.  Everyone else is going to go "huh" and toss it. 

Oh well, it's their money to waste.

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