Recently, Historic Manassas, Inc. hosted a City Council Forum. A lot was said and a lot of ideas were raised. The conversation was on point and civil– until the closing remarks.
City Council candidate Rex Parr chose to use his closing statement to go decidedly negative, making inaccurate claims that in some cases play to our fears rather than hopes. When such false claims are made, it tarnishes our city’s reputation and the hard work done by our city staff and employees.
There’s so much negativity in the politics at our state and federal levels, I’d hoped the local race would set an example of how elections should be. Unfortunately, that hope has been seriously diminished.
Mr. Parr may be new to running for office, but he’s mastered being a politician.
Since these false claims are in the public domain now, I think it’s important they be examined, vetted and corrected.
I’ve chosen the top offenders to showcase below.
Rex Parr False Statement 1:
“[the council experiences] stalemate, tie votes, no action on vital issues before the council that affect our kids, our communities and future economic development”
The truth:
The council has a diverse range of positions, indicative of the diverse range of thoughts held by our city residents. There are, on occasion, tie votes, as there are on any elected body, but none have stopped critical actions from being taken that impact our kids/schools/communities or economic development as Rex has claimed. At most, the wide range of views has triggered compromise, which is far too lacking in most political bodies.
Rex Parr False Statement 2:
“[since the great recession] efforts to restore spending have been consistently blocked”
The truth:
The city budget is now above pre-recession levels. Funding has been restored. Also, showing prudence and fiscal restraint has earned our city a AAA bond rating, which will save our citizens millions in borrowing costs in the future.
Rex Parr False Statement 3:
“our public services have been starved […] their missions have been jeopardized”
The truth:
Our public services are award winning and rank among the best in the nation. From a police department in the top 1%, to an award winning utility department. Our public services also received stellar reviews by you, the citizens, in the recent citizen satisfaction survey, beating state and national averages.
Rex Parr False Statement 4:
“[because of city council austerity] the reputation of our schools [has been] tarnished”
Fact:
The schools are managed by an independently elected School Board who has made it VERY clear that they are in charge of the schools. The city council has met its funding obligations to the schools, and the system currently spends 10%-15% more per pupil than our surrounding localities. Let me say it again: the city council meets its funding obligations. If our school’s reputation is “tarnished” as Mr. Parr states, it is less likely to do with city council austerity, and more likely due to the drop in test scores and achievement we’ve suffered– which would be the responsibility of the School Board. He’s directing his ire at the wrong elected body.
I consider Rex to be a good guy, and hope he’ll pull back from this unfortunate course and run the rest of this race in a positive, accurate way.
