Thread: Voters Oust Backers of Immigrants In Herndon

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01805.html

Voters Oust Backers of Immigrants In Herndon
Three Incumbents Lose Who Supported Center

By Bill Turque and Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 3, 2006; A01



Herndon voters yesterday unseated the mayor and two Town Council members who supported a bitterly debated day-labor center for immigrant workers in a contest that emerged as a mini-referendum on the turbulent national issue of illegal immigration.

Residents replaced the incumbents with challengers who immediately called for significant changes at the center. Some want to bar public funds from being spent on the facility or restrict it to workers living in the country legally. Others want it moved to an industrial site away from the residential neighborhood where it is located.

The labor center forced the western Fairfax County town into the national spotlight last summer as the immigration debate grew deeply contentious. Even though fewer than 3,000 people voted yesterday, advocates on both sides of the issue looked at the Herndon election as a test of public sentiment. Outside groups such as the Minuteman Project, which opposes illegal immigration, intervened in the debate, and Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group, is suing the town over the establishment of the center.

The council voted 5 to 2 last August to establish the center, but yesterday's vote created an apparent 6 to 1 majority in opposition. Steve J. DeBenedittis, 38, a health club operator and political newcomer, defeated Mayor Michael L. O'Reilly with 52 percent of the vote. Council members Carol A. Bruce and Steven D. Mitchell, who voted for the center, also were turned out of office. Jorge Rochac, a Salvadoran businessman who supported the center and was seeking to become the town's first Hispanic council member, also was defeated.

Elected to the council were challengers William B. Tirrell, Charlie D. Waddell, Connie Haines Hutchinson and David A. Kirby, all opponents of the facility, which was created to help immigrants connect with employers each day.

Two incumbents were reelected. Dennis D. Husch, who was one of the two council members to vote against the center, received more votes than any of the eight other council candidates. J. Harlon Reece was the lone supporter who was reelected. He received the fewest number of votes among the six winners.

Twenty-six percent of the town's 10,203 registered voters came to the polls, up from 20 percent when O'Reilly was elected two years ago, according to Fairfax County figures.

DeBenedittis, the son of a popular former high school art teacher in Herndon, said his victory was the product of intensive door-to-door campaigning and voters' deep discontent over how the labor center issue was handled by the mayor and council in the town of 23,000 residents.

"They didn't like the way the debate went down, and there was the feeling that they were not heard," he said.

DeBenedittis frequently skirted specifics on the labor center issue during the campaign, but he said in at least one candidate questionnaire that the facility on Sterling Road should be limited to legal immigrants.

A disappointed O'Reilly said last night that he was proud of the way he and the council handled the controversy. He said the center remains a quantum improvement over the chaotic ad hoc site in a 7-Eleven parking lot that had become a community eyesore.

"I'm really proud of what I stood for, and proud of what I did," O'Reilly said. "I think there was a lot of misinformation that was out there. There may be a lot more resentment and hatred out there than I anticipated."

Judith M. Markbein, 59, a second grade teacher, said she voted the incumbents out because "when we put money into a day-labor site, we are putting money into people who are illegal. I'm not trying to be prejudiced, but when people are given rights that they haven't earned, it makes me angry."

The challengers attributed their victories not to hatred, but to the council's falling out of touch with voters.

"It's a new direction for Herndon," said Waddell, a systems engineer. "We've got a new slate. We've got a new council. We've got a new mayor. We are going to try to be responsive to the people. That was lost on the council."

Waddell said he favors moving the center to a commercial area and will try to tap private funds for its operation. It now operates in part on a grant from Fairfax County.

"You've got day laborers cutting between yards to get to the center," he said. "I've talked to residents who said they have been awakened at 6 in the morning by laborers sitting on their lawn furniture in the back yard because they are waiting for the center to open. That's not good for the neighborhood."

Hutchinson, who was on the council previously, said the panel ignored the feelings of the community. "I do think the voters have spoken," she said. "I don't know where we go from here."

The center has another year to go on a conditional use permit, and the new council can use that time to seek alternatives, she said. Hutchinson said she also favors moving the center to another area.

Former mayor Richard C. Thoesen, a backer of the center, said he attributed the results to voter frustration over the town's burgeoning immigrant population, which has led to serious residential crowding. He added that Monday's nationwide demonstrations organized by immigrants' rights groups constituted "bad timing" that may have added to the backlash.

He cautioned the new mayor and council to do what they can to reunite the town. "The fallout for Herndon could be devastating if they don't handle this well," he said.

Last year, the Minuteman group, a chapter of an Arizona-based national organization that fights illegal immigration, began appearing at the 7-Eleven. They photographed employers and workers and turned over the evidence to state agencies as well as the Internal Revenue Service.

The Minutemen also have shown up at the new day-labor site, leading to confrontations between supporters and opponents. George Taplin, leader of the local Minuteman group, said the goal is to rid Herndon of illegal immigrants.

Last summer, Herndon Town Hall was forced to unplug its phone lines after listeners of a talk show on WMAL (630 AM) flooded the switchboard with what officials said were hate calls against the day-labor site.

Town officials say it has operated smoothly since its contentious launch in December. With milder spring weather, work has become more plentiful. Bill Threlkeld of Project Hope and Harmony, which operates the center for Reston Interfaith Inc., a nonprofit group that has received a grant from Fairfax County, said recently that about half of the 100 or so workers who come out in the morning find employment.

Reece said the national debate took over a local dispute. "The immigration issue has become such an issue nationally that it affected the local election," he said.

Reece said he could favor moving the center, but he said it will be difficult: "I just don't want to see it closed. I don't want us to go back to the unregulated, chaotic situation like we had before."

Staff writer Candace Rondeaux contributed to this report.

http://www.observernews.com/stories/cur ... ml#results

Edition of May 2, 2005

DeBenedditis Wins
Labor Site Supporters Out

By Leah M. Burfield
Observer Staff Writer

Tears filled his eyes as Steve DeBenedittis learned he had been elected mayor when the final counts were announced at 8:35 p.m. after a long day of voting in the Town of Herndon.

More than 2,500 of Herndon's 10,203 registered voters, about 26 percent, came to cast their ballots at the Herndon Community Center May 2. See the results here.

Dennis Husch and Harlon Reece were the only two members of Town Council who were re-elected. Also winning Town Council positions were Connie Hutchinson, Bill Tirell, Dave Kirby and Charlie Waddell.

The election, which was widely cast as a referendum on the Town Council's support for the official day labor site authorized last year, resulted in a complete reversal of the board, with only one person who voted in favor of the labor site, Harlon Reece, re-elected.

Dennis Husch, an incumbent Town Council member, voted against the day labor site conditional use permit last year with Town Councilwoman Ann V. Null, who did not run for re-election.

Less than two months after his campaign began, DeBenedittis won the mayoral election with 1,363 votes to incumbent Michael L. O'Reilly's 1,233. "I feel great," he said. "I couldn't be more proud of the neighbors and friends and everybody that helped us out and came together to work on this.

"All the things that I promised people as we were going along with the election will happen. I heard a lot of people saying they wanted a change and I am sure that is what they came out for and they got it."

DeBenedittis said he wouldn't discuss what his first priority would be as mayor, but he said the first step will be to get together with the winners to find the best solutions possible.

"I couldn't be more proud of our team," he said. "We had a group of friends and neighbors that care about the town and we got together and accomplished what we were set out to do."

The highest vote-getter among the Town Council candidates was incumbent Dennis Husch, who received 1,592 votes. If the new Town Council follows tradition, the candidate who received the most votes in the election will be named vice-mayor.

Connie Hutchinson received 1,532 votes, Bill Tirrell had 1,494, Dave Kirby had 1,380, Charlie Waddell had 1,352 votes and J. Harlon Reece had 1,350.

"This is great," Hutchinson said. "I think that the first thing that we have to do is get the winners together and have a little strategy session to see where we go from here."

Having run for Town Council twice before, the third time was a charm for Kirby. After the announcement of his win, Kirby's son ran around shouting his father's victory.

"I feel wonderful, just great. Third time is a charm," Kirby said. "I think some of that silent majority that was upset with the last council came out and spoke. We now have a new council. Our three top priorities are overcrowding, overcrowding, and overcrowding. After that, we have the day labor situation, we have the taxes and spending in the budget, and then the downtown redevelopment. Those are the four things that we have to tackle first."

Winning candidates Waddell, Husch and Tirrell celebrated their victory at Euro Bistro with DeBenedittis and his wife, Rosemary.

"I didn't win, the Town of Herndon won. That is not trivia," Waddell said. "The mood of the town has been one that they have wanted to change for a while. We campaigned on issues that were relevant to the problems."

Husch proudly accepted the decision the community made. "It's a clear decision and it's a complete decision," Husch said.

Tirrell, a current member of the Planning Commission and former Town Council member, also felt good about his win. "I am very surprised quite frankly that the slate, if you will, swept in. I'm grateful but surprised," he said.

On the other side of town, tears and frustration filled JJ Deli at the Herndon Centennial Golf Course as the incumbent candidates realized their terms will end in June.

Incumbent Steve Mitchell received the seventh-highest number of votes at 1,271, while long-time Council member Carol Bruce was denied re-election with 1,237 votes. Challenger Jorge Rochac received 1,215 votes. There were four votes for Bob Rudine, who dropped out of the race in April.

Bruce has served eight terms on the board since she was first elected in 1988, she was the first woman to be elected to a second term on the Council in 1990, she has served two terms as vice-mayor, and she became the first woman mayor of the town in 2002, when she filled the remainder of the term of Thomas D. Rust, who resigned to become a state delegate.

O'Reilly said the town did "absolutely" the right thing in approving the day labor site and on many other issues. "I wouldn't change a thing," he said. "I spoke with Congressman Tom Davis, who said to me that it's better to do the right thing and lose than do the wrong thing and win. I appreciated those comments.

"I think there was a large number of people that came out and voted strictly on the day worker site believing somehow that the town has the ability to impact federal immigration policy. I'm just very disappointed."

O' Reilly said he felt there was a lot of misinformation out on the street that caused a lot of people to vote in such a way that the town is going to end up moving backward instead of forward. He said he was fearful for what will happen to the many issues that he and the current council intended to address. O'Reilly said he was very concerned for the town.

O'Reilly will finish his term at the end of June and he will continue practicing law at his business.

Agreeing with O'Reilly, Mitchell said he understood that the voters had spoken but he said the town had been kidnapped for a national agenda and the town is paying the price. He did, however, wish the incoming council all the best in getting back to local issues that are facing Herndon.

Clearly upset with the results, Reece said that he will not disrespect the voters' choice. "I'll do everything I can to make it an effective council," he said.

Bruce avoided the media after the election, but Rochac was not shy. "We lost but we did not lose the town," Rochac said. "I don't think the new members will be able to manage. Why? Because to manage a town like this, you have to do it with your head, not with your liver and I don't think they are capable of doing it with their brain."

Rochac, a long-time community volunteer, said he will continue to help the town in any way that he can and plans on running for the next town election.

"The election begins tomorrow," he said.

The final results are:

Mayor:
DeBenedittis - 1,363
O'Reilly - 1,233

Council:
Dennis Husch - 1,592
Connie Hutchinson - 1,532
Bill Tirrell - 1,494
Dave Kirby - 1,380
Charlie Waddell - 1,352
Harlon Reece - 1,350
Jorge Rochac - 1,215
Steve Mitchell - 1,271
Carol Bruce - 1,237
Bob Rudine - 4