Haymarket, Gainesville business leaders discuss economy with Connolly
By Dan Roem – The Gainesville Times – February 24, 2010

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-11th) heard concerns from the Haymarket-Gainesville Business Association last week in Haymarket as he answered questions about jobs, real estate financing, term limits, health care, taxes and the deficit.
           
After giving an introductory speech to the roughly 30 people in the back dining room of the Lion and Bull restaurant in Dominion Valley, Gainesville resident Gary Howard, who works for Ameriprise, asked Conolly what he and the commonwealth were doing to land the highly-sought headquarters of defense manufacturer Northrop Grumman. The company is relocating from California to an undetermined place in the greater Washington, D.C. area. Virginia, Maryland and Washington are all vying for it.

Connolly started with a joke, saying, “I don’t understand why anyone would want to relocate to Maryland” before explaining how Virginia is in a better position to land the company than its neighbor to the north.
 
He said Maryland is more associated with the health care industry while Virginia is regarded as more defense-heavy.  “I would hope and expect we have an edge in that competition,” said Connolly.

Among Virginia’s strongest marketing powers are the school system, Dulles International Airport and a relatively low tax burden for companies. Property taxes vary throughout localities in Northern Virginia.

“I’ll do everything in my power to do this,” said Connolly, the former Fairfax County Board of Supervisors chairman.

CPA Donna Wood, whose business Wood Smith Advisors is in Haymarket, asked about homeowners whose “only crime” was being “honest” when they either lost their homes to foreclosure or could not land a refinancing deal because they were deemed too risky for lenders.

Connolly told her about a bill in the House that attempted to “help the people” who filed for bankruptcy regain a footing in the housing industry.
 

“Even that did not pass the Senate,” he said.

The two discussed how lenders “really tightened up” credit and risk assessments after the stock market crashed in Sept. 2008. Banks now have “got a lot of capital sloshing around there,” said Connolly, adding that the trick to turning around the credit market is to “get loans flowing again.”

Wood said afterward she thought Connolly did and did not get the answers she wanted.

“(I’m) hoping to see banks work with their clients whose houses devalued,” Wood said before adding that she would like the federal government to help people fix their mortgage problems.

Connolly emphasized that “from an economic point of view, we want people refinancing. It puts money in their pockets.”

 Ed Myerson challenged Connolly’s claim that he is a deficit hawk by asking him how he planned to pay off the deficit after the Congressman said he supported extending the Bush-era tax cuts for the short term.

“We’ve got to get our arms around entitlement spending,” said Connolly, adding that there is “enough material” there to address “without hurting benefits.” He recommended a BRAC-style commission to study how to save money in that area. “If you as a Republican are willing to entertain revenue increases and I as Democrat am willing to entertain spending cuts,” then there could be a solution, he said.

Connolly reiterated his support for the Pres. Barack Obama’s domestic freeze on discretionary spending earlier in the day, calling it “a bold move for a Democrat and a good thing.” The President’s proposed commission to study the deficit would gain the support of Connolly only “if it has teeth.” He said there would have to be votes on taxi increases and spending cuts.

“We’re going to have to do both,” said Connolly. “But you can’t do one and not the other… I don’t want to support a phone support approach. I will back up what I’m saying.”

When asked afterward if he got the answer he wanted, Myerson said, “He didn’t answer my question” and noted that Connolly’s “position is different” from his regarding taxes.

That being said, Myerson added, “I think he’s doing an excellent job.”

After being asked about his position on term limits, Connolly said he was against them because voters should have to opportunity to cast judgment on their elected officials if they so choose.

Massage therapist and holistic healer Christina Ammerman of Gainesville emphasized that Congress should focus more of its health care talks on prevention practices with incentive programs that reward good behavior.

“I couldn’t agree more,” said Connolly before he recited a story about a CEO that saved 5 percent on health insurance costs after he and his employees exercised together by walking during daily lunch breaks.

One of the biggest problems Connolly said he had with the health care bill that passed the House is that the neutral/non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) could not determine that prevention programs could save money because there was not a good way to quantify the numbers.

“You and I know that’s not true,” said Connolly.

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