Reaction to Janet Oleszek’s Office Opening Event

On Saturday, I attended the grand opening of Janet Oleszek (Candidate for Senate in the 37th) and Rex Simmons’ (Candidate for House of Delegates in the 40th) joint campaign headquarters in Fairfax Station. There was a good crowd in attendance, which included Mike McClanahan (Candidate for Springfield Supervisor), Dale Evans (Candidate for Clerk of the Court), Del. Dave Marsden, Del. David Bulova, Del. Vivian Watts, Del. Brian Moran, Sen. Dick Saslaw, Daniel Storck (Chairman of the Fairfax County School Board), and several other prominent Democrats.

One of the common topics of conversation was how impressed everyone was with the headquarters. Earlier that morning, I had received a quick tour of the office and I would most definitely have to agree with everyone else – the space, which is next door to the Fairfax Station Post Office, is a great place to be running a campaign from. The suite is able to fit a relatively large number of people in it and most (if not all) of the campaign staffers are able to have their own office. Perhaps the aspect that Janet or Rex’s supporters should like the most is the fact that the room used for phone banking has individual cubicles set up so that volunteers won’t have to shout over each other as their talking to potential voters. I imagine that will not only make their phone-banking more productive, but will make the environment a little more enjoyable for volunteers.

The speeches for the event started off with Janet Oleszek’s campaign manager, Jonathan Murray, thanking everyone for coming out and then enthusiastically introducing Del. Brian Moran. Del. Moran has a knack for being able to pump up a crowd, and Saturday was no different. His speech focused on how all the Democratic candidates throughout Virginia are working extremely hard to help Democrats pick up as many seats as possible. He mentioned how Rex Simmons was one of those Democrats working hard and believed that Rex’s work ethic was part of the reason he would make such a fine addition to the House of Delegates.

Next up was the Senate Minority Leader, Sen. Dick Saslaw. Sen. Saslaw spoke about how Ken Cuccinelli’s views were so out of touch with other Virginians that many of the bills he introduced never even received a motion to be voted on in Committee. Note that the Senator wasn’t saying the bills simply failed to pass, he’s saying that they were so out of touch with what’s best for the Commonwealth of Virginia that nobody else even wanted to be associated with the bills or to use the Senate’s valuable time addressing them. On the other hand, he continued, the voters have a great alternative in Janet Oleszek who knows how to reach across party lines in order to do what’s best for Virginia.

After the great introductions from Del. Moran and Sen. Saslaw, it was time for Janet Oleszek to speak. During her speech, Janet mentioned her experience on the Fairfax County School Board and how she was able to work with her colleagues in order to ensure that they look after the best interests of the County’s residents. She also touched on how that her work ethic has followed her into her campaign for Senate (both her and her husband have knocked on 8,000 doors a piece) and will continue if she’s elected. Before finishing, Janet then individually thanked a few of her supporters – including one woman present who was her very first donor.

The last speaker at the event was the Democratic Candidate for the House of Delegates from the 40th, Rex Simmons. What many of Rex’s supporters like about him is that he cuts right to the chase and is quite proud of the campaign his team is running, which he illustrated by saying “I, too, have knocked on 8,000 doors.” One of the interesting things Rex brought up in his speech was that one resident of the 40th told him that he’ll be “the first Democrat I’ve voted for since Lyndon Johnson forty-three years ago.” It is the sentiment expressed in Rex’s speech – the disgust of cronyism and mismanagement the Republicans have conducted at all levels of government — that goes to show why Tim Hugo won’t just coast to re-election.

All in all, I thought the event went very well. The large crowd on a day where there were many other events for people to attend, goes to show how supporters are really rallying behind Janet and Rex and I look forward to seeing what the campaign does in the final stretch before election day.