Evening star., 1950-09-11
Fairfax Group
To Back County
Executive Form
Blasts Statement
Of Federation Which
Fuvors Manager Type

"a COIIlLllGGGG 1dVOI1IlS Tie GAGC-
utiye form of government fol
Fairfax County has been organ
lied by several former members OF
the County Study Commission
which concluded it's work recently
Lewis Travis, Chantilly, acting
secretary of the new group, said
members would be enlisted from
voters who are interested in the
cause of progressive government
His statement says:
fSeveral of us who served on
the commission to study county
government do not feel we can
remain silent in the face of what
appears to be a deliberate attempt
to mislead the voters by palable
misrepresentation of the facts
about our report and its meaning
to the cause of progressive govern
ment.
Amazed at Statement.
1--WE have read with amazement
the statement just issued by a
committee of five representing an
organization which uses the title
Fairfax Count Civic Federation
THAT statement accuses the
commission of failing to present
the county executive form as it is
actually provided by law and
speaks of 'misstatements of fact
and law and then offers as the
only specific point of argument a
quibble on words; that is. whether
under the county executive form
the board of supervisors appoints
anyone it pleases or whether the
board shall appoint upon recon-
mendation of the county executive
as the law actually reads.
I'VE dealt comprehensively in
our report with this very point and
it comes with poor grace from a
group calling themselves a civic
federation to charge us with mis-
statements of fact and law when
we interpret the law to mean what
it says instead of what some citi-
zens group. jealous in advocacy
of another form, would like to
have it mean.
Recommendation Required.
under the county executive
form the administrator must rec
ommend and unless he does so
there can be no appointments by
the board. 1t is true that the first
selection need not be accepted and
we said so in our report. But the
system is calculated to preserve in
the hands of the elected repre-
sentatives of the people the final
power to approve appointments
or to bring about removals.
ITO allow an appointed official
the county manager-to select,
for example, the man who is to
levy the taxes and collect the
revenues of the county and give
no legal voice to the Board of Su-
pervisors in such a selection
especially since under both the
proposed forms the offices of
county treasurer and commits
sioner of revenue are no longer
elected-is to build up a one-man
government. 1t would be con-
trolled by the pressure groups of
citizens who put him into Office
by countrywide voting.
1T would mean that the Board
of Supervisors would become a
f1gurehead and that the political
power in the county would rest
with the pressure groups now so
vociferously urging the county
manager form.
Manager Form Hit.
1.-THE county manager pro-
ponents bring forth the age-old
arguments of intolerant majori-
ties-that the largest number
must rule. This was negated in
our Federal system when the
States, irrespective of population,
were given equal votes in the Sen
Rte and when the members of the
House of Representatives came to
be elected by a majority vote of
each district instead of at large
in all States.
What is undemocratic about
allowing the people of each dis
trict in Fairfax County to select
by majority vote their own rep
resentative? What is undemo-
cratic about giving the people
through their elected representa-
tives the right to pass on the ap-
pointments of the important
officers who administer county
affairs?
I'VE are interested to note that
the statement of our opponents
makes this confession:
1T is impossible to believe that
the career administrator to be
chosen county manager will not
clear his department heads with
the policy board that hires him.
Not Written in Law.
But this is not written
In the law that outlines the op-
Grafton, of the county manager
form. It is a specific safeguard
written in the law that outlines
the operations of the county ex-
ecutiye form.
THE citizens of our country
cannot rely on the assurances or
promises of any pressure group,
no matter how conscientious its
purpose, as to what will happen
If county manager form is
adopted. Only the rights and
duties specifically written IN the
law will govern, and this alone
is what the people will be voting
on next November Z when they are
asked to choose between the
county executive form and the
county manager form in the event
that they desire, as we do, a
change in the existing form of
county government.
THE statement of the citizens
committee of the civic fedora
ton to which we are replying
speaks of a Serious omission ir
the commissions report; namely