A Falls Church civic group’s effort to ensure that local elections maintain a local focus was subject to some debate at a recent candidate forum.
All but one candidate for both City Council and School Board have signed onto a commitment to campaign in a positive manner and refrain from taking large donations from people and groups outside the community. Incumbent School Board member Lori Silverman, however, pushed back on some aspects of the “pledge” at a recent candidate forum.
Noting that she was a professional fundraiser for Democratic candidates, Silverman said the pledge “goes against what I do and what I’ve built a career on over 20 years.”
Silverman said her goal was not to take money from political action committees, but “I don’t want to sign a pledge that implies that money is not good.”
Both City Council and School Board seats in Falls Church have remained largely untouched amid a trend in local elections being subsumed by national political parties and partisanship. Citizens for a Better City leaders envision the pledge serving as a bulwark against the nationalization of local races.
“The purpose of the pledge was, and remains, that Falls Church city elections are conducted with civility and remain local, affordable and accessible,” said Mike Sakata, who served as moderator for the event, held at Meridian High School.
However, Silverman said voters should look at the groups that provide funding and evaluate candidates based on the company they keep. “To me, there’s a big difference between Planned Parenthood and the NRA,” she said.
Limiting fundraising to a friends-and-family universe does not promote Citizens for a Better City’s goal of accessibility, Silverman said, as it benefits those with the ability to self-fund their campaigns.
“I don’t believe only people of means should be able to run,” she said.
Silverman and fellow incumbents Kathleen Tysse and Anne Sherwood are joined by challengers MaryKate “MK” Hughes and Sharon Mergler on the Nov. 4 School Board ballot. Four of the body’s seven seats are up for grabs in 2025.
One of those primarily self-funding her campaign is incumbent Sherwood. She said she’s asking supporters to volunteer time rather than make contributions.
Sherwood, like others, agreed with the sentiment behind most of the pledge.
“It’s very important that we keep our elections local. We should be focusing on that local decision-making. That’s what local School Boards are about.”
Like Silverman, Hughes also brought up concerns about self-funding. Those who do not have the financial resources to do it have to raise funds from outside sources to be competitive, she said.
“What money does is reach voters, and I believe that is good for our community,” she said.
At the same time, “we don’t want outside influences,” said Hughes.
Mergler was among those who appreciated the sentiment of the pledge — “the intention is good,” she said — while saying tweaks might be in order for future elections.
As for focusing elections on Falls Church issues, “I do agree with keeping it local,” Mergler said.
Tysse noted the recent growth of mixed-use development in Falls Church, which has brought in residents living above retail stores on the city’s main thoroughfares.
Those voters can’t be easily contacted by the traditional method of walking through neighborhoods and knocking on doors, she said.
“I do worry about the voters I’m not reaching. One of the only ways to reach those voters is through mail,” said Tysse, who limits contributions to $100 and returns anything more.
Founded in 1959, Citizens for a Better City is a nonpartisan organization that does not endorse candidates. But it has in the past backed slates of candidates for public office.
In 2006, the organization fought against a short-lived effort by the Falls Church City Democratic Committee to run candidates for office. That initiative was abandoned in 2008, according to a local electoral history.
Hal Lippman, who heads Citizens for a Better City, said the Oct. 16 forum was the only in-person gathering this campaign season to feature candidates for School Board discussing the issues. Organizers selected questions from among 60 suggestions received from the public, he said.
