Chris on the Issues

• Will be available to constituents.
• Will support existing businesses in Woodbridge by reducing regulatory burdens and meeting with all leaders regularly.
• Will bring new jobs to Woodbridge through actively, personally, recruiting new businesses.
• Will work closely with all Stakeholders and provide needed leadership to ensure a Rte. 1 revitalization  is sustainable and leads to rapid economic development, the pathway to prosperity for Woodbridge

Since June I have spoken to thousands of voters and many business owners at their doors and have learned that people are tired of not having their phone calls returned or their meetings ignored by the current Supervisor.  They are tired of hearing about visions of a new Woodbridge and want a Better Woodbridge Now! This is why, when I meet all of you, I say “I’m running to bring back a personal touch to Constituent services and jobs to Woodbridge” because they are the number one and two issues for the citizens in this year’s campaign.

In Woodbridge, crime is up, our median incomes are down 6% (while the rest of the county went up 6%) and we’ve seen few changes to the state of Rte. 1 in the past four years.

If elected, I will work tirelessly to ensure the residents of Woodbridge have access to me, our existing businesses are supported (instead of being harassed as they are now) and to bring new jobs to our District.

One big idea you’ve read about me discussing in the papers recently is my efforts to gain poplar support for bringing the Department of Defense’s Africa Combatant Command (AFRICOM) to Woodbridge should it move from its current location in Stuttgart Germany. This could bring up to 1,500 jobs to the area along with the associated contractor support and an instant boost to our local dry cleaners, restaurants, car dealers and retailers of all kinds. This is just one of many big ideas I’ll bring to the Board of Supervisors for creating jobs here. All of the experts I’ve spoken with have assured me I am on to something and it is a reality it could come here!

Another big idea is to recruit niche manufacturing jobs to Woodbridge that support the President’s goal of making the United States the leader in explosive detection technology. When our Warfighters or First Responders around the world are using a device to protect us, I want it to be stamped with “Made in the USA-Woodbridge, VA!”

I have successful job creating experience in all three of the Prince William County Department of Economic Development’s Target Markets.

Federal Contracts and Agencies

As a former Green Beret and FBI support employee I understand the needs of government leaders when they are looking for a place to fulfill their vital missions from. As a government contractor, I understand the business and have been extremely successful in winning contracts and putting people to work in supporting the government’s missions for different agencies.

Life Sciences and Forensics

As the former Chairman of the Northern Virginia Bio-Med-Tech Committee and Bio IT Coalition and current member of George Mason University’s Biosafety Committee, I have worked for the past decade to help Northern Virginia, Prince William County in particular, to compete directly with Maryland for the high tech jobs in the Life Sciences field. As a graduate of George Mason University’s Master of Science Bioscience Management, a graduate business degree specifically created for managing the bioscience industry, I know the business sector well, what the leaders are looking for when they relocate and have worked directly in it, specifically in the biodefense industry. At the FBI I was responsible for the FBI Laboratory Division’s (the gold standard of forensic labs) annual budget submissions to the Department of Justice, Office of Management and Budget and the Congress. While not a forensic examiner, I know the intricacies of managing forensics and what is needed by the leaders in this field.

Data Centers

At the FBI I was also responsible for the budgeting of the growing computer forensics investigation capabilities and served on the Attorney General’s Cyber Task Force. While I will never claim to be an information technology (IT) expert, I understand what is needed to bring these businesses to the area because of my experience in directly assisting IT personnel in gaining the capabilities they need to complete their work.

If elected, within my first year on the Board I will do the following:

1.    I will install an issues resolution process that is accountable, transparent and available to all residents and business owners of Woodbridge. You will be able to track, online, over the phone, or in person where your issue is in the resolution process. I will be involved directly throughout the process on every issue, but promise I will intervene directly with the resident at two points: first, if we get a complaint that the resolution is not moving fast enough that will trigger an immediate phone call or visit from me (my goal is to minimize complaints to as near zero as possible) and second at the end of the process you will receive a call or visit from me to ensure your issue is completely resolved and to seek your permission to close it in the system.

2.    I will put forward a DRAFT Resolution to my fellow Supervisors and the Chairman for review, edit and comment for turning the entire Woodbridge District into an Economic Development Center of Excellence Pilot Program. The Pilot Program will be an effects based, measureable, approach to retaining and recruiting new businesses to the Woodbridge District. If a business commits to renovating and staying or one commits to starting in or moving into the Woodbridge District the following will be triggered:

a.    Business Professional Occupational Licenses (BPOL) reform or elimination

b.    Proffer reform

c.    Sustainable renovation and construction incentivization

d.    Working with the Woodbridge School Board Representative Denita Ramirez to bring Dr. Otaigbe’s vision of “high school online”, for those interested students, to help shape the workforce of the future to fill the jobs that will come to Woodbridge

Once the DRAFT Resolution is approved I will socialize the document among our citizens and business owners, our legislators in Richmond, our Attorneys and any other necessary stakeholder to ensure it is something we want and can make work. No later than my second year in office I will bring the final Resolution forward for a vote by the Board of County Supervisors. The pilot project will be at full operational capacity by my fourth year and if successful I will give all of the credit to you, the people, that made it happen. If not, I will take FULL RESPONSIBILITY for it.