(Scott raises a real issue, the need to show an immediate impact in his fundraising. We want to ensure we lock down retention of the seat as quickly as possible. - promoted by teacherken)
I am writing to request your help in a new challenge - my campaign for the 44th District of the Virginia House of Delegates in the Mt. Vernon/US 1 area of Fairfax County.
Unexpectedly, this past Wednesday, my delegate for the last ten years, Kris Amundson, announced that she was retiring. Delegate Amundson has been an highly effective and dedicated leader for our area and her decision was very tough one for her to make. After discussing the situation with my wife and family, I have decided to declare my candidacy for this seat.
While my roots in the community and my public involvement may give me an advantage, my opponent started his campaign in April and raised $50,000 in two months. I declared my candidacy this past Wednesday afternoon while driving to the Arlington Courthouse for a trial after learned that the news had leaked out and reporters had started to call. I am now into Day #6 of my campaign. Today, I have a website, Field Director, a campaign office, and I hope to have hired a campaign manager very soon. However, there is a fundraising reporting deadline tomorrow - Tuesday, June 30 - and I need your support. |
| Here is some information about me. In 1971, my parents brought me home to our first home on Fairfax Road in Hollin Hall Precinct. Four years later, we moved across Ft. Hunt Road into Tauxemont, a neighborhood my grandparents cooperatively built with twenty other families in 1940 when Mt. Vernon was mostly dairy farms. Three generations of Surovells have attended Tauxemont Preschool - an early childhood education program my grandparents helped found that is still operating today on Ft. Hunt Road. I attended Hollin Hall and Waynewood Elementary Schools, Stephen Foster Intermediate School, and Graduated from West Potomac High School in 1989. After graduating from James Madison University with honors in 1993, I attended the University of Virginia School of Law, hung a shingle in Fairfax County with my father in 1996, and started a career focused on family law, criminal law, personal injury, and the commercial litigation. In 2003, we started a new firm with seven lawyers which has grown to sixteen attorneys and employs over thirty Northern Virginians. I have lectured around the Commonwealth on legal matters, been published in legal journals, and was recognized with the highest peer-rating available by Martindale Hubble at the age of 31.
Today, I live on the property where my grandparents built their home with my wife, Erinn Madden, and our four children, Eva, Leia, Mara and Colin.
Aside from a three year stint in Arlington after law school and some hiatuses to college and law school, I have lived in this neighborhood for 34 of 37 years.
In 2003, after lifelong involvement in electing good candidates, I became more involved. I believed The Bush Administration was destroying our international credibility and had severely misguided priorities. Our state government was mostly gridlocked with the legislature grandstanding to make political points instead of working together for Virginia's families. In 2003, I became the Chairman of the Mt. Vernon Democratic Committee and in the winter of 2008, I was elected Chairman of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee. In the last five years, I have helped switch U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives to Democratic control with the election of Virginians Jim Webb, Mark Warner, and Gerry Connolly. With the election of Tim Kaine we saw the first southern legislature turn from Republican to Democratic control since Reconstruction in part with the election of Sen. George Barker 2007 who represents part of Mt. Vernon. Perhaps most significantly, I worked to help Fairfax County provide a massive margin for Barack Obama which put Virginia in the Democratic column for the first time in nearly four decades and the second time since Harry Truman.
To truly solve the state's problems, we still need to bring change to the Virginia House of Delegates. Todays House turns down and obstructs virtually every reasonable measure to move Virginia forward. Each year, it sends scores bills focused on divisive social issues or scoring political points instead of problem-solving measures to improve people's lives. I am committed to keeping the 44th district in Democratic hands and moving the House of Delegates to Democratic control. Our leaders cannot truly solve our problems until this happens.
I intend to focus on real long-term solutions to our transportation problems, investing in education at all levels, helping seniors have full lives in their community, ensuring a clean environment, giving our children full opportunities, creating real well-paying jobs, and making Mt. Vernon a better place to live.
While the voting record of this district is favorable for Democrats, we can take nothing for granted and I cannot campaign without resources, human and financial. I am trying to file a strong financial report by this Tuesday, June 30. With your help, in six days I would like to raise as much money as my opponent did in two months. If you can give $1,000, $500, $250, $100, or $50, I would be honored to have your support. To contribute and/or volunteer on my campaign please click on the links below.
Contribute Volunteer
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at scott@surovell2009.com, thank you for your help and I look forward working with you as we continue to move Virginia forward.
Sincerely Yours,
Scott A. Surovell
Candidate for the 44th House of Delegates District
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