The big money is not all on the Democratic side in the 11th Congressional District race.

Republican Keith Fimian announced that he has raised $838,000--with $742,000 cash on hand--in the campaign to succeed retiring Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R). The Oakton resident, a former football star at the College of William and Mary, owns U.S. Inspect, a home inspection company.

Gerald E. Connolly, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, leads fundraising in the Democratic field with $500,000 amassed during the first quarter of 2008.

New polling by Fairfax County Board Chairman Gerald E. Connolly continues to show him with a significant lead over Leslie L. Byrne in the race for the 11th District Democratic Congressional nomination.

The poll of likely Democratic primary voters, first reported yesterday by the Congressional newspaper The Hill, had Connolly ahead of Byrne by a 20-point margin, 45-25. That is just slightly below the 23-point spread Connolly claimed in a January poll. Both surveys were conducted by Lake Research Partners.

It shows two other opponents, Doug Denneny and Lori Alexander, trailing far behind with one percent each.

Endorsements are a chronically overvalued commodity in politics. Remember a few weeks ago when Ted Kennedy's testimonial to Barack Obama at American University was heralded as a ground-changing event?

But that's never stopped campaigns from cranking them out--big names and little ones. Gerry Connolly announced 29 local officials on Wednesday in his campaign for the 11th District Democratic Congressional nomination. Today was House of Delegates day: Del. Kenneth R. Plum (D-Fairfax); Del. James M. Scott (D-Fairfax); Del. David L. Bulova (D-Fairfax); Del. Vivian E. Watts (D-Fairfax); Del. Dave W. Marsden (D-Fairfax); Del. C. Charles Caputo (D-Fairfax), and Del. Paul F. Nichols (D-Prince William).

Former Rep. Leslie L. Byrne has her own long state house list, including Del. Robert D. Hull (D-Fairfax); Del. Margi Vanderhye (D-Fairfax) and Del. Lionell Spruill Sr. (D-Chesapeake), DNC National Committeeman. Byrne has also brought home the marquee endorsement of the race to date, Sen. James Webb.

As investments go, Gerald E. Connolly has yielded pretty good returns for Fairfax County firefighters and paramedics.

Their union, Local 2068 of the International Association of Firefighters, has put up nearly $100,000 in campaign contributions to the Board of Supervisors chairman over the last four years.

During that period, they've received salary increases significantly higher than those of other county employees. County and union officials say there was no quid pro quo, and that the raises were strictly a matter of keeping public safety pay competitive with surrounding communities.

While Leslie L. Byrne and Gerald E. Connolly trade charge and countercharge about their records and tactics, 11th District Democratic Congressional candidate Doug Denneny is trying to gain some ground on the high road.

"Just like the career politicians they are, Doug's opponents are quibbling over campaign tactics instead of focusing on the real problems facing voters in the 11th district," his communications director, Kevin Franck, said in a statement today. "The fact that our opponents have gone negative so early in this race is troubling."

Franck said such intramural food fights are especially unseemly on the 5th anniverary of the Iraq War. Denneny is a former Navy pilot and Iraq war veteran.

"Brave men and women of our armed forces are still in harms way," he said. "Getting our country back on track will require real leadership for a change, not inside-baseball political fights. Let's keep our eye on the ball."

St. Patrick's Day may not be, as Fairfax Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly likes to joke, "the holiest day of the year." But for Connolly it's certainly the most profitable.

Connolly, running for the 11th District Democratic Congressional nomination, will once again celebrate with high and low-end fundraisers. He'll hold a $1,000-a-plate lunch at the Tower Club in Tysons Corner, followed by his 14th annual fete Monday evening at the Kena Temple on Route 50, where Democrats will pay $35-a-head for beer, corned beef and cabbage.

Last year's lunch brought in about $300,000 for his campaign for a second term as Fairfax Board chairman, which he won in November.

The Eleventh District Congressional race, and the prospect of a fight to succeed Fairfax Board Chairman Gerald E. Connolly, are already resonating in the debate over the budget proposed on Monday by County Executive Anthony H. Griffin.

The Republican minority on the 10-member Board of Supervisors intends to use its grievances about the spending plan to soften up Connolly, who would be the Democratic nominee in November if he defeats former Rep. Leslie L. Byrne, Navy veteran Doug Denneny and physical therapist Lori Alexander in the June 10 primary.

At the same time, the two leading aspirants to succeed Connolly should he win the 11th District seat, Supervisors Sharon Bulova (D-Braddock) and Pat Herrity (R-Springfield) are firmly positioned on opposite sides of Griffin's blueprint.

Fairfax County homeowners, facing an average 3 percent decline in the value of their properties, can take some solace--a bit, anyway--in the fact that the Board of Supervisors are taking a bigger hit.

Property assessments released this week show that board members are looking at an average 8.2 percent drop in their home values. Supervisor Linda Q. Smyth (D-Providence) took the biggest dip, losing 22.8 percent on her three-bedroom, brick home on Hideaway Road, which is now assessed at $541,030. Chairman Gerald E. Connolly's (D-At-Large) Mantua Drive home lost 9 percent, bringing it to $725,650.

Some had more to lose than others. Supervisor John W. Foust (D-Dranesville) dropped more than $400,000--nearly 11 percent--from his six-bedroom home on Swinks Mill Court in McLean, which was valued last year at $3.9 million.

Andrew Hurst, the 2006 Democratic Congressional nominee in the 11th District, has endorsed Gerald E. Connolly in the party's June 10 primary.

Four years ago this month, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors gathered at a guest ranch on the Shenandoah River for a two-day retreat to sort through ideas and set priorities for their new four year term.

Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) speaks fondly of the group cohesion that he said emerged from the trip. At the Stanley, Va. ranch, owned by then-Supervisor Elaine N. McConnell (R-Springfield), board members made breakfast together, sat around the piano in the evening, and generally got to know each other away from telephones, e-mail and the constant drumbeat of official business.

By day, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) confines his public pronouncements largely to the nuts and bolts of local government. Last night, however, evoked a little of the old time religion for the general membership meeting of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee.

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) may already be missing Elaine McConnell.

He seldom clashed publicly with the six-term Republican supervisor from Springfield who retired on Dec. 31. The two got along so well that critics in McConnell's district tagged her a RINO (Republican in Name Only). But Connolly could be in for a different experience with her successor, Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield).

It didn't take Herndon Mayor Stephen J. DeBenedittis long to jump into re-election mode. Less than a week after Town Council member Harlon Reece announced his candidacy for mayor in the May 6 elections, DeBenedittis has formally declared that he will seek a second term.

Herndon Town Council member Harlon Reece, who says he is disturbed by the tone of the debate over illegal immigration in the western Fairfax community, has announced that he will run for mayor this spring.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors lost two wealthy Republicans in November but is gaining one pretty well-off Democrat.

John W. Foust (D-Dranesville), who will attend his first board meeting on Monday, holds between $620,000 and more than $2 million in stocks and mutual funds, according to his statement of financial interests on file with the county. (Members are not required to be specific and can report assets within wide brackets) That's in addition to at least $500,000 in annual income from his Vienna law practice, and from his wife, Dr. Marilyn Jerome, an ob-gyn in Northwest D.C. It places him, at least according to what can be gleaned from the barebones disclosure forms, on a par with Supervisor Linda Q. Smyth (D-Providence), as among the most well-to-do board members. Smyth and her husband, lawyer Nigel S. Smyth, hold stocks and mutual funds worth between $730,000 and more than $1.6 million.

Jeffrey C. McKay, Fairfax Supervisor-elect for Lee District, has named a key campaign operative for State Senator-elect George L. Barker (Fairfax) as his chief of staff. Scott Robinson was director of field operations for Barker, who unseated J.K. "Jay" O'Brien in the 39th District race last month. Lee District comprises a good portion of the 39th. McKay, the long-time chief of staff for retiring incumbent T. Dana Kauffman, said he plans to retain the rest of Kauffman's district staff, including communications director Linda Waller and assistants Christina Manning, Joan Clark and Marcus Wadsworth.

It was a farewell fit for a departing secretary of state, much less a retiring Fairfax County supervisor. Monday night's salute to Elaine N. McConnell at the Springfield Hilton consumed three-and-a-half hours, a dozen testimonials, two church hymns (written by the guest of honor) and a "This Is Your Life" PowerPoint presentation that began with her Spanish immigrant grandfather.
The hundreds of friends, constituents and colleagues who packed the hotel ballroom for the six-term Republican's send-off dinner heard a formidable collection of guest speakers from the top tier of the county's business and political class, including Secretary of the Commonwealth (and former Fairfax Board Chairwoman) Katherine K. Hanley (D); incumbent Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D); County Executive Anthony H. Griffin; former county executive Jay Hamilton Lambert; developers Milton V. Peterson and John T. "Til" Hazel, and go-to real estate attorneys Francis A. McDermott and Michael Horwatt.

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) sounded like he was test-marketing bumper sticker language at his swearing-in ceremony last night.
"Government that works. Results that matter," he said in his inaugural address. That catch-phrase followed a list of achievements straight from the stump speech he used in his resounding November re-election victory over Republican Gary H. Baise.
Conciliation and statesmanship are the usual fare at inaugural ceremonies. But Connolly, who wants to contend for the 11th District Congressional seat if incumbent Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R) retires, seemed to take special pains to soften partisan edges and craft a speech that reached out to Davis' moderate base. He invoked Theodore Roosevelt's "Man in the Arena" speech and departed from his prepared text to recognize Baise, who was in attendance, for a round of applause.
"None of us in public life has a corner on the truth," Connolly said. "In public life, dogma serves us poorly. We see it in the political gridlock in Richmond and in Washington.....Respect and humility offer a more productive model for debate in the arena."

The Democratic presidential nomination may be a settled issue by the Feb. 12 Virginia primary. But that didn't stop Northern Virginia party activists from conducting a straw poll in Falls Church on Saturday. It came at a thank-you brunch hosted by Fairfax County Board Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D). There were only 265 votes cast, but hey, it's a poll. So it's got to be accurate, right?
The results:
Clinton 35 percent (93)
Obama 24 percent (63)
Edwards 18 percent (48)
Richardson 10 percent (26)
Biden 7 percent (19)
Kucinich 4 percent (9)
Dodd 2 percent (6)
Gravel 0 percent (1)

The Fairfax supervisor who asked county officials to determine the costs of illegal immigration says their analysis was kept under wraps until after the Nov. 6 elections.

It was mid-July when Supervisor Michael R. Frey (R-Sully) asked County Executive Anthony H. Griffin for a report on what services the county provided to undocumented aliens and what they cost. The study was delivered to Frey on Nov. 20 and made public on Monday.

For what was ostensibly four months of work, it didn't amount to much. Griffin said the only costs that could be quantified were at the county jail, where the sheriff will spend about $4 million in the current fiscal year to house undocumented prisoners.

Any inventory of Northern Virginia's power structure has to include Gerald T. Halpin, founder, president and CEO of WestGroup, the real estate company instrumental in the development of Tysons Corner.

Tonight, at the National Building Museum, he receives the Urban Land Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award for "commitment to the highest standards of responsible development."

Outside the museum, Halpin will be getting another honor. It's the "Scrooge Award," in the form of leaflets from members of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 32BJ, which is trying to organize about 5,000 janitorial workers in Northern Virginia. Some of them work for contractors employed by WestGroup to clean its office buildings in Tysons. The janitors, mostly Hispanic immigrants, make between $5.50 and $7.50 an hour according to the union.

Fairfax Supervisor Gerald W. Hyland (D-Mount Vernon) didn't mean to overstate the threat to homeowners along Little Hunting Creek yesterday with his resolution asking the county to extend the ban on feeding ducks and Canada geese. Hyland's measure, introduced at the Board of Supervisors meeting, said residents near the Potomac tributary in southeast Fairfax have spent hours shoveling goose feces off their docks "or kept their children locked inside to protect them from the vicious black beaked bites of the meanest Canadian you may ever meet." Brett Kenney, Hyland's chief aide, confirmed that "geese" was the unfortunate omission.

Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) had more to say about Jews today, but this time his comments aren't likely to unleash another torrent of criticism.

Moran began his talk at an immigration forum by decrying U.S. policies in the late 1930s and early 1940s that blocked tens of thousands of Eurpoean Jews from escaping Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust. Without mentioning Jews or the Holocaust by name, he said a shameful chapter in U.S. immigration history was written "when we refused to allow [entry to] people who would otherwise be suffering not just persecution but extermination. Imagine how much greater a country we would have been were we not so prejudicial and xenophobic."

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) swept all nine magisterial districts in his thumping of Republican Gary H. Baise on Tuesday. He carried Sully and Springfield -- which he lost to Mychele B. Brickner (R) in 2003 -- by comfortable margins.

A closer look at the returns confirms that Connolly was successful in neutralizing illegal immigration as an issue. Connolly opposed get tough measures touted by other candidates such as withholding services and involving local police in immigration enforcement. Yet he won Herndon, the region's longtime immigration battleground, with nearly 57 percent of the vote, better than his showing in 2003.

The numbers also suggest that Connolly's push for creation of the "Enhanced Code Enforcement Strike Team" to crack down on illegal boarding houses also paid political dividends. In Lee District, he handily won precincts that generated the most complaints about residential overcrowding -- including Crestwood, which he narrowly lost to Brickner in 2003.

Newly re-elected Fairfax Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly has no intention of going on the Metro board of directors, according to his chief of staff.

There had been discussion that Connolly might try to expand his regional influence by claiming the Virginia seat on the high-profile panel that will be vacated in January by the retiring T. Dana Kauffman (D-Lee).

But chief of staff Dominic Bonaiuto said it's not in the cards, and that he wants to move the current alternate, Supervisor Cathy Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill), up to principal voting member. A new alternate member to the Metro board will be appointed when the Fairfax Supervisors reorganize in January, he said.

Gerald E. Connolly, (D) with more than a few dollars to spare in his Fairfax Board Chairman's race against Republican Gary H. Baise, wrote a $125,000 check to the Virginia Democratic Party last week, according to new campaign finance reports.
Connolly has enjoyed an overwhelming cash advantage from the get-go, raising $1.2 million since 2004 and spending only slightly more than half of it so far against the little-known Baise. He continues to pound the Falls Church trial lawyer financially, raising $195,358 in the Oct. 1-24 period, compared to $22,745 for Baise.

The pollster for Fairfax County Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) says his re-election campaign provides an example of how illegal immigration can be turned into "a second-tier issue" by candidates who emphasize problem-solving and leadership.

There is talk that if he wins re-election as expected Tuesday, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) may try to expand his regional influence by grabbing the Virginia seat on the Metro board of directors. The current Virginia member, Fairfax Supervisor T. Dana Kauffman (D-Lee), did not seek re-election to the Fairfax board this year and is retiring.

Transportation proffers are generally not the stuff of vivid anecdotes. But Pat S. Herrity, Republican candidate for the Springfield seat on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, has been recounting one to election-season audiences.

Herrity, who is running against Democrat P. Mike McClanahan, promises to toughen the county's approach to extracting cash from developers for road and transit improvements to accompany new construction. As an example, he describes a mid-1980s meeting between his late father, then-board chairman John F. "Jack" Herrity (R), County Executive J. Hamilton Lambert and Milton V. Peterson, co-developer with John T. "Til" Hazel, of the 620-acre Fair Lakes project near the Fair Oaks Mall.

Dentist-developer Cyrus Katzen is among the biggest donors to Fairfax County campaigns. He's got it to spare. The owner of the Culmore Shopping Center in Baileys Crossroads gave $15 million to American University for the arts center that bears his name and that of his wife, Myrtle.
Since 1996 he's given Fairfax Board Chairman Gerald E. Connolly more than $52,000, according to the non-partisan Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP). Supervisors Gerald W. Hyland (D-Mount Vernon), T. Dana Kauffman (D-Lee) and Elaine N. McConnell (R-Springfield) have also been recipients of Katzen's largesse.

The list of donors to campaigns in Fairfax County is a usual-suspects mix of developers, realtors, attorneys, government contractors, party PACs and community activists. That's why the $2,000 contribution to Supervisor Sharon Bulova (D-Braddock) from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters stands out.
She is the Fairfax Board's sole recipient of money directly from the 1.4 million-member union. (It also gave $6,500 to state Democratic PACs)

There's a bit more to the story of the Lyndon Johnson photos in the conference room of Fairfax Board Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D).

As The Post mentioned in its Monday morning piece on Connolly's four year record as chairman, the series of photos, known as "The Johnson Treatment," show the then-Senate Majority Leader strongarming a committee chairman.

A standard feature of candidate debates are cue cards, usually held up by an intrepid volunteer stationed in the front row, to tell candidates how much time they have left to speak. Organizers of Thursday's McLean Chamber of Commerce breakfast forum came up with an unusual prod for folks to finish up. After cards reading "1 minute," "30 seconds" and "Time," those still orating saw one that read, "Blah Blah."
Fairfax County Board Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) liked it so much he asked if he could have it. "Maybe I'll bring it to future debates," he quipped.
Or perhaps bring it to flash at windy constituents in public hearings.

Republican Gary H. Baise says that if elected Chairman of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors he would halt the planned Metrorail extension to Dulles International Airport unless the elevated segment through Tysons Corner was built below ground.

"My first action would be to stop that project until we get it right," Baise said at a Thursday breakfast forum sponsored by the McLean Chamber of Commerce.

Baise, who is challenging Democratic incumbent Gerald E. Connolly, is on record supporting a Tysons tunnel. But this morning's pledge was his most explicit of the campaign on the Dulles project, which he has also criticized for its mushrooming cost, dearth of transparency and lack of competitive bidding on aspects of the contract. His vow drew applause from the audience at the Westin Tysons.

Baise also trashed Dulles Transit Partners, the private construction consortium headed by Bechtel and Washington Group International that would build the 11.6 mile first phase of the project from Falls Church to Wiehle Avenue in Reston. Bechtel was lead contractor on the notorious "Big Dig" highway project in Boston.

"I don't think these are two companies you can trust with the people' money," Baise said.

It's not completely clear what Baise could do about Dulles rail as chairman. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) heads the project. He could try to pull the county's share of the funding, which is in the form of revenue from a special taxing district comprised of land owners and businesses in the Dulles corridor. But he would need five four other votes on the nine-member board.

With apologies to H.L. Mencken, there are lies, damn lies and debates.
In their series of joint appearances across Fairfax County this fall, Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) and challenger Gary H. Baise (R) each rely their own menu of "facts" to animate their basic message. For Connolly, Fairfax is the "envy of the nation," the land of high SAT scores and low crime rates. For Baise, it is county at risk, choking on traffic and profligate government spending.
The casualties are context, nuance and the truth.
Connolly is proud of the crime rate, which in 2006 reached lows not seen since the 1970s. There were about 1700 crimes per 100,000 residents, representing an overall drop of about 6.9 percent over 2005. What he fails to mention is the significant increases in robbery and burglary, up 18.4 percent and 17.6 percent respectively.
SAT scores are another favorite note. The combined verbal and match score of 1108 is nearly 100 points above national averages--- just as they have been for years before Connolly took office in Fairfax. What does he have to do with it, other than sending a large county check to the school district every year? He doesn't say.

Many yearn for more civility in our politics, but few walk the walk like Carey Campbell, Independent Green candidate for the Braddock District seat on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

Campbell begins every candidates' forum and debate by presenting his opponent, incumbent Sharon Bulova (D), with a bouquet of flowers. He also asks the audience to give Bulova, running for her sixth four-year term, a round of applause.

Some Fairfax County Democrats are still buzzing about Gary H. Baise's likening of illegal immigration to the heroin trade at his Sept. 18 Chamber of Commerce debate with Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D).

Fairfax County Supervisor Joan M. DuBois (R-Dranesville) did a bit of inexplicable redistricting at the McLean Citizens Association debate Tuesday night when she placed Tysons Corner in the Hunter Mill District. DuBois, locked in what is regarded as a tight race against Democrat John Foust, was trying to make the point that Dranesville often has little control over development activity in Tysons because none of it is in the district. The she added and that she sometimes has a difficult time "getting the attention" of Hunter Mill Supervisor Catherine Hudgins (D) on Tysons issues. This would no doubt be true, since nearly all of the mammoth office and commercial center is in Providence District, represented by Linda Q. Smyth (D).

DuBois blanched when informed of the mistake afterward.

"Sorry about that," she said.

Both camps in the Fairfax County Chairman's race expressed satisfaction with their candidate's showing at Tuesday afternoon's Chamber of Commerce debate. Democratic incumbent Gerry Connolly and Republican attorney Gary Baise took questions for about an hour from a panel of reporters at the Westin Tysons.

"I thought Baise was all swagger and not much substance," said George Burke, communications director for the Fairfax County Democratic Committee. "I didn't hear a lot of concrete proposals other than as a private citizen he'd do it differently." Burke said that Baise's core message-- that the quality of life in the county had deteriorated under Connolly's watch--was not going to resonate with voters. He did allow, however, that Baise's extensive experience as a trial lawyer was evident in the poise and ease of his presentation.

All Chris Short wanted to do on Monday afternoon was read his statement to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. All Chairman Gerry Connolly wanted to do was argue.

The board was holding a public hearing on a proposal to limit the use of the temporary portable storage containers, such as PODS, that have become omnipresent in some neighborhoods. The usual format is for citizens to have their say with a minimum of comment from elected officials, save an occasional question for clarification.

Connolly is, by and large, courteous to his speakers but will, from time to time--usually in the midst of a long afternoon--go off on some unsuspecting citizen.

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"Really?" said Connolly, ramping up for a debate.

"Absolutely," said Short, with a fragment of nervous laughter.

"Really? So you don't--forgive me for interrupting--you don't think we should have any interest in how high a building is...

"Well, I'm not here to argue with you about that," said Short, clearly not accustomed to speaking in public and no doubt wondering what kind of ambush he'd walked into.

"I'm just trying to understand your assertion, sir," said Connolly. "So we should not have any building height restrictions...on residences. Is that correct?"

"I would say not. Obviously you guys have a different opinion. I'm not here to argue with you."

"Really? Well, actually the Code of Virginia has a different opinion," said Connolly, making sure Short knew he wasn't addressing one of the guys.

Connolly eventually took pity on Short and, having taken up most of the three-minute time limit, gave him extra time. But the flustered Short never regained his footing.

Fairfax County Board Chairman Gerry Connolly (D) and Republican challenger Gary Baise could not be preparing more differently for Tuesday afternoon's Chamber of Commerce debate at the Westin Tysons Corner.
Baise, a Republican attorney his first run for public office, said he has been meeting with advisers, studying briefing books and doing mock debates.
"It's just like I'd prepare for a case," said Baise, who mostly defends corporate clients in environmental matters. "I'm reading documents. I always do moot courts. "
And Connolly? Not much, really. The Democratic incumbent, seeking a second term, said the plan is to show up.
"If you don't know it by now, cramming isn't going to help," he said. "I usually just go for a walk in the morning to clear my head."
Baise, who is expected to attack Connolly's record on traffic and transportation policy, trails Connolly by close to a 10-to-1 margin in fundraising. Connolly has raised just over $900,000. But Baise sounded almost hopeful this week, citing private polling that shows him down 16 points but placing Connolly's negatives at more than 40 percent.
"I'm at least within striking distance," Baise said.
Connolly scoffed at Baise's numbers.
"That's quite a poll. I'd call that a wishful thinking poll," he said, adding that his negatives are closer to 14.

Gary Baise, Republican candidate for Chairman of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors, enjoys reminiscing about his years working with William Ruckelshaus, the first head of the Environmental Protection Agency and later Deputy Attorney General.
Ruckelshaus was a casualty of the August 1973 "Saturday Night Massacre" who resigned along with his boss (Attorney General Elliot Richardson) rather than fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox per instructions from President Nixon.
Baise left as well, although he was later re-hired by acting Attorney General Robert Bork, who agreed to sack Cox.
There's one story from that era that Baise doesn't so readily recount: his 1975 appearance before an Indianapolis grand jury that investigated the alleged burglary and bugging of a political associate of then-Sen. Vance Hartke (D-Ind).

Bill Turque has covered government and politics at every level for the better part of 30 years. He worked as a city hall reporter for The Kansas City Star and the Dallas Times Herald before joining Newsweek magazine in 1986. He was part of a team of reporters that contributed to "The Quest for the Presidency 1988" (Simon and Schuster, 1989) a behind-the-scenes account of the campaign. Turque also covered the Clinton White House and Congress for the magazine. He is the author of "Inventing Al Gore" (Houghton Mifflin, 2000) a biography of the former vice president. He joined The Post in 2002 as Maryland local government editor and has covered Fairfax County since December 2005.