Dave Albo is the most senior Northern Virginian Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates, but don't let that fool you. He will still have to fight for reelection.

"My district has been Democratic for the last 10 years," Albo told Patch from his office on Old Keene Mill Road in Springfield. "It voted more than 60 percent for Barack Obama in 2008. But one of the things about Northern Virginia is how highly educated people are. So, people don't just go into the booth and vote like robots here, and the way I've managed to be successful in all my elections is that I just work my ass off."

The tide of a local election can be turned by a few hundred votes. In 2009, Albo defeated Democratic challenger Gregory Werkheiser by 11,767 votes to 9,006 votes in the most expensive delegate's race in Virginia's history. Albo raised and spent $927,217, and Werkheiser raised $781,828, of which $235,000 was contributed by the Democratic House of Delegates’ caucus and $194,889 by the Democratic Party of Virginia. 

This November, Albo, 49, faces Democrat Jack Dobbyn, 30, President of the Fairfax County Young Democrats. No current financial information was available on either race as the financial disclosure deadline is July 15. Both camps are planning for three debates, although no formal dates have been set.

"I met [Dobbyn] one time at a Mason Neck Civic Association a few weeks ago. I'd never met him before, didn't know who he was," Albo said. "He comes from the Mount Vernon area, which was not in my district until recently... Well, it was 10 years ago, but he was in high school then. He's just into politics. He's the president of the Young Democrats and I just think he wanted to run for office. So, I'm out knocking on doors, doing what I always do." 

"What he always does" includes a plan to knock on 5,000 doors by election day, November 8, 2011. "I get things done, and you don't get things done by being super hardcore on the right," said Albo. "If you put it on a scale, you'd put [Virginia Attorney General] Ken Cucinelli on the conservative end of it - because he's as conservative as it gets. You'd put [U.S. Senate candidate and former Virginia Governor] Tim Kaine on the left - because he's about as liberal as it gets. Then you put [former Virginia Republican Congressman] Tom Davis and Dave Albo to the right of the middle and [U.S. Sen.] Mark Warner to the left of the middle. 

"On fiscal matters, I'm about as far-right as you get, because I am a firm believer that government doesn't create jobs. People create jobs and businesses create jobs and everybody is better off if you can let the people and businesses create jobs," Albo said.

Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity is a Republican and knows about close elections. In 2009, he narrowly lost a special election for the chairmanship of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors by 1,217 votes. "The biggest thing Dave has going for him is that he grew up in West Springfield, knows the people and knows the issues," Herrity said. "He understands the community and what they want."  

How long is the learning curve for a new Delegate? "It's about four years," said Albo, who chairs the Courts of Justice Committee and sits on the General Laws and Privileges Committee and the Elections Committee. "I always tell people: 'Just be quiet. Nobody cares what your opinion is when you're first down there because you don't know anything. You think you know something, but you don't.' I've noticed over the years that people who do the best and are the most effective are those who listened more than they talked. And they learned." 

Albo, a trial lawyer who graduated from West Springfield High School and the University of Richmond School of Law, traces his Republican roots to his parents. "But I didn't really get into it until I was in high school and got my first job and I kept wondering why this guy FICA [the Federal Insurance Contributions Act] kept taking 15% of my paycheck," he said. "But then I became pretty hardcore when I started my lawn firm in the 1980s and found that government was basically a detriment to any aspect of me making money. I made $13,000 my first year out of law school because I started my own firm and I got a BPOL [Business/Professional/Occupational Licenses] tax bill. That just totally set me off and ever since then I've been a Republican."

Albo, who plays his guitar for relaxation, is married to Rita Albo, and the couple adopted their six-year-old son, Ben, in 2005. 

On the Issues 

Gunston Hall - Albo is crafting a bill with State Sen. Toddy Puller (D-36) that would clear up ongoing management issues at Gunston Hall, the former home of George Mason.

"There's too many cooks in the kitchen," said Albo. "There's a Board of Regents, there's a Board of Visitors, there's the Board of Advisors, there's the Secretary of Education and the Governor. Right now we think the Governor has the authority to terminate [Executive Director David Reese], but we don't know whether the Board of Regents can just rehire him, so that's the problem.

"So, if the bill is to pass, it would be effective July 1, 2012. No one knows who the boss is down there, and what we want to do is redesign the whole governing structure there to say that the Governor appoints the executive director. He's the only one who has the authority to decide who fills or vacates that position, delineate what the Board of Regents does, what the Board of Visitors and what the Board of Advisors does, because right now there's no accountability," Albo said.

Reese's management of Gunston Hall, which is run by the Board of Regents, came under scrutiny after he fired the Educational Director in January. "[Reese is] a very nice man, and to me, he seems great," said Albo. "But part of his job is to get along with the Board of Volunteers, who are my constituents. If he doesn't do that then he fails in part of his job. The message I've sent is that they have a year to mend fences."  

On Base Realignment and Closure: "Locating [Washington Headquarters Services] over here on I-95 off Seminary Road is about the dumbest thing I have ever seen in government - ever," said Albo.

In September, 6,400 federal employees will move into the WHS facility at Mark Center. It is widely agreed that the area is not ready to face the additional traffic. "So, when we knew [WHS] was coming and we got these HOT [High Occupancy Toll] Lanes put in to solve the problem, because that project included a new interchange and more capacity for Mark Center," Albo said. "It was going to be started right now, but Arlington sued Virginia. They said the HOT lanes are racist and they sued in federal court in D.C. 

"So, they call it racist and file the case in D.C. because there they won't dismiss it. If the case was filed in Alexandria Federal Court the case would have been gone in three months. So, we had to restart the whole project that now ends at Seminary Road and was delayed by two years. So, when this traffic jam happens and people start getting mad, I'm going to give them the phone number of the Arlington Board of Supervisors and they can explain why they decided that HOT lanes are racist. It's unbelievable," Albo said.   

On Schools: "Me and a bunch of other Northern Virginians delivered a boatload of money to Fairfax County Public Schools. Even in a recession, we were one of five or six localities in the State that got more money back. So, they used that money to be able to afford to put West Springfield High School's renovation on the map." 

On Transportation: "Transportation is a hard thing to solve, and every time I have an election I hear: 'You failed on transportation!' Quite frankly that's not true. There has been more money delivered to this area than anywhere else in the state of Virginia. Since I've been in office - the Mixing Bowl redesign, the widening of Route 123 and Lorton Road, Springfield Metro, VRE, the completion of the Fairfax County Parkway extension - I wish it was more," said Albo. "I'm not one of those guys to tell you that everything is great, because it isn't, but we've done a lot and there's more to do." 

Drilling off Virginia's coast: "I'm all for it if it can be done safely. Remember the Deepwater Horizon spill happened because they were drilling below where submarines can even go. You're talking about pretty shallow drilling in Virginia and it's not for oil, but natural gas, and there's a lot of it. I can't imagine how drilling for natural gas could not be safe."

On being a career politician: "I'm going to do this until it stops being fun. A while ago I had a desire to run for Congress, and I was going to when Tom Davis retired [in 2008]. But I adopted my boy five years ago and I've decided that I'd rather be a dad. So, I enjoy the job now. I get to be a legislator in the winter, I get to be a dad, a lawyer and live in my district and help people. But if you go to Congress you have to be a full-time politician, and that's not my bag, baby."

The best part of being a Delegate: "For me, it's opening up the black books and seeing my words in it. To be part of a system that is the oldest code in America - over 400 years old, to be able to say, 'I thought of that, I wrote that,' is pretty cool."