Herndon Town Councilmember Naila Alam’s attendance record is under fire from one of Fairfax County’s Congressional representatives.
In a tweet sent on Sunday (Oct. 13), Rep. Gerry Connolly said Alam has had the worst attendance in the council, missing more than 25% of all public meeting since she took office in 2020.
“At a minimum, the public should expect elected officials to attend meetings,” Connolly said.
Councilwoman Naila Alam has the worst attendance record of any member of the Town Council. Since being elected in 2020 she has missed more than 1/4 of all meetings, and some years has missed nearly half. At a minimum, the public should expect elected officials to attend meetings.
— Gerry Connolly (@ElectConnolly) October 13, 2024
Alam is currently seeking a third two-year term on the Herndon Town Council, competing for one of six seats in a field with nine candidates. Alam was one of five contenders to get an endorsement from the Fairfax County Democratic Committee, which somewhat controversially held a caucus on the nonpartisan council and mayor races this summer.
In a statement today (Friday), Alam called Connolly’s tweet about her an intentional attack on the Muslim-American community after former Government Accountability Office attorney Ahsan Nasar challenged him in the Democratic primary this summer. Nasar’s platform included a call for a permanent ceasefire in Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.
Alam also said it was an effort to undermine Democratic unity ahead of the general election.
”He is clearly retaliating against the Fairfax County Muslim-American community’s organization of a primary challenge against him this Summer over his record on the catastrophic war in Gaza,” Alam said in a statement. “Now is the time for Democrats to unite around candidates who oppose Donald Trump’s extreme agenda instead of tearing each other apart heading into a general election.”
Alam also demanded O’Connolly apologize for the statement.
“Congressman Connolly’s decision to exploit that in order to launch a political attack in order to punish my community is disgusting and despicable. He owes us an apology,” she said.
Town records obtained by FFXnow show that Alam missed the most meetings by far. In 2021, she missed 10 meetings. Most council members missed two meetings or less that year. In 2022, Alam was absent for 10 meetings, including all meetings in January and three in February. She missed eight meetings in 2023 and four so far this year.
In her statement, Alam said she has been unable to attend some town council meetings “because I needed to attend to my family members’ health issues.”
Donald Brownlee, Connolly’s political director, says the congressman believes elected officials should be maintain good attendance, not just during an election year.
“He couldn’t in good conscience not share this information with the people of Herndon, who deserve to know that No Show Naila has chronically missed meetings, 25% since being elected to the Town Council,” Brownlee said in a statement to FFXnow. “He needs partners in Herndon who work every day to deliver results. That Naila can’t defend her record and resorts to ad hominem attacks is just sad.”
In his tweet thread, Connolly also accused Herndon Vice Mayor Clark Hedrick of being a “professional Republican” and said town council candidate Stevan Porter expressed opposition to expanding background checks and other gun safety proposals when running for Congress as a Libertarian in 2018.
Hedrick, who is running for reelection to the town council, appears to be a Republican general counsel and staff director for a government operations and border management subcommittee under the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Neither Hedrick nor Porter were endorsed by the county’s Democratic committee, and it’s unclear if they sought the Democrats’ backing. They didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Connolly, who represents Virginia’s 11th Congressional District, including Herndon, said his comments were intended to help voters decide which candidates to support.
“As the Congressman for Herndon, I feel it is important for voters to enter the voting booth fully informed about the candidates,” he tweeted.
