Candidate Profile: Corazon Sandoval Foley For Springfield Supervisor

FAIRFAX COUNTY — Corazon Sandoval Foley, a former diplomat and intelligence officer, is running to serve as Springfield District representative on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

Sandoval Foley founded the Foley Community Center Project upon retirement in 2007 to support seniors and families in the Springfield District. As a community activist, she has campaigned to stop HOA bans on rooftop solar panels and has worked to promote renewable energy.

Springfield District voters will have a Fairfax County Board of Supervisors representative and Fairfax County School Board representative on the ballot. The Springfield District includes areas like West Springfield, Fair Oaks and Clifton, as well as parts of Burke and Fairfax Station.

The general election ballot in Fairfax County will also include countywide races for Board of Supervisors chairman, three at-large School Board representatives, Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney, Fairfax County Sheriff, and Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District.

Early voting for the general election begins Friday, Sept. 22. More information on how to vote is available from the Fairfax County Office of Elections.

Name

Corazon Sandoval Foley

Age (as of Election Day)

73

Family Names, ages and any pertinent detail you wish to share

Our Foley Family has lived in our Springfield District hometown for 44 years after serving overseas as Diplomats with the US State Department.

Corazon Sandoval Foley is a widow after her husband of 49 years — Vietnam Veteran and CIA Senior Manager Michael Daniel Foley — died on April 12, 2022 at the age of 75 from illnesses in part from exposure to Agent Orange during his military service. Corazon and Michael raised two children in Springfield District — Joshua Daniel and Melinda Corazon Foley who graduated from Hunt Valley ES, Irving MS and West Springfield HS.

Joshua and his wife Clare Foley have two wonderful children born in our Burke, Virginia hometown in Springfield District — Daniel Padraig (13) who loves soccer and Ciara Kathleen (11) Foley who is a world champion Irish Dancer. Joshua defends our Homeland as a federal employee, while his wife Clare is an outstanding Special Education Teacher at Cherry Run ES. Daughter Melinda Corazon Foley is an author and screenwriter in Hollywood, California, where she has been picketing for better treatment of writers and actors with the Writers Guild of America.

Corazon Sandoval Foley is the First Filipino American and First Asian American Candidate for Springfield Supervisor in 2023 — with four generations of her Filipino American Sandoval family having lived in America for over 50 years (serving as accountants (CPAs), economist, engineers, nutritionist, teacher and with Corazon, in public service as diplomat/intelligence officer), mainly in Northern Virginia, DC and Maryland.

Education

Master of Business Administration (MBA) specializing in Finance from George Washington University

Occupation

Diplomat/Intelligence Officer with the US State Department and Intelligence Community for some 30 years, retiring in 2007 at the rank equivalent to Lieutenant Colonel — receiving several Superior Honor Awards, including the Exceptional Intelligence Analyst Award from the US Intelligence Community. After retirement, Corazon Sandoval Foley served as a Community Leader and Local Historian receiving several awards: First Filipino American Lady Fairfax 2009; Runner-Up to Fairfax County Citizen of the Year 2011; Library of Virginia Awardee for 2017 Virginia Women in History; and 2020 AARP Virginia Andrus Award for Outstanding Community Service.

Campaign Website

fcaahp.wordpress.com/about/

The single most pressing issue facing Fairfax County is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The most pressing issue for the Springfield Supervisor: Strengthening our Springfield District, particularly after the social isolation problems caused by the pandemic, is a most pressing issue for families in our Springfield District — and implementation of the Foley Community Center Project would be most helpful. Related to this issue is the pressing need for integrity of Fairfax Supervisors for transparent and fiscally responsible decisions. Thus, Corazon Sandoval Foley has pledged voluntarily, to donate the pay raise bulldozed by the Board to the Foley Community Center Project (aka Burke/West Springfield Senior Center Without Walls).

Corazon Sandoval Foley founded the Foley Community Center Project upon retirement in 2007 to support seniors and families in our long underserved Springfield District hometown. After petitions, demonstrations and electoral challenge in 2015, Corazon Sandoval Foley succeeded in negotiating with the County the pledge in 2016 to include in the 2020 bond referendum the Foley Community Center Project. After Sharon retired in 2019, the Springfield Supervisor led the Board to renege TWICE (delaying the promised bond referendum to 2024 and then 2026). Concerned that the Board might eliminate this important center that has helped some 1,000 seniors and families, Corazon Sandoval Foley decided to run for Springfield Supervisor in 2023. Corazon Sandoval Foley has also petitioned the Board to strengthen historical education and American Patriotism in our community by naming the “Vietnam Veteran and Son of the American Revolution Michael Daniel Foley Community Center.” But the Board by its actions indicated that county facilities are to be named after politicians — not patriots like the Foley family that has served in Vietnam, WWII, WWI and at the 1777 Battle of Saratoga to support the creation of our American Republic/Democracy.

As local historian, Corazon Sandoval Foley has written several local history books on ACCURATE history “In Honor of Good Neighbors” of our Burke, VA hometown. The Foley Community Center Project would promote mentoring of youth by our seniors, a valued treasure trove of knowledge and experience for our community.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidate seeking this post?

Corazon Sandoval Foley is making history — the First Filipino American and First Asian American Candidate for Springfield Supervisor 2023 — Independent Green Candidate with NO Fundraising (she is using part of her charitable contributions to fund her campaign and returned contributions by friends) and she has pledged voluntarily, if elected, to donate the pay raise bulldozed by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to the Foley Community Center Project. Corazon Sandoval Foley is an experienced public servant as Diplomat/Intelligence Officer with the US Intelligence Community. She is a Springfield District neighbor whose life as a wife, mother and grandmother inspires her community contributions aimed at strengthening families (primarily with seniors helping seniors and youth) and her fiscal conservatism as she experienced the budget choices that parents make to pay for mortgage and college education.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

Corazon Sandoval is an Independent Green Candidate who supports her grandchildren’s generation in their search for solutions to the worsening climate change. She and her grandchildren walked the neighborhood with the petition to “STOP HOA Total Ban on Solar Panels” and will continue promoting renewable energy. She supports Healthy Fairfax programs with bikable, walkable and safe streets. She is a longtime member of the West Springfield Police Department Community Advisory Committee and has organized (and will continue promoting) Neighborhood Watch and National Night Out programs. Corazon Sandoval Foley supports the county’s program of affordable housing, particularly zoning for accessory dwelling units for multigenerational housing, and expansive adaptive reuse of empty commercial buildings and transit-oriented live-work development.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

Education (MBA in Finance) and Experience as a Diplomat/Intelligence Officer with the US State Department demonstrate professional qualifications to perform the Springfield Supervisor job. In addition, Corazon Sandoval Foley’s community contributions, particularly in creating and developing the Foley Community Center Project, underscore her commitment, perseverance and negotiating skills. Her latest success was in getting the county to agree to a temporary lease of the former DressBarn store in Huntsman Square to make up for the county reneging and delaying to 2026 the county pledge for a 2020 bond referendum that Corazon Sandoval Foley successfully negotiated in 2016 with Sharon Bulova.

Perhaps, even more important, Corazon Sandoval and Michael Daniel Foley shared 49 years of happy marriage and raised two wonderful citizens of our American community (and two great grandchildren who serve as her “campaign staff”) as clear evidence of loyal, principled determination that will accomplish the mission of the Springfield Supervisor — to strengthen our Springfield District hometown and Fairfax County.

Why should voters trust you?

Corazon Sandoval Foley has delivered on her pledges — to her husband, to her children, to her grandchildren and to her community through good and bad times — even if the progress has been slow and one has to negotiate with politicians who renege, as with the history of the Foley Community Center Project (aka Burke/West Springfield Senior Center Without Walls).

The best advice ever shared with me was:

My parents always told me to “keep going despite obstacles — hope for the best and prepare for the worst.” My mother Virginia Diy Sandoval and my father Graciniano Angeles Sandoval are buried at our Fairfax Memorial Cemetery on Braddock Road and they survived the deprivations of WWII in the Philippines, pulled themselves up and raised six well-educated children to be good, principled family and community members, like them.

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