Tom Peterson Running For Fairfax City Council: 2024 Candidate Profile

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — While most of the attention this political season has been on the presidential race, Fairfax City residents will not only be voting for candidates running in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives (11th District) races, they will also be casting ballots for mayor, city council and school board candidates.

Thomas D. "Tom" Peterson, the founder, president, and CEO of the nonpartisan Center for Climate Strategies, is on the Nov. 5 ballot running for one of the six open seats on the Fairfax City Council. He is facing incumbents Billy Bates, Kate Doyle Feingold and Jeff Greenfield, as well as newcomers, Anthony Amos, Amini Elizabeth Bonane, Taylor A. Geaghan , Stacy Hall, Stacey Hardy-Chandler, Rachel McQuillen, and Jack Ryan.

As part of its coverage of the 2024 election, Patch has asked each of the candidates in the Fairfax City Council race to fill out a questionnaire to describe why they think they're the best person to fill the job they're running for.

Early voting for the Nov. 5 election begins on Sept 20. More information about the election is available on Fairfax City's Voter Registration & Elections page. Non-city voters can visit the Fairfax County Office of Elections or the Virginia Department of Elections for more information.

Your Name

Thomas D. "Tom" Peterson

Position sought

Fairfax City Council

Age (as of Election Day)

65

Campaign Website

www.Tom4Fairfax.org

City elections are traditionally non-partisan and candidates must run as independents, according to both the city charter and the Code of Virginia. No party affiliation or "mark" will appear next to any of the candidates' names on the Nov. 5 ballot. Have you been endorsed by a recognized political party or have you aligned yourself with a group of candidates representing themselves as independent, non-partisan candidates, including candidates running in other city races? Please check the answer that is most appropriate.

Please elaborate on your answer to the previous question and explain how this will affect the way you will serve on the city council.

Running as a nonpartisan candidate helps me avoid potential employer conflicts (I am the founder and CEO of a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works across party lines to provide objective analysis and collaboration among diverse stakeholders). It also reduces perceptions of possible bias and favoritism in decision making on issues as well as reducing possible barriers to cooperation and communication with diverse communities who may see party affiliation as a deterrent to open thought processes. As a result, nonpartisanship is helpful to my work as a Council Member since it helps enable objectivity and impartiality on decisions for a wide range of issues affecting a wide range of citizens.

How does your status as described in the two previous questions help Fairfax City voters choose a candidate that aligns with their particular political beliefs?

It would seem to me that our most important political belief should be in democracy and the need to practice what we preach. Democracy is a process, not a position. It is important for voters to know whether a candidate will follow the democratic process in decision making (i.e. listen to citizens and work openly with them) and not bypass it to adopt predetermined positions, such as from a party platform. At the same time, it may also be important to know a candidate’s priorities, as this will influence the time and attention they devote to related issues.

In my own case, I have listed a set of ten priorities on my website that I believe are important based on community feedback and my experience working with the City. But the specific solutions (issue positions) within any of these will depend on a future process of working with the community and evaluating options. And, I am open to additional priorities that may emerge. To be clear, nonpartisanship doesn’t guarantee commitment to democratic process (although I am 100 percent committed to this), but fixed party views make it difficult, particularly when they are mandated as part of a party endorsement.

I do not believe a hardened approach to issue positions works well for our City and have seen it fail. Specific issues require specific solutions that are tailor made for our community and require testing and tinkering to get problems ironed out. Political beliefs and labels can get in the way. Effective solutions require open, detailed, creative, collaborative, and flexible evaluation of options done by working together with citizens. Ideally, this process should be based on shared goals and objectives consistent with community vision and be focused on jointly created options that are evaluated openly with an understanding of best available facts and public preferences. In other words, a bottom-up, fact driven, participatory process guided by community-based vision and publicly accepted goals and objectives – not rigid belief systems.

This process (known as applied democracy) is more than a political belief; it is a practical necessity for effective governance. Nonpartisan approaches that are driven by community priorities but not bounded by party-based positions are better able to accomplish the hard work of democracy where we roll up our sleeves and work together to find the best answer.

Names, ages and any pertinent details you wish to share about your family.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government? This includes any relatives who work in the government you are a candidate in.

No.

Education

K-12 in Fairfax County Schools, including Justice High School (then JEB Stuart). BS in Biology from the College of William and Mary with a minor in Economics. MS/MEM Environmental Management from Duke University with a concentration in Economics and Policy. MBA University of Texas at Austin with concentrations in Finance, Management, and Marketing. Union Camp Industry Fellowship, Duke University. Coca Cola Foods Graduate Marketing Fellowship, UT-Austin.

Occupation - Please include years of experience.

42 years total professional experience, including higher education. For the past 20 years I have served as Founder, President, and CEO of the nonpartisan Center for Climate Strategies. Over this same period, I have served in teaching roles as an Adjunct Professor at the Johns Hopkins University Energy Policy and Climate Program and the Center for Security Studies (current); the Penn State School of Law (past); at George Mason University in the Environmental Science and Policy Department (current) and Mason’s School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution (past). Previously I served as an Economist for the US EPA, a senior advisor in the White House, legislative aide in the US Senate, Vice President of an investment bank, Division Chief for a state conservation agency, and assistant director of a state land trust.

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Political Office

Since 2022 I have served as Chair of the City of Fairfax Environmental Sustainability Committee.

Why are you seeking elective office?

It's all about the future. I believe that the City of Fairfax faces many crossroads decisions in the next two years that will affect its direction and character for years to come. Many upcoming decisions will be expensive, far reaching, and irreversible – such as small area plans and a host of development decisions. Addressing them in a responsible manner will require a high level of professional skill, listening, and collaboration with citizens by the City Council. I believe we need much more from our City leaders in these areas. Perhaps most important, I believe the City and community need to coalesce around a well-informed, shared vision to guide its future leaders.

As a longtime resident, I know how much is at stake and that we won't get second chances. And as a long time professional, I know what it takes to make this happen. I have the professional background, skill, and heartfelt commitment to help our City and citizens be successful in forging a better future at this critical point on a wide range of issues. As Chair of the City's Environmental Sustainability Committee, I have learned firsthand how deep these challenges are in our City, and how steep the learning curve will be for those who don't have the necessary background and commitment.

In short, I feel a clear call for leadership and service, and believe it is time for me to step up to protect our City’s future.

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

The most important overarching issue for voters in our City is that of our long-term vision. More plainly, we need to decide what we want to be when we grow up. This is primarily the question of whether we want our City and broader community to become a high-density urban center that is largely indistinguishable from the surrounding metro area -- particularly areas inside the beltway -- or whether it will stay true to its unique local character and find ways to improve and enhance its key attributes. It will be increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to have both.

One of the key pathways for implementation of this community vision by our City Council will be decisions on development and land use. These will drive a series of other issues and impacts including transportation, public safety, crime, housing, homelessness, protection of the natural landscape, pollution, energy, education and schools, arts and entertainment, recreation, sustainable economic development, sustainable finance, and others. As the saying goes "without vision the people perish." Backing into decisions without competent, shared, and coherent vision or the skills to translate vision to reality is a prescription for chaos and conflict. Voters should pay close attention to the long term-vision and translational skills of candidates and their willingness to honor authentic community values.

As a Council member, I will work with our community and our City to more clearly see the full set of choices before us and their implications, and to create a shared vision to guide our future decisions on development and other issues. A significant part of this will include practical methods to bring our City and citizens together through informed methods of collaboration that result in broadly supported, effective actions.

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

Here are a few key areas to highlight about me:

1. Depth and Breadth of Experience. I have 42 years professional experience directly related to City governance and involvement of the community through my positions in government (White House, US Senate, US EPA, state government), business and finance (investment bank VP); nonprofit leadership (national, nonpartisan NGO founder and CEO); and academia (adjunct professorships at Johns Hopkins, Penn State, George Mason).
2. Familiarity with the City and community: I am a long-time City resident (22 years) and native of the County. The City has been home for my family and I for a long time, and we hope to call it our home indefinitely. Like other residents, we have a lot at stake, and we care enough to be involved.
3. Volunteerism and the ability to work with City programs: Since 2022 I have served as a Council appointed Chair to the City's Environmental Sustainability Committee. This includes hands on work with City staff and programs to translate community needs and Council direction into effective program actions. I understand the sacrifice involved in volunteerism and its importance to the function of a community. I also understand how to work with government leaders, staff, and programs in many issue areas.
4. Collaborative Approach: Throughout my professional and academic work and volunteerism, I have helped people work together to solve problems and create shared opportunities; in short, to create community. Community has and will come first in what I do as a Council member, and I understand the methods needed to make this work.
5. Leadership: I have successfully held many leadership posts in and related to government and know firsthand the level of public responsibility and capability that is needed to earn trust and serve others. I don’t take this call to leadership lightly based on experience.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)?

It has been my observation and the broad sense of citizens with whom I have spoken, that the City and its leadership need to do a better job of listening to citizens and working with them at all stages of public decision making -- and, that they need to do a better job of doing homework on issues to consider all potential options and their implications. As part of this, the City needs to build citizens directly into procedures for identifying and evaluating options from the start, be more flexible on decisions as they progress through stages, and not be shy about sending things back to the drawing board if needed. I believe that a new City Council can change the City's approach to listening, collaboration, and evaluation for the better, and instill a permanent change in culture and practice in the City. I believe this is overdue and imperative.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

I have listed ten priority areas on my campaign website that highlight key areas of concern and ambition. In summary, these include:

1. Keep Our City Friendly
2. Make Independent Decisions
3. Practice Community-Driven Leadership
4. Protect Our Natural Lands and Green Spaces
5. Improve City Planning and Assessment Practices
6. Make Our City's Financial Structure Sustainable
7. Make Community Development Sustainable
8. Improve Police and Public Safety Capacity
9. Make Our City an Attractive Destination
10. Improve Our Transportation Choices

For more information go to "My Priorities" at www.Tom4Fairfax.org.

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

As part of my role as CEO of the Center for Climate Strategies, I facilitated many consensus-based agreements with diverse stakeholders on specific, implementable climate, energy, and economic actions in 20 US states and several localities through high level climate action planning and assessment processes (typically convened by Governor’s directive). This involved work with over 1,500 public and private stakeholders across the US to reach collaborative agreements on hundreds of specific policy actions, many of which were successfully implemented through broad public support. I designed and directed all these processes, and directly facilitated most of them (results are on the Center for Climate Strategies website under "Projects").

The result of this experience, which spanned many years, was hands on work with many different people having many different interests and perspectives to solve complex and controversial problems and transform them into constructive new opportunities. I believe much of what we accomplished in the past through these procedures could be of benefit to the City as it seeks to identify improved options for collaboration with citizens. I have also successfully led the City's Environmental Sustainability Committee to a new level of comprehensive planning, review, and responsiveness for the City Council and community through my service as Chair. Through this experience, I have a track record of success working jointly with the community, City staff, and Council on priority issue areas.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Don't give up; learn and get better.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I respect the views of others and know that none of us alone can see everything before us. I know how important it is to include everyone in decisions and for each of us to know that we are stronger when we see and do together to create a greater good. I also value the sharing of education, experience, and skills as ways to help others to make most effective use of their opportunities to participate in decisions. This often requires patience and practice, but it works. In its genuine sense, this is how democracy should operate in our City and elsewhere.

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