Colgan Seeking 10th Term in Va. Senate

Eighty-four-year-old Sen. Charles J. Colgan announced this month he will seek another term in the Virginia Senate—his 10th term to be exact.

 Colgan, a democrat who represents Manassas Park, the City of Manassas and parts of Prince William County, said he made the decision to seek another term in office after talking with his family and other supporters.

 “My wife said, ‘What are you going to be doing the next four years if you don’t go back to the senate?’” Colgan said. “She said, ‘You are going to have a lot of spare time.’ And I thought that made a lot of sense.”

 Colgan is currently the longest-serving senator in the Virginia Senate. He was elected to the senate in 1975.  He is ranked first in Senate seniority and is the first senator in history from Prince William County, Manassas Park and Manassas to be ranked first.

   “Seniority can help you get things done … a freshman senator coming in his first year can just sit back in the corner, keep his mouth shut and try not to get into any trouble,” Colgan said, laughing. 

 This month, Colgan and his staff  are focused on getting the 250 signatures to get his name on the ballot for the August primaries.

“Once you announce and make your commitment, you want to win it,” he said.

During his 10^th term in office, Colgan said he would like to continue working on the state’s transportation issues.

 “The transportation problem won’t go away, no matter how much money we spend on it,” he said.

Close to $500 million is expected to be spent on the Gainesville interchange project which is Interstate 66 and Highway 29, he said. That project won’t be completed for another two years or more, he said.

In the last several years there has been a lot of building in the area and there’s now a problem with congestion, which is why the project is needed, Colgan added.

 Colgan said he agrees that Route 28 should be widen, but the problem is that most of the roadway isn’t in his district.

 The roadway runs through Manassas, Manassas Park and Prince William County, but then it goes into Fairfax County, he said.

 “It does need to be re-widen, it should be at least six (lanes),” he said. “Here again, it’s not in my district, but I would say it’s going to be awhile before we get to that.”

 He can’t make any promises, but perhaps he can work to at least get the project started in the next four years, Colgan said. Transportation projects take many years of planning, he said.

 The senator said he remembers when Route 28 was just a two-lane road.

 He would also like to continue working on improving education, Colgan said.

He is one of those responsible for the legislation that allowed George Mason University to have several buildings in Prince William County, he said.

 “Education can solve most of our social problems in society,” he said. “I’ve worked hard over the years to try to get legislation through that will keep kids in school. Eighty percent of the men and women in prison failed to finish high school.”

 He would also like to see a high-tech high school in his district, similar to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria.

 Colgan said that all lawmakers have favorite locations within the areas they represent and he is no different.

 “Manassas Park has always been my favorite. It started off as a town. Everything was on the left side (of 28 coming from Manassas) There was nothing on the East side of 28,” he said.

 Roger J. Costello, a former mayor of Manassas Park, took the town to the next level  when he purchased some 500 acres of land East of 28 and annexed it into the city, Colgan said.

 Costello later purchased 500 more acres, which drove the city into debt, the senator said.

“I was on the (Prince William County) Board of Supervisors at that time and we all agreed that Manassas Park could take that 500 acres,” he said. ““His (Costello’s) vision was fantastic … because now it’s all built up. Manassas Park is a very viable, potent city with a beautiful school system and I think they’ve done wonders out there.”

 He introduced a charter bill for Manassas Park in the 1970s when it became a city, the senator said.

“The mayor,  who was such a great visionary, said to me, ‘I want you to put a provision in there that will allow Manassas Park to revert to a town if it ever so chooses to.’ Which means they could come back into the county,” he said. “I put that provision in, but they never exercised it. I think they are happy as a city.”

 Mayor Frank Jones and the city council are doing a great job in Manassas Park Colgan said.

 He remembers that it was the council and Jones who wrote to him during the redistricting process and asked him not to put Manassas Park in a different district from Manassas, Colgan said.

 “There was an attempt to do that, to split them, but I just quickly squash that,” he said. “I think the 29th  is going to be a good district.”

 Because of redistricting, Del. Bob Marshall is expected to represent Manassas Park if he wins the election this year. This is a change from the city’s previous delegate, Jackson Miller.

 Colgan said he has known Marshall a long time and the two are good friends.  He works well with Marshall and he works well with Miller. He works well with all the delegates, Colgan added.