Ex-Wolf Staffers Back Comstock in Bid for Congressional Seat

By Dusty Smith

A number of former staff members of Republican U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf stepped into the campaign to succeed their boss by throwing their collective support behind McLean's Barbara Comstock.

Comstock, a delegate in the Virginia General Assembly who served as a senior aide to Wolf in the 1990s, and state Sen. Dick Black, R-Leesburg, have each launched campaigns for the GOP nod in the race.

• Report: Dick Black to Seek GOP Congressional Nomination
• Barbara Comstock Announces Congressional Bid

Three Democrats have also entered the fray: Fairfax County Supervisor John Foust; Richard Bolger, a small business owner and attorney Fairfax; and Leesburg architect Sam Kubba.

While both Republicans would have a long list of conservative credentials, Black might be considered to be the one with a harder conservative edge. Several years back he sent plastic fetuses to members of the Virginia General Assembly to make a point about an abortion bill.

Comstock, on the other hand, has been a bit of a Republican darling in Virginia, and co-chaired Mitt Romney’s campaign for president in Virginia in 2012.

Wolf has held Virginia’s 10th Congressional District since first elected in 1980. His staff’s endorsement of Comstock on Wednesday could be seen as a signal of which candidate the congressman will support. The staff members released a statement as a group, dubbing themselves the “Wolf Pack."

"Frank Wolf has been a model of what selfless public service should look like, and all of us learned from him that when you are endowed with the public trust, you put your constituents first. No one learned that better than Barbara Comstock, as exemplified by her service in the Virginia General Assembly,” the Wolf Pack said in the group statement. “As former members of Congressman Wolf's staff, we can think of no one more qualified to serve the people of the 10th Congressional District than Barbara Comstock.”

The Wolf Pack includes:

• William Moschella — Former principal associate deputy attorney general and assistant attorney general, U.S. Department of Justice (2003-08); former senior legislative assistant to Wolf
• M. Evan Corcoran — Former assistant U.S. attorney and former Appropriations Committee associate staff 
• Janet Powell — Former Appropriations Committee staff for Wolf
• Buzz Hawley — Former senior legislative assistant to Wolf; Republican nominee for Mason District supervisor, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (2003); Member, Virginia Republican State Central Committee (2004-06) 
• Mark Planning — Former Appropriations Committee staff for Wolf
• J.T. Griffin — Former Appropriations Committee legislative assistant 
• Nancy S. Bennett — Former press secretary for Wolf 
• David Whitestone — Former Appropriations Committee associate staff and press secretary for Wolf
• Elizabeth Maier — Former legislative assistant and committee staff; former legislative director for U.S. Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz. 
• Rebecca Middleton — Former senior legislative assistant for Wolf 
• Jill DiPuccio Giles — Former scheduler and legislative assistant for Wolf 
• Nancy Bruce Herbolsheimer — Former Appropriations Committee associate staff for Wolf
  
• Melinda Bohn Conner — Former legislative assistant for Wolf 
• Thomas Lynch — Former staff assistant for Wolf 
• Jim Boyle — Former press secretary for Wolf 
• Kellie Boyle — Former legislative correspondent for Wolf