Photo by wallyg

We get it: there’s a lot of competition for a new FBI headquarters. But one Fairfax economic development official may have taken the competition just a little too far when he facetiously argued in favor of Prince George’s County as a possible location by saying that that’s where the agency would be arresting most of the criminal suspects it’s seeking. The Washington Business Journal reports:

Gerald Gordon, president of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, is known to take a swipe or two at neighboring jurisdictions — usually in good fun.

But he left good-natured at the door during an economic development forum Thursday when he told an audience at the Belle Haven Country Club something to the effect of (and I’m paraphrasing here): There is some logic for the FBI going to Prince George’s because that’s where they’ll find the people they have to pick up.

Organizers did not record the forum, and I know of no one in the audience who recorded it either, but four people who were there confirmed Gordon said it. So did Gordon.

When asked about the comments, Gordon defended himself somewhat, saying that he was merely saying that Fairfax would be a better location because of its “safe neighborhoods and decades-long tradition of good government.” (There’s certainly a racial undertone to his comments, though: Prince George’s County is 65 percent black, while Fairfax County is 68 percent white.)

Prince George’s County is promoting a location in Greenbelt for the new headquarters, while Fairfax wants a spot near the Franconia-Springfield Metro station. D.C. has thrown Poplar Point into the mix.