Harris Calls Supporters Criminals---TRANSCRIPT

Monday July 1st, 2002
Board of Supervisors Meeting, Loudoun County
Transcript based on Live Tape

Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio Defends Senators Allen, Warner and Congressmen Wolf and Davis on their opposition to "The Clean Smokestack Act" (sic) and defends the Pledge Of Allegiance, too.

11:45:26
DELGAUDIO

Well today we're going to have lighting ordinances discussed as Item 11 and here were are on 7C with Item 7C here "clean smokestacks." And, you know what, in Finance it was discussed about having a federal lobbyist and I actually agitated for it in the Finance Committee. We didn't hire one but we've got one from Montgomery County coming here and telling us what we should be telling our U.S. senators. But it's for free, he's being paid by the Isaac Walton League, and so we have a paid federal lobbyist from Montgomery County coming here.

I'll be asking in the debate later on for Item 11, what astrology club proposed lighting ordinances and are they in Loudoun County too? But that's later.

Now, I'm just focusing on our Montgomery County federal lobbyist who's come here to ask us to do this. Oh, and there's a reference to Harvard, the Harvard people, all this information that my colleague, Supervisor Herring, has documented.

This is great documentation, the words "linked," "susceptible," "aggravating," all these very good words being used here, and facts and figures that are all just fear mongering, fear mongering that the U.S. Senate and the U.S. Congress debate and yet we have to go outside our county, we have to go to Washington, we have to go to Montgomery County, we have enough citizens coming here to talk to us this morning about sludge.

And at the last meeting, "Sludge, sludge is going to kill us, oh my goodness, it's going to cause acne and all this other stuff." Well, listen, this is one supervisor who can see through this. I've got a little sense of humor about it. I thought sludge was causing all our problems.

Now it's dirty air, and I'm not attacking Supervisor Burton and I'm not making fun of Supervisor Burton and his work with the EPA. I'm just pointing out a point of view that we do not, I am not attacking, I'm not going after Supervisor Burton, I'm focusing on Herring's presentation. That's it, I'm not trying to get him to rise up, especially because it's almost lunchtime and he'll probably tear my head off and roll it down the middle aisle if I get him going.

Federal lobbying is best done and left to the lobbyists. Send him packing, I'm not voting for this.

Second, I, I don't even think this should be on the agenda. And Supervisor Hiatt was attacked because he didn't attend the Land Use meeting. Well, if this is the kind of stuff that comes from Land Use I don't mind Supervisor Hiatt not attending that meeting because here I am, not five minutes later, attacking something that the Land Use Committee had done. I'm sure you guys would have invited me to have a discussion at the Land Use Committee about this and I would have, you know, please don't hit me on that, because my opinions on this are no secret to my colleagues.

Taking a paid consultant and having it introduced here to lobby our U.S. senators and our U.S. congressman, this is a Board of Supervisors. You've had me carry on about this in the past, about a rather extensive lobbying that we do in Richmond. Well, my colleagues, where is a copy of the bill?

The bill is how many pages, sir? And would it take up my entire desk here, wouldn't it, this bill? Good point, my attorney friend, with due respect to my member of the bar colleague.

You know it is a large stack of documents, and you know the Board would sit here and say, "Mark, you want us to read this, this morning?" No. I don't think he brought this up for a real discussion. I think Mr. Hiatt is now borne out.

But there are some things that are brought to this Board, by certain members of the Board of Supervisors, who have already streamlined it and made arrangements for the public to be excluded. We have to go to Montgomery County?

Well, anyway, I made my point. And I would like to deploy the people from Harvard to Afghanistan. That's right, the people that are cited, the Harvard School of Public Health, I think they should be doing their work in Afghanistan, or, worse, send them to Wall Street. Really, there's a lot of fighting going on there.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

SIX MINUTES AND TWO SPEAKERS LATER…

Supervisor Harris Says We Are Running Out of Air On Earth and Concludes People of Sterling Are Criminals.

11:55:16
HARRIS

I'm very upset by Mr. Delgaudio's dismissal of this issue as if it is only political issue brought to this county by a foreigner from Maryland advocating it. He totally disregards the science involved completely.

I would also like to remind those of us that are elected officials that, that, the Virginia Constitution says it shall be the Commonwealth's policy to protect its atmosphere, lands and waters from pollution, impairment or destruction for the benefit, enjoyment and general welfare of the people of the Commonwealth.

This is a Constitutional, Commonwealth Constitutional imperative.

I'd, I hope the public get an opportunity and I certainly hope the press, will take this item and pull out key elements of this in terms of the science. But if you, if you, ignore the science and don't wish to understand the science, let me put it from a Loudoun County resident's perspective my own.

When I was nine years old I was the last person to see my grandmother alive. And the way I learned about pollutants is she had some difficulty that had to do with tuberculosis and some other things, but she took her life by piping the exhaust from an automobile into the car, I mean inside the car.

So there's no doubt to me at nine whether its science, or what, that pollution, air pollution, exhaust, can take a human life, and other lives, and can affect human beings and certainly has made an impression on me.

Now, over time we've been able, as a society, to say that dilution is a solution for pollution by simply allowing it to go into the air and it be dissipated in the air. But now we are starting to find with our population and with the amount of air pollutants that we are putting into the air tryin' to dilute it into the general air there's only so much volume there, and it's starting to affect human health.

Mr. Delgaudio ends his Pledge of Allegiance talking about liberty and justice for all, born and unborn. To breathe polluted air does not give liberty and justice for all, born and unborn.

Please look at some of the science that's outlined in, in this item. Please go research it for yourself. And, and, and take a look at it.

But to deny, to deny, this kind of information is just ludicrous, and for me to think that the public can elect government representatives that can get away with this is also a crime.