Message One
I am holding fast against any tax increase. I speak against tax increases. I ask for tax cuts. My collegues call me irresponsible and narrow minded.
Then when the pressure is on and the camera lights are bright, the Loudoun BOS votes against a Tax Increase. I consider that a victory for you and for me.
24 HOURS AND FLIP FLOP
Unfortunately (I am still in shock over this) the next day, out of the public eye and behind closed doors, the same BOS "voted" by phone poll to support a sales tax increase.
This past Tuesday, January 22, I introduced a motion to be against "any sales tax increase or legislation to have a referendum to increase the sales tax". I got two votes for it, and seven against or abstaining.
Subsequently, a motion was made by Supervisor Herring to "support the sales tax referendum with money going equally to transportation and education and all monies being collected in Loudoun going back to Loudoun" (sic).
Republican Drew Hiatt motioned to divide the question to have a vote on "support the sales tax referendum" separated. Chairman York asked all those in favor: No hands went up for "yes", a majority of hands went up for "NO" and two hands went up for "abstain". Repeat: there was a majority, of hands from BOS members voting "no"
THE BOARD VOTED "NO" TO SALES TAX INCREASE.
This was an out and out victory. When push came to shove, the BOS did not support an endorsement of a sales tax increase.
BOARD DOES ABOUT FACE
The next day, Wednesday, the Loudoun BOS was "polled" by phone by staff and a majority of Supervisors reversed themselves and said "YES" to a sales tax increase. And Scott York signed a letter and had it hand delivered to members of the House of Delegates from Loudoun stating the Board of Supervisors supported a tax increase.
Chairman York says in his letter to Delegate Rollison that "the vote was not clear due to a procedural move" and that the NEW majority, by phone polling, was for a tax increase. And York says "we will take it up at our next business meeting."
The letter documents how truth is a victim in Loudoun County.
IT WAS CLEAR AS DAY
The Board of Supervisors spent 2 and a half hours on taking positions on Richmond-related legislation. This is one vote that I won and was in the majority. It is vote fraud to say it was not clear. It is a sham and a scandal to claim that it was not clear.
"VOTE FRAUD OF THE WORST ORDER"
I have told Delegates Tom Rust and Dick Black what I am telling you: When a voter casts a vote twice, thats fraud. When a Board of Supervisors reverses itself outside a meeting room on policy that it publicly voted on, thats vote fraud of the worst order.
As an individual Supervisor, I believe that there is fraud being comitted against the people of Loudoun when a Board majority votes against the sales tax increase referendum, in public, and then the next day, our position is being misrepresented, by staff or the Chairman, as a BOS majority being "for" the sales tax referendum. The vote on Tuesday is the vote that counts.
REPORTER BLOWS WHISTLE
One reporter immediately posted a story reporting the scandale that is being read by dozens of legislative aides in Richmond.
Other Reporters, like members of the public, are in shock and disblief at this time that a reversal of this nature can occur in broad daylight.
Northern Virginia Journal Online
Loudoun supervisors pull an about-face
In a front page story By AMENA H. SAIYID, Journal staff writer, reveals how the Loudoun BOS secretly flip flops to support a tax increase, "Five Loudoun County supervisors changed their position overnight from opposing to supporting a regional referendum on the sales tax increase to fund education and transportation projects. The supervisors' change of heart came Wednesday..."
"Supervisors .... voted 7-0 against backing a sales tax increase to fund both transportation and education projects. York and Supervisor Eleanor Towe, D-Blue Ridge, abstained......
On Wednesday, York and at least four others changed their position in an informal polling to support the sales tax referendum after Rollison's conversation with Loudoun's legislative aide, Memory Porter. A majority of five members is needed to carry a motion.
In separate telephone conversations with the county's legislative staff, Supervisors York, Towe, Mark Herring, D-Leesburg, Chuck Harris, D-Broad Run, and Sally Kurtz, D-Catoctin, agreed to support the revised motion crafted by Porter. Delgaudio said he would take no position......
Delgaudio, whose motion on Tuesday to have the board oppose any sales tax referendum was defeated, called the supervisors' change of heart a ``public fraud."
``The only vote I recognize was the one taken at the board meeting," Delgaudio said. ``They are publicly lying. This is a public fraud, saying one thing before the cameras and another behind closed doors. I stand by my position of voting against any sales tax increases or referendum."
January 24, 2002 (for full story) go to http://cold.jrnl.com/cfdocs/new/ffx/mainstory.cfm?snumber=01&paper=ffxion=fp
PUBLIC NOT TOLD OF VOTE FOR MASSIVE TAX INCREASE
Most newspapers and members of the public have not been told and no public statement to explain this major scandal. Articles appearing this week report the public vote AGAINST the tax increase.
Here's what the Loudoun Times Mirror reports today:
In an article by Shannon Sollinger in the Loudoun Times Mirror, Jan. 23, 2002 (page A5)
(Quote)"They (the Loudoun BOS) also took a step back from supporting a regional transportation authority, and a regional referendum to allow a higher sales tax to fund school and transportation projects. If there is such a referendum, they voted, they support it only with the requirement that all the money collected in Loudoun come back to Loudoun to be spent." (unquote)
LEESBURG TODAY REPORTS "NO SUPPORT"
FLIP FLOP IS NOT KNOWN OR REPORTED
>>>Board Offers No Support For Sales Tax Referendum
That is the headline in today's Leesburg Today newspaper. Here's the first two paragraphs reporting our vote AGAINST the tax increase:
"Jan 23, 2002 -- The Loudoun Board of Supervisors Tuesday declined to support legislation that would allow voters to authorize a sales tax increase that would fund education and transportation projects.
A motion to support the sales tax legislation failed to garner any support on a 0-7-2 vote, with Chairman Scott K. York (R-At Large) and Vice Chairman Eleanore Towe (D-Catoctin) abstaining. "
To view the full story for yourself go to http://www.leesburg2day.com/current.cfm?catid=54&newsid=4680
LET BOS KNOW HOW YOU FEEL?
If you can write an e-mail and let the Board of Supervisors know how you feel about this latest travesty at [email protected]
Or call the Chairman's comment line at 703-777-0115. Let him know how you feel. I will get a copy of the comments.
Let your delegates in Richmond know how you feel about the proposed sales tax increase referendum. Tell them you do not want a sales tax increase and that any vote to place a referendum on the ballot is a vote for a tax increase.
Here's their e-mails: [email protected]
[email protected]
Board Meets February 4 and 5
The Board of Supervisors meets again on Monday, February 4 with public comment at 9 a.m. There is a BOS public hearing on Tuesday, February 5th at 6:30 p.m. with public comment the first order of business.
Delegate Rust Town Meeting
On Saturday, February 2nd, I will be at a town meeting of Delegate Tom Rust at Eastern Loudoun Library at 1 p.m. Let him know how you feel about the proposed sales tax increase referendum. I do not know how he stands on this issue. I will be there.
Republican Party Meets Monday, January 28
The Loudoun County Republican Committee meets Monday January 28 in Leesburg at the Government Center on Harrison Street. It meets in the same room as the Board of Supervisors meets. I always attend and sit with the Sterling members. Help me outvote the liberals. Join up.
OHIO EXPOSE ON SMART GROWTH
Dr. Sam Staley writes me and says Ohio is a bellwether state on a number of issues, but Smart Growth has not been high on the state legislature's agenda. In fact, no growth-management legislation is currently being considered at the state level. Over 5,000 people have downloaded his study on Smart Growth from The Buckeye Institute, in partnership with RPPI, a peer-reviewed report Quality Growth and Urban Sprawl in Ohio. This study answers many of the lies being spread by the PEC and left in Loudoun County and documents their universal propaganda and provides additional sources to read.
The study can be downloaded at RPPI's site: http://www.urbanfutures.org/ohiosprawl.pdf
Or The Buckeye Institute's site: http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org