This just in: The CEO of Blake Landscapes, Inc., which (weather permitting) will this week be spending thousands of your taxpayer dollars to carry out the Board of Supervisors’ public relations stunt in which hundreds of gallons of toxic chemicals are sprayed on 9 county parks in order to pretend to be doing something, however ineffective, against Lyme disease, would like readers of realloudoun to know that no politics was involved in awarding the spraying contract to his firm.
Although (a) the CEO of Blake Landscapes donated to the election campaigns of Supervisor Janet Clarke (R-Blue Ridge) and Chairman Scott York (R); and (b) his firm promotes on its website the identical fear-mongering about Lyme disease that the Board has found so politically useful; and (c) he quotes local GOP poohbah–Christian homeschooling/creationism guru–and Lyme nut extraordinaire Michael Farris declaring that Lyme disease is (this is a real quote, folks) “the greatest threat of our time,” he would like to make clear that everything was strictly kosher. He writes:
The spraying contract was awarded after a competitive bidding process conducted under state and local purchasing regulations by professionals in the Loudoun County division of procurement. No one in our company had any contact whatsoever with any elected officials regarding the request for proposals or award.
John Niccolls, Chief Executive
Blake Landscapes, Inc.
In other words, whipping up hysteria over Lyme disease is just business, not politics, as far as his company is concerned. Which we never doubted for a second.
realloudoun 