Monthly Archives: May 2012

May 31 2012
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Metro Derangement Disorder strikes Loudoun GOP

Up until now, being a Republican Loudoun County supervisor has been a remarkably undemanding job. Short hours, no acrimonious debates, no need to listen to constituents and their annoying problems, thinking strictly optional (especially so in Ken Reid’s case).

All you have to do is vote along with your eight fellow Republican supervisors 9–0 on whatever prearranged goodies come up from the local GOP machine (getting rid of annoying regulations on developers; allowing big box stores without a special exception; appointing prepicked slates of campaign contributors and commercial real estate reps to the water, zoning review, and government “reform” boards; killing off programs to protect Loudoun’s scenic and cultural heritage; approving electronic billboards for your friends).

But the upcoming vote on whether to back out of Loudoun’s previous commitments to fund the Metrorail extension to Dulles and Loudoun has put them in an uncomfortably tight spot. Continue reading →

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May 30 2012
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A Cleanup in Name Only

Our all-Republican board of supervisors, you will recall, as one of their first legislative acts upon taking office in January, voted with virtually no notice and minimal discussion to eliminate the highly effective volunteer program to clean up illegal signs blighting Loudoun’s roadways.

The explanations offered for killing the program ranged from the comical (it was so unfair that illegally posted signs were being removed in some cases right after they were posted) to the idiotic (courtesy—who else—deep-thinking Supervisor Ken Reid, who expressed great concern about the environmental hazard created by all of that paper, plastic, and printing “chemicals” winding up in the county landfill).

Now the board has followed up, Continue reading →

May 24 2012
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Your tax dollars at work

Welcome to Loudoun

While they were busily killing off programs that actually make Loudoun County an attractive place for businesses and residents the past few months (cutting the school budget, killing cultural and arts programs, killing the volunteer illegal-sign cleanup program), the newly ensconced all-Republican Board of Supervisors was making lots of noise about how they were going to invest in promoting the county with all sorts of very business friendly initiatives.

They certainly have the noise down pat: you can read all sorts of stuff on the very exciting new county website about “branding” and turning the Economic Development department into a “sales force.”

Pardon us for mentioning that it sounds an awful like old-fashioned government pork, goodies for friends and campaign contributors, and just plain old bureaucratic and political empire building. Continue reading →

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May 22 2012
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Outsourcing principles, morality, etc.

An alert reader calls attention to the fact that not only has the Courthouse Grounds Facilities Committee outsourced work on the design of Loudoun County’s new completely religion-neutral holiday display to the local Bible college (as noted here the other day): Committee Chairman Clint Good further reports that he had the honor of having lunch with said Patrick Henry College’s “Chancellor” (and “preeminent constitutional lawyer”) Michael Farris, who personally assured him that the display would pass constitutional muster. Continue reading →

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May 18 2012
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Strictly secular promotion of religion

To insure that the new committee-designed holiday display for the courthouse lawn strictly adheres to the constitutional requirement that government may not favor one religion over another, the Courthouse Grounds Facility Committee has wisely enlisted the help of Ayatollah Farris’s local Christian bible college, according to Leesburg Today: Continue reading →

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