In an outburst of sanity, the all-Republican Loudoun Board of Supervisors last night quietly tidied up the mess made by the impish supervisor Ken “Ken” Reid (R-Leesburg), who had nominated and then refused to withdraw the name of well-known anti-historic preservation activist Milari Madison to the county board that oversees historic districts.
Ms. Madison was bounced in favor of Judy Gerow, an experienced and dedicated current member of the Historic District Review Committee who had asked to be reappointed to another term. Two other equally dedicated and experienced current members were not reappointed, however — and were replaced by two Republican campaign contributors who had helped elect the current Board.
The rejection of Ms. Madison — who has filed numerous petitions, lawsuits, and zoning complaints seeking to invalidate the Waterford historic district where she owns property — was a small setback for the “property rights” crowd within the Loudoun County Republican Committee, who have for years been carrying water for the land developers who hate anything (like historic preservation or the rights of others) that might stand in the way of maximizing their profits while sticking the rest of us saps with the bills for all the new roads and schools that their new developments demand.
But it continued the larger pattern of this Board of Supervisors of replacing dedicated and qualified citizens on the many boards responsible for making Loudoun a better place and filling those slots instead with campaign contributors, party hacks, and direct representatives of the development industry.
One of the two newly appointed HDRC members, attorney Thomas Dunlap, sent in a very long resume in which he goes on at great length about his hobbies, which include flying his own “Cirrus SR-22 high performance airplane, for which I hold a private instrument pilot rating with the complex & high performance endorsements.” “I also enjoy SCUBA diving,” he adds. In his letter seeking the appointment Dunlap acknowledged that his experience in the area of historic preservation “is perhaps less than many other qualified folks, however I am interested in the work.”
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