realloudoun

Unlike normal mortals, our all-Republican Loudoun Board of Supervisors has never made a mistake.

Several times recently they have planned to do incredibly stupid things, motivated by the worst political pandering, only to have it blow up in their faces when word leaked out to the citizens at large (who do not share the wacko political agendas of the fringe GOP voting blocs the Board was trying to curry favor with). When that happens, does our Board acknowledge it made a mistake, apologize for trying to do something incredibly idiotic, apologize for trying to slip it past an unsuspecting public, and vow to do better next time?

When pigs fly.

The most recent example of this MO in action was with the Board’s remarkably obtuse plan to spray dangerous pesticides in several county parks, including the Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve, Continue reading →

Back in October, when the all-Republican Loudoun Board of Supervisors voted to conduct an internal “investigation” of fellow supervisor Eugene “The Teflon Defendant” Delgaudio (R-Sterling), Chairman Scott York (R) declared that if Delgaudio had done anything wrong, “I’ll be the harshest one to come down on him.”

York also indignantly denied that the Board’s own investigation was “a sham,” and to prove it, York had the Board call off its investigation a few weeks later, and also pulled off the agenda a proposal by Supervisor Shawn Williams (who obviously went off the reservation on that one) to censure Delgaudio for ethical violations.

The special grand jury conducting its separate criminal probe has now found that Delgaudio engaged in a “direct violation” of county policies by abusing his staff and creating a hostile work environment, and found convincing evidence that Delgaudio misused public assets by having his staff, on county time at county expense in county offices, engage in political fundraising — noting that it would have returned an indictment against Delgaudio based on the evidence presented but for the incredible legal loophole that appears to exempt county elected officials from Virginia’s law against stealing stuff from the government.

It’s admittedly hard for us to judge whether York’s reaction to these findings by the grand jury is “the harshest” of anyone’s, since so far he has offered no reaction at all.

Orange cap in hand, Eugene “The Teflon Defendant” Delgaudio poses with fellow GOP ethics champion Bob McDonnell last week (credit: Loudoun Times-Mirror)

When presented a year ago with evidence that fellow GOP Supervisor Eugene “The Teflon Defendant” Delgaudio (R-Sterling) had violated county policy and probably the law by ordering his county-paid staff to engage in political fundraising, Chairman Scott York (R) tried to hide the evidence for six months, clearly hoping that if he said nothing and did nothing it would just go away.

Now that the special grand jury investigating Delgaudio has issued a highly unusual report concluding that Delgaudio’s action was a “direct violation” (that’s a direct quote from their report, folks) of the county’s code of conduct, York is adopting the same strategy. Continue reading →