Not the reception Supervisor Geary Higgins (R-Catoctin) was expecting in Lucketts last week
It’s always a good measure of a politician’s mettle how he reacts to criticism. On that score, our all-Republican Loudoun Board of Supervisors ranks somewhere between “irate” and “petulant,” what with Chairman Scott York’s regular anger-management lapses (one of which was of enduring benefit to realloudoun, boosting our readership by a factor of 5 after the chairman lambasted this blog from the dais for having committed the unheard of act of taking issue with an elected official’s wisdom) and Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio’s practice of lashing out at liberals, homosexuals, Democrats, and “the media” for all of his own ethical and financial lapses and sending mocking e-mails to fellow Tea Party members (including his close personal friend and loyal supporter, GOP state delegate candidate Dave LaRock) deriding citizens who offer even the mildest constructive suggestions for the future of their county.
Now comes Supervisor Geary Higgins (R-Catoctin) with his contribution.
At a community meeting Higgins called in Lucketts last week to try to impress the peasants how wise and energetic he is as a leader — Geary was hoping to take credit for the Board’s decision, of course made without consulting any of the peasants themselves, to install a permanent truck scale on Rt 15 in Lucketts — he was received with considerable well-informed skepticism that clearly took him aback.
His response was not to thank anyone for their input or even show any living interest in what their views were, but merely to grow testier and testier as citizens pointed out that the Board had consulted no one in the community, including those who have been working for years on Rt 15 safety problems; that there was no data supporting his contention that overweight trucks are a significant problem; and that far more urgent safety problems were being ignored (including the little matter of Geary’s obedient support for the Outer Beltway/Bicounty “Parkway” plan, a developer’s billion-dollar giveaway that will dump vastly increased volumes of traffic onto Rt 15 north of Leesburg).
One citizen suggested that this was just a PR stunt by politicians to try to make it look like they were doing something; several pointed out that there far better locations for a truck pull out than right across from a farm market (just the kind of rural business Geary is also claiming to support but doing nothing in reality to support); and when Geary insisted that he himself had personally gone along on one state police truck inspection and the truck that was pulled over was indeed overweight, one citizen from the audience called out, “A sample of one!” — which only made our esteemed supervisor madder.
It’s of course par for the course for the Virginia GOP that they view elective office not as a responsibility to humbly represent their constituents but an annointment that enshrines their privilege and wisdom to do whatever they want, and while they’re at it reap strictly personal benefits (witness, e.g., our very acquisitive governor and his even more acquisitive wife, who viewed living in the governor’s mansion merely as an opportunity to win valuable prizes, including Rolex watches, shopping sprees to Bergdorf Goodman, and an oil portrait of herself, minus 30 years and 50 pounds).
realloudoun 