realloudoun

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. Continue reading →

Dave LaRock, the right wing wacko Tea Party GOP nominee for the 33rd Virginia House district, has been trying very hard to present himself as a man of the people.

The only trouble is that he seems scared to death of actually encountering any people.

He failed to show up a candidate forum in Berryville; then he declined to respond to a questionnaire from that bastion of left wing radical activism the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce, which was a prerequisite for participation in the Chamber’s candidate forum; and he has told the Purcellville Gazette, which is sponsoring a candidates’ forum tonight at which Democrat Mary Daniel and Libertarian what’s his face have agreed to appear, that he has to wash his hair or clip his toenails or something and may be too busy to attend (the newspaper reports, “The LaRock campaign said it might attend, schedule permitting”).

Dave, come out from behind that inflatable pig and answer the voters’ questions!

Every two years, a wonderful supernatural creature appears in the dreams of Virginia GOP candidates to give them the magical power to build all the new roads they want, and never, ever having to pay for it.

Tea Party right wing wacko House delegate candidate David LaRock is merely the latest to have been the recipient of such nocturnal visitations from the Road Fairy.

Along with informing us that he has many, many offspring, LaRock’s near-daily campaign mailers have been touting Dave’s ability to grant us all our road wishes without costing the taxpayers a penny. Continue reading →

Last month, as we noted, the all-Republican Loudoun Board of Supervisors, in another of its unrelenting efforts to make it as difficult as possible for the public to find out what they’re up to or what stupid things they have said in the process, voted unanimously to abolish written minutes of their meetings, effective this coming January.

State law requires local bodies to keep and publish minutes which, among other things must provide “a summary of the discussion on matters proposed, deliberated or decided, and a record of any votes taken.”

The Board, however, airily argued that the extremely convenient webcasts of its meetings that it posts online are the equivalent of such a “summary” — about like arguing that to find out the standing of your baseball team, all you need to do is watch a video of all of the games they have played so far this year.

Having provoked an understandably concerned reaction from citizens, Supervisor Matt Letourneau (R-Dulles) posted on his Facebook page a huffy denial that the Board had abolished written minutes: Continue reading →

Not to make this Pick on Loudoun Supervisor Ralph Buona (R-Ashburn) Week, but Buona does have a knack for coming out with the sorts of pompous obfuscation that have endeared two-bit politicians to newspaper humor columnists from the founding days of our republic.

Discussing the Board’s decision last month to order the county staff to develop a budget option involving a completely arbitrarily chosen two cent cut in the property tax rate for next year, Buona “explained”:

“Last year we flew blind. If you don’t look at alternatives, we as supervisors don’t know where there are needs or where there might be excess.”

Apparently what this means is that whereas last year the all-Republican Board of Supervisors adopted a completely arbitrary cut in the property tax rate that left a $68 million shortfall in the school budget, THIS year they will consider TWO different completely arbitrary reductions in the property tax rate: one which leaves a $67 million shortfall in the school budget and another, a two cent reduction, which leaves an $80 million shortfall.

But at least they won’t be “flying blind”! Continue reading →