realloudoun

So in the end, Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling) accomplished what all of the evidence of his wrongdoing that has been in the hands of the all-Republican Loudoun Board of Supervisors for more than a year could not: Delgaudio so ticked off and personally embarrassed the Board with his personal attacks, bizarre defenses, and now frivolous legal filings that they finally could not escape taking disciplinary action against him. “The integrity of my own Republican party is at stake,” explained Ralph Buona (R-Ashburn) last night, always one to get his priorities straight.

Delgaudio, subdued but not chastened, leaves the jumbo flag pin and orange cap at home

After three hours of desultory discussion (and after hearing from several citizen-members of Buona’s “own” Republican party who were outraged that Eugene was being treated “unfairly” and that the Board was about to knuckle under the demands of “failed left-wing politicians”), the Board voted down Delgaudio’s demand that any disciplinary action be delayed while the Board appoints a committee to look into the matter — supervisors Geary Higgins (R-Catoctin) and Janet Clarke (R-Blue Ridge), good Republicans to the end, supported Eugene on that motion — then voted to formally censure him; to remove all of his staff aides; and to place his Sterling district budget under the control of the full Board. (Once again, Higgins and Clarke, with touching loyalty, stood with Eugene in opposing that last motion.)

It is abundantly clear that Delgaudio’s own increasingly outrageous actions of the last week pushed the Board to move: they had been prepared to sweep the matter under the rug. Continue reading →

They did a fine job of burying it on the Board of Supervisors website, but at last Chairman Scott York (R-At Large) and Vice Chairman Shawn Williams (R-Broad Run) have itemized the specific acts by ethically challenged fellow supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling) that they plan to bring before the Board for possible disciplinary action tonight.

They appear to include a few items that go beyond the findings of the special grand jury, whose report concluded that Delgaudio engaged in a “direct violation” of the Board’s Code of Conduct by abusing staff, that he engaged in misuse of office for private gain by having his county-paid staff engage in political fundraising and work for his very lucrative outside anti-gay hate group “Public Advocate,” and that he likely received large unreported cash donations, including an envelope containing $5,000 in cash handed over by a prominent local retired pastor, no doubt doing God’s work evading campaign finance laws and then lying about it under oath to the grand jury.

Here are the five charges, Continue reading →

To the surprise of legal scholars nowhere, Loudoun circuit judge Thomas D. Horne this morning denied the petition by Very Strange Loudoun Republican Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling), who was seeking a court order to prevent his fellow members of the all-Republican Loudoun Board of Supervisors from voting tonight on a possible punishment of Delgaudio for his multiple ethical violations.

It was not exactly one of those feats of legal reasoning that will awe generations to come at Harvard Law School: as noted yesterday, not only did Delgaudio fail to meet any of the requirements that apply whenever a court issues a temporary injunction in advance of trying a case on its merits, but Judge Horne was able to follow a rock-solid 1998 precedent involving an identically wacko, identically Republican, identically Loudoun member of the Board of Supervisors who tried to get a court to intervene in a nearly identical case involving the Board punishing him for ethical misconduct. In that case, the Federal court of appeals held that disciplining a member of a legislative body is a “core legislative act” over which courts have no power whatsoever to intrude.

The all-GOP Board has for more than a year been hoping to sweep the Delgaudio matter under the rug. In January when they removed Delgaudio from his committee assignments they did not even debate the matter, did not suggest in any official statements that the reason was Delgaudio’s ethical violations, or for that matter even announce that Delgaudio had been removed from his committee assignments: the Board just magically voted unanimously without discussion or explanation to approve Chairman Scott York (R)’s new list of assignments; you had to look at the list to realize that Delgaudio had vanished from it.

The very enjoyable irony in all of these latest developments is that the sole obstacle to sweeping Delgaudio under the rug has been Delgaudio himself. His frivolous lawsuit is surely just the beginning of what we can only hope will be an ongoing spectacle that will keep him and the Board’s larger ethical problems in the spotlight for months to come. Delgaudio’s 15-year-old lawyer, Charlie King, in court this morning hinted he was prepared to bring forth evidence that other GOP supervisors had also accepted illegal cash campaign contributions. Hell hath no fury like a wacko Loudoun Republican supervisor scorned!

Perennially ethically challenged Loudoun Republican Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling) is never one to miss a chance to stage a bit of political theater, but this time he may even have outdone himself: facing a possible vote of censure at tomorrow night’s Board of Supervisors for unethical conduct that even his fellow GOP supervisors cannot completely ignore, Delgaudio last night filed suit in Loudoun Circuit Court seeking a temporary injunction to block the Board from taking up the little matter of his misuse of office, accepting $5,000 in illegal cash campaign contributions from a local pastor, abuse of his staff, and neglect of basic duties of office.

Of course you never know what a court will do, but as even Eugene’s 15-year-old lawyer must realize, the only thing less likely than any court on the planet granting such an injunction is Eugene being named pope. Continue reading →

In normal governmental bodies, motions or proposals even on controversial and difficult issues are presented and filed in advance so that not only the members of the body but even (gasp) the citizens of a democracy can have a chance to offer their views before a vote is taken. This is called “transparency.” Under Virginia’s open-meeting laws, it is actually illegal for more than two supervisors to meet privately; the whole intention is that business be done in the full light of day, so that no secret understandings can be cooked up behind closed doors and sprung on the public without warning.

But as we know, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors under its current all-Republican control is not a normal governmental body. Its normal operating procedure is opacity, its MO consisting of providing as little public information as possible so as to avoid calling attention to anything unpleasant.

So while the Board has at last placed the Delgaudio matter on its agenda for this Wednesday’s meeting, after a mere year’s shilly-shallying, it has refused to offer a word about what actual measures it is considering taking, Continue reading →