Jul 04 2012
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Metro comic relief

The all-Republican Loudoun supervisors certainly know how to get attention for themselves, don’t they? It only took them six months of very public agonizing to agree to do what the previous board had already agreed to do without all the fuss, and support extending Metro to Dulles Airport and Loudoun.

The very serious high-drama 5–4 last-minute squeak-through victory for Metro yesterday was not without its moments of comic relief, however.

First was the outrage expressed by Hillsboro’s far-right “street theater” activist John Grigsby, incensed that Supervisor Ken “Ken” Reid (R-Leesburg) would, as Grigsby fumed, betray the wishes of “your largest donor” and vote for the project.

Yes, nothing more outrageous than a politician you’ve bought and paid for who doesn’t stay bought: Continue reading →

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Jul 03 2012
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Unqualified but connected

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. Continue reading →

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Jul 01 2012
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No questions here

As noted the other day, Loudoun Supervisor Ken “Ken” Reid (R-Leesburg) — asked why he had nominated a well-known foe of historic districts to the official county governmental board responsible for protecting the integrity of historic districts — explained that he had been blissfully unaware of any “concerns” regarding this candidate; she had simply sent in her resume and asked for the appointment to the Historic District Review Committee, so Ken obligingly obliged.

It seemed a little dubious, given the considerable media attention that Milari Madison has received in recent years for unsuccessfully suing the county to invalidate the Waterford historic district (in which she owns property) as well as unsuccessfully pursuing numerous actions at the local, state, and federal level seeking to undo Waterford’s historic designations.

From the resume Ms. Madison submitted to the Board of Supervisors in support of her application to the HDRC (now posted on the county government website), however, it is now perfectly understandable why “Ken” would see no need to inquire further into her qualifications. Here, reproduced below in its entirety and directly from the official Loudoun County Board of Supervisors documents packet for its July 2 meeting (if you like, you can download your own pdf  from the official Loudoun County Government website: see p. 82) is Ms. Madison’s resume itemizing her qualifications and experience for the job: Continue reading →

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Jun 28 2012
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Ken issues a clarification

After last week throwing still more disarray into the Loudoun Board of Supervisors’ Metro-to-Loudoun decision by demanding yet another deadline extension along with 21 new last-minute conditions (to be renegotiated with Fairfax County, the Federal government, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the Washington area airports and transit authorities), Loudoun Supervisor Ken Reid (R-Leesburg) — never one to miss an opportunity to be quoted in the Washington Post —  explains to Post reporter Caitlin Gibson that his conditions  . . . aren’t really conditions:

After the release of the memo listing 21 items for opt-in consideration last week, Reid took a step back from the request for more time, clarifying in a statement that the list was “by no means an ultimatum of necessary conditions.”

Although he supports an extension of time to “work out certain particulars,” he said, if they are not resolved before the deadline, he does not think a “hard date” of Dec. 1 “is by any means necessary or desired to accomplish that.”

Glad to have that cleared up.

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Jun 28 2012
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What a way to run a business

Metro Derangement Disorder, cont.:

Let’s just suppose Extremely Businesslike Company A did the following.

After lengthy negotiations over a project for which Company A agrees to contribute an impressive 9 percent of the total cost, during which time Company A makes repeated demands for concessions and reductions in the project cost as a condition for agreeing to contribute an impressive 9 percent of the total cost — including forcing the other partners to abandon portions of the project of great importance and direct benefit to them — the directors of Company A announce a few months later that maybe they didn’t mean to sign the deal after all. Continue reading →

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