Scott York (R-Kincora), our very, very sensitive and oh-so-misunderstood chairman of the Loudoun Board of Supervisors, was apparently hoping — that is, before the story broke in today’s Washington Post — that fellow Republican Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio’s flagrant misuse of his office could be quietly hushed up.
It was a reasonable hope, given that our local Loudoun newspapers these days view their job of “reporting” on local government as limited to reprinting the press releases handed them by York and his Republican colleagues (so much easier than that tiresome business of checking out the possibility — as difficult as I know this is for a highly trained journalist to believe about any politician — that some elected officials just might possibly not be telling the whole story).
If you read to the bottom of the Washington Post investigation about Delgaudio’s finagling, it’s apparent that the former aide of Delgaudio’s who finally balked at being told by her boss to spend most of her time, as a county employee, soliciting large potential campaign donors for him, went to the Post and blew the whistle in public only after waiting weeks for action from York on her complaint — with no response.
Here’s what the Post story reported:
Mateer [the former Delgaudio aide] said her complaint has gone nowhere. Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott K. York (R-At Large) initially contacted her to request copies of her records and asked whether she would be willing to come forward, she said. Mateer and one of Delgaudio’s senior aides have since tried to contact York but have not received a response from him or from the county, they said.
In an interview, York said there was nothing that could be done about Mateer’s claims of a hostile work environment; part-time county aides are not protected by the county’s grievance policy.
The kind of leadership we have come to expect!