Moonhowlings

There will always be people who want to put their own spin on things.  Actually the BOCS meeting last Tuesday and the legislative action taken really wasn’t about illegal immigration.  It was about good governance.  And our BOCS failed the test. 

No one I am aware of is arguing that the current process of checking immigration status after one is arrested is a bad thing.  Most people I know feel that this is a fair, workable solution to a troublesome problem.  No one wants criminals on the street. 

The problem Tuesday began with lack of transparency.  The final UVA Report was unavailable for preview before the presentation.  For $385,000, this just should not be happening.  The agenda had irregularities.  The posted agenda showed  recess was scheduled and a press conference planned during the recess.  Again, this was highly irregular behavior and there was no explanation given.  Should citizens be suspicious?  To add to the confusion and obfuscation, 2 supervisors left during the business meeting and met with the press.  Why did the press have to be spoken to before the meeting was adjourned?

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Sometimes it isn’t a real good idea to draw negative attention to one’s self.  Now that the UVA Report on Illegal Immigration has been finalized, it will somehow be interpreted and reinterpreted as the Chairman feels necessary. 

First off, YOUR UVA report that YOU, the taxpayers of PWC paid almost $400,000 for is now residing on the Chairman’s Virginia Rule of Law Act website.  You can even download it from there.  I suggest that the Corey Stewart  read the report cover to cover because he is getting some of the information wrong–dead wrong.

Here is what the report actually say about serous crime: 

Crime and arrest statistics reported by PWCPD do not, on the whole, show reductions that might be associated with the immigration policy, but they do show that serious violence, particularly aggravated assault, has dropped sharply in recent years. Considering that illegal immigrants account for only 3% of offenders currently arrested for aggravated assault, it seems unlikely that the policy was a major cause behind this trend, but it could have been a contributor. Finally, the views of officers, as measured in interviews and surveys, are somewhat mixed. Most feel that the policy has been effective in controlling crime and disorder related to illegal immigrants, but they are split as to whether the policy has reduced crime overall, and their general view is that immigrants do not contribute heavily to serious crime in PWC.

Additionally upon inspection of the crime statistics from the Prince William County Police website:

in 2007, there were 310 aggravated assaults committed by both adults and juveniles.  In 2008 there were 197 aggravated assaults committed by both adults and juveniles.  That is a reduction of 113 aggravated assaults or  a  36.5% decrease.  Yet the chair tells us there was a 47% decrease. 

Mr. Stewart needs to tell the truth and stop reworking the numbers to suit his own personal goals and agenda. 

Finally, in the BOCS meeting yesterday, Mr. Stewart and the other supervisors who voted in the affirmative seem to want the state to adopt PWC”s illegal immigration policy of status check post arrest.  The model legislation bill  (click to download) tells another story.  It is an IRLI form with Virginia Rule of Law Act written on it also.  It goes much further than the Prince William current  model and has the thumb print of F.A.I.R. and Mike Hethmon all over it.   It permits probable cause stops to check for immigration status as well as other things that just might get the state sued. 

I think most of us don’t want to end up like Arizona.  If Corey Stewart, Ken Cuccinelli  and F.A.I.R. have their way, that is exactly where the state of Virginia will end up. 

We commend the Prince William County police for the job they do, under the leadership of Chief Deane.  The PWC model that questions status of all people post arrest is a workable solution to the problem.  What works for our community might not work for another.  Let’s not dictate what others should do.  Millions of dollars were spent to get to where we are now.  Its time to move on without going through all of this again. And Virginians  certainly don’t need to be F.A.I.R. lab rats again.

That’s one thing you can count on.  Corey didn’t leave us in suspense for long.  Here’s what it was all about:

Dear Subscriber, I will appear on Fox & Friends this Thursday morning at 6:20 a.m. to discuss exciting developments in our fight to curb illegal immigration in Virginia. I need your help. Please let me know if you have any stories of how illegal immigration has hurt your community by replying to this email. I’m going on Fox & Friends on Thursday because I have exciting news for the Virginia Rule of Law Campaign. For the first time, a neutral third party has confirmed that states and localities can combat illegal immigration through law enforcement. I’ve included some highlights from the report for you below. It is important we start telling our local and state elected officials about this report. You can click here to read the report that was presented to the citizens of Prince William County.   Highlights from the Report: Aggravated assault declined 46.7% as a result of the policy (while increasingly dramatically in neighboring counties, 75% in Loudoun, and 37.5% in Spotsylvania) Hit-and-run accidents declined 41% as a result of the policy Substantial numbers of illegal immigrants did leave the County Prince William County is viewed by its residents, regardless of race or ethnicity, as inclusive and as a great place to live

That neutral third party he is speaking of is the  UVA Report that our supervisors willingly allowed to be attached to our legislative package.  We, the taxpayers of Prince William County,  paid almost $400,000 for that report, according to news sources,. 

I rest my case.  He was sure in an all-fired hurry to have that press conference  and to vote on that attachment to the legislative package.  How does it feel to have contributed almost $400,000  towards Corey’s Virginia Rule of Law Act? 

I hope everyone writes to John Stirrup, Maureen Caddigan, Mike May, John Jenkins and Wally Covington to thank them for giving it all away.  Expect county supplies, technology and personnel to  follow suit and be spent on this initiative.  He can now use his office and OUR resources to pursue his own personal goals. 

I am totally disgusted.   Corey couldn’t even give it 24 hours, could he?  Any time someone needs immediate need fulfillment like was exhibited yesterday by Corey, be suspicious.

You might also want to ask who Corey’s Faux News link is.  I guess he had to speed things along locally so he could make his date with destiny on Faux News Thursday morning. 

From News & Messenger:

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. –

Since the Board of County Supervisors’ controversial illegal immigration resolution was passed, thousands of illegals have left Prince William.

However, crime, for the most part, has not changed significantly.

So says a two-year study conducted by the University of Virginia’s Center for Survey Research and presented to supervisors Tuesday.

Originally passed in October 2007 and revamped in April 2008, the resolution states: “Officers shall investigate the citizenship or immigration status of all persons who are arrested for a violation of a state law or county ordinance when such arrest results in a physical custodial arrest.”

Overall crime — with the exception of a near 30 percent drop in aggravated assault cases — has not changed significantly since the resolution was adopted. Partly because of the police department’s efforts to quell robberies before the resolution, violent crime has been trending downward in the county for the past decade.

The News & Messenger  further reports:

On the other hand, based on several statistical analyses, the study showed between 2,000 and 6,000 illegal immigrants left Prince William after the resolution’s approval.

From 2006 to 2009, the Hispanic population (which accounts for nearly three-fourths of all non-citizens in the county) increased 18.8 percent in Northern Virginia but just 3.6 percent in Prince William

I am fairly flummoxed by the report on the report, found in Insidenova.com. Then I read the Washington Post report and it took a similar stance:

The county’s police and elected officials requested the study to look at the implementation and effects of a policy – adopted in 2007 and modified in 2008 – that requires police officers to check the immigration status of all people arrested on suspicion of violating state or federal law.

The original policy directed officers to check the immigration status of people only if there was probable cause to believe that they were in the country illegally.

The study indicates that some changes in the Hispanic population can be attributed to the policy, but the researchers make it clear that the policy’s implementation coincided with the economic downturn, the mortgage crisis and the decline of the construction industry.

Because of those factors and others – for instance, the county’s having modified its policy to be less controversial and the county’s having a well-funded police department – the lessons of Prince William’s experience should be applied with “great caution” in other places and other times, said Thomas Guterbock, director of U-Va.’s Center for Survey Research.

Walking away, it looks like there was a great deal of angst and money spent.  Perhaps now I see why the great rush to vote on attaching the Prince William model to the legislative package to the state.  See bold above.  Lucy once again pulls the football out from under Charlie Brown.  Tsk Tsk.  They were warned.  Did Frank and Marty know something the others didn’t? 

Perhaps the best move would be to take our report, cut our losses, thank our lucky stars that cooler heads prevailed in 2008, hope our house values return, encourage businesses to come to the county, and move on.  Perhaps we shouldn’t advise others to do what we did here in Prince William.  But of course, it was all about an election.  And unless leopards have changed their spots, todays legislative action was all about an election also, we just aren’t sure which one. 

Just out of curiosity, does this now mean that Corey can work on his Virginia Rule of Law Campaign on company time using company employees?

Several folks have asked about the status of the War Museum. Need to Know, a regular contributor at Moonhowlings.net  has been following this initiative and has kindly offered his findings for a thread:

[Disclaimer: All guest posts are the opinion of the poster and do not necessarily represent the views of moonhowlings.net administration. M-H]

Regarding the proposed War Museum:

The land belongs currently to the Hyltons. They are “donating” it but the package the BOCS will consider October 5 includes new development rights that will benefit the Hyltons. They, Stewart and their proponents are waving the flag for a museum to honor veterans to garner support but it’s nothing more than a land deal to benefit special interests and campaign contributors. The “donation” of land will not go through unless the BOCS approves the entire package.

The staff report can be found at:

http://www.pwcgov.org/planning/documents/PLN2010-00379.pdf

Note that this staff report reads like a promotional brochure for the project, lacking any semblance of due diligence and analysis as to whether the project is in the interests of PWC taxpayers or not.

A few more details:

The supporters state that the project will need $50 million and that they will raise all of that from private sources. Note, however, that after allegedly working on development of the project for nearly a decade they have, as of the last Form 990 filing, less than $1 million in real assets. Form 990 is the annual tax filing required by the IRS for non-profit organizations. You can see them by clicking on this link:

http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/PubApps/showVals.php?ft=bmf&ein=200008915

The 2009 Form 990 shows total assets of a little over $4 million, but over $3 million of that is in the form of pledges and grants receivable that their statements have carried for at least two years. It’s not real money.

There’s not a chance in h*** they are going to be able to raise enough money, especially in an economy such as we have now, to build this thing without extensive taxpayer support.

 

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The earth may be beginning to turn counterclockwise. There is a slight chance I might be in agreement with Corey Stewart, who just returned home from his trip to NYC where he was on the MTV panel regarding illegal immigration. He joined Annabel Park, Eric Byler, Paul Rodriguez, John Quiones, and others in a discussion led by Times Reporter Fernanda Santos. 

The panel discussion was a prelude to the premiere of 9500 Liberty, the award winning documentary directed by Byler and Parks.  According to the News and Messenger, Corey was nervous about going and felt that he might be getting set up.  He was afraid of MTV using footage to cast him in an unflattering light, completely out of context. 

The first showing of 9500 Liberty will be Sunday, Sept. 26 at 8:00 p.m. on MTV2, MTVU and Tr3s MTV.

Stewart obviously was pleasantly surprised:

“I didn’t expect there to be much common ground,” Stewart said. “But there at the end, much to my surprise, some of the panelists and I believe most of the audience agreed that if you are here illegally and then commit a crime and pose a danger to society, you should be deported.”

What’s to not agree with?  I don’t think any of us want to be rubbing elbows with criminals.  That is why we here at moonhowlings.net have supported the 287(g) program as well as the physical arrest resolution.   So if we are to take Corey at his word in the above statement, then yes, today the earth reverses its spin.  I agree with the above quote made by Corey Stewart.  I have always felt that way. 

Stewart doesn’t think that the MTV experience will garner him votes from young people.  I don’t agree there.  Young people are all over the political spectrum.  Perhaps if that panel discussion is shown and Corey illustrates that he is reaching out for common ground rather than crushing his opposition, he might pull in more votes than he thinks.

“9500 LIBERTY” TO PREMIERE ON MTV NETWORKS, PRESS SCREENING TONIGHT
Award-winning film on SB 1070 precursor will reach 100 million homes starting Sept. 26

Guest Post by “Fed Up” 

Disclaimer: All guest posts are the opinion of the poster and do not necessarily represent the views of moonhowlings.net administration. M-H

Corey Stewart has been caught again playing fast and loose with taxpayers’ dollars, despite his best efforts to conceal another boondoggle.  Buried deep in a staff report (http://www.pwcgov.org/documents/bocs/agendas/2010/0803/8-A.pdf)  on the carryover budget (page 8 of a 54 page document), considered by the Board the same day his scheming with the Avendale development was distracting everyone, and abetted by the inability of his own staff and the local media to perform elementary school arithmetic, Stewart slipped through nearly a million dollars in additional taxpayer money for the Supervisors’ offices. 

From the “News & Messenger” on August 15,

“The budget item was passed as part of a much larger carryover budget, in which items from the previous fiscal year get carried over to the new fiscal year. According to county spokesman Jason Grant, the $712,000 increase should have been included in the fiscal 2011 budget process, but was accidentally omitted.” 

 Should have been included in fiscal 2011 budget process?  Ya think?  Then why not consider it as a separate budget item at the August 3 meeting rather than burying it in the staff report on the carryover?

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News on the street is Corey Stewart made Obama blink.  Well, is that so?  How funny.  Actually, I think what really happened is, I.C.E. made Stewart look befuddled and confused.  Or perhaps they just caught him lying, again, like he does about the crime statistics.

According to the Washington Post in the political blog:

According to Stewart, ICE officials also said they will increase detention center space in Virginia to hold illegal immigrants until deportation.

But ICE spokesman Richard Rocha denied that ICE will turn over any names or personal information to Stewart.

“ICE told Prince William County Supervisor Corey Stewart the agency would provide available statistics, for instance about the crimes and custody status of individuals referred to ICE by 287(g) trained officers,” Rocha said. “We anticipate that research to take a few weeks. To clarify, ICE will not be providing personally identifiable information — like names or addresses — to Stewart or others. Under DHS’s Privacy Policy, the Privacy Act, which protects against the release of certain personal information, extends to aliens as well as U.S. citizens.”

Stewart said he was disappointed to hear Rocha’s response. “They are backing down.”

Huh?  Who is backing down?  It sounds to me like Corey is backing down and I.C.E. is sticking to its guns. 

We will be watching to see who is the blinker and who is the blinkee.  Place your bets now.

From the Manassas News & Messenger:

Prince William County, Va. – Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials will release to Prince William authorites the identities and final disposition of every convicted criminal illegal immigrant apprehended in the county and turned over to ICE, said Chairman Corey A. Stewart on Saturday.

Stewart indicated that this reversed three years of “stiff-armed” responses by ICE to the same question. “They’ve also said they will increase detention center space in Virginia to hold illegal aliens until deportation. It won’t solve the problem, but it will help alleviate the problem.”

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The above pledge was signed by Chairman Corey Stewart on 9/4/07, when he was running for election for chairman. 

He obviously chose to break his pledge.  Was it all about an election, Corey?

This is what citizens think of Corey’s “reaffirmation” of the Rural Crescent! An all time Eastwood favorite!

In a recent interview with Corey as a guest on his radio show, Alan Colmes tried to convince Corey Stewart that begging the US governemnt to sue Virginia is fool-hearty and expensive. Corey disagreed that such a law suit could cost the state millions defending itself.

Furthermore, Stewart continued to say that our local law is almost identical to Arizona’s law. That statement simply is not true and Corey knows it. Why lie if he is so sure he is right.

From the Loudoun Times 7/13/10

Are you brown-skinned? Do you speak Spanish outside when walking down the street with friends? Do you wear clothing that has Hispanic styles, themes or lettering?

Let’s say all this applies to you – and you’re an American citizen, born and raised right here in Virginia, as were your parents. You follow the law. You pay your taxes. You’re as much an American by law as any sixth-generation white American. Too bad.

If Corey Stewart has his way in the Old Dominion, you could be a suspected illegal immigrant, detained and thrown in jail. Your crime? The color of your skin. Your ethnicity. The way you talk. The way you look.

Stewart is the chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, with previous and likely future intentions to run for statewide office here. But before he pads his political resume, he wants to complete his mission of making Prince William, and all of Virginia, his personal, political and cultural Petri dish of emotionally toxic wedge issues like immigration.

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Corey Stewart apparently is hollering ‘Bring it ON!’ to the feds, specifically to DOJ regarding state and municipality created laws involving  immigration. He seems to be running a one-man campaign to enact laws similar to those due to go into effect July 28, 2010 in Arizona, after dissing local state legislators.  Yesterday, the Washington Post printed the following:

If anything, said Stewart (R-At Large), he will push harder to get legislation passed at the state level that would enhance police officials’ power to capture, detain and deport illegal immigrants and create specific Virginia penalties for illegal immigrants.

“I think the Obama administration has made a strategic blunder,” Stewart said. “The Justice Department is going to have egg on its face when its case is dismissed. Arizona is on very firm legal footing, and the administration is just trying to intimidate Arizona.”

Last month, Stewart launched the Virginia Rule of Law Campaign to rally support for Virginia immigration legislation. Stewart said Virginia needs to follow in Arizona’s footsteps, even if it sends President Obama’s administration after the commonwealth.

“I hope the Justice Department sues Virginia, as well,” he said. “I hope they have so many targets that they are unable to focus on Arizona. . . . Every state that supports Arizona should implement a similar law to make it impossible for the [federal government] to focus on any one state or jurisdiction.”

Prince William has received national attention for its crackdown on illegal immigration. The county’s law, enacted in 2007 and modified in 2008, requires that police officers check the immigration status of all people arrested on suspicion of violating a state or local law. Stewart said his campaign for a Virginia law is his own, not something he is doing as chairman of the board.

Corey has not said who is sponsoring the legislation. Obviously he is not because he is not a state legislator. He also has not said who is going to pay for this lawsuit that he is goading the feds with.

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Yesterday July 3, 2010, , the Washington Post printed  an editorial entitled: In Prince William County, a call for a tough immigration law. The editorial castigates the chairman of the board of supervisors and his ilk for being an opportunist. 

ARIZONA’S SPASM of xenophobia has inspired copycats as well as critics around the country, a disparate response that reflects Americans’ ambivalence toward illegal immigration. In a Washington Post-ABC poll last month, a majority of respondents said they favored the Arizona law, which allows police broad discretion to check the residency status of people — “your papers, please!” — based on an arbitrary “suspicion” that they may be undocumented. At the same time, a majority in the poll said they favored amnesty for the estimated 11 million immigrants living in this country illegally — that is, allowing them to remain in the county, shift to legal status and eventually become eligible for citizenship if they pay a fine and meet other requirements.

That ambivalence, and the political impasse around immigration reform, framed President Obama’s speech on the issue Thursday — his first since becoming president. The president accurately diagnosed the political dimensions of problem: that mending the nation’s broken immigration system is stalled in the absence of Republican support in the Senate. Unfortunately, he offered no new ideas to fix the system. His speech, prompted mainly by immigrants’ groups unhappy with his administration’s inaction, seemed more an attempt to keep Hispanic voters within the Democratic coalition than to inject new life into a moribund debate.

With Congress incapable of acting, other states are now likely to come under increasing pressure to do what Arizona has done.

A test case may be developing in Virginia, where a local politician who has ridden the wave of sentiment against undocumented immigrants wants to push the issue even more. Corey A. Stewart, the top elected official in Prince William County, has proposed a legislative agenda that takes Arizona’s law as its template but goes further. Mr. Stewart, a Republican who faces reelection next year, has proposed what he calls the “Virginia Rule of Law Campaign,” a package of legislation that, among other measures, would authorize police to ascertain the immigration status of any individual upon “any lawful contact.” If that’s not an invitation to racial profiling and harassment-on-a-whim, nothing is.

Mr. Stewart, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, was the driving force behind Prince William’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants in 2007, which bred intolerance in the previously relatively harmonious county. The law he sponsored requires the county police to determine the immigration status of suspects upon arrest. Its passage, and bluster from Mr. Stewart and his allies, prompted some illegal immigrants to leave the county — and probably go to neighboring jurisdictions. Mr. Stewart, with his characteristic disdain for facts, asserts that their departure is responsible for the county’s falling crime rate. In fact, the drop in crime mirrors regional and national trends

Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) has wisely kept his distance from Mr. Stewart’s attempt to take his crusade statewide, saying only he’ll study whatever comes up. The governor correctly notes that the federal government has failed to fashion a workable immigration system, and that the nation’s laws should be obeyed “and lawful immigration . . . encouraged and facilitated.”

Americans remain deeply divided over immigration, and politicians like Mr. Stewart have enjoyed some success in stoking tensions over that divide. Until Congress reforms the nation’s immigration system, undocumented immigrants will remain in limbo, and Mr. Stewart and his ilk will make political hay by hounding them.

Entire Editorial

The Washington Post sees right through Corey and his ambitions. Both the News and Messenger and the Washington Post have been around to see the debacle unfold, going back to 2007. Johnny-come-latelies like Fox News don’t know the background and won’t be asking the difficult questions like both of the Post and
N & M ask. Say what you want about print media, they are the ones who will ultimately make you look in the mirror. Both the Post and N & M have done just that.

Speaking of which….where are Corey’s old cronies? Who is going to crawl out from under a rock and cheer Corey on? Perhaps this latest move has thinned the ilk herd a bit. Perhaps the ilk will be more selective about whom they associate with.