Moonhowlings

Some thoughtful considerations from Moonhowlings regarding the Honorable Mr. Corey Stewart’s announcement today at 1:30 about  his re-election plans:

So who is going down to the McCoart Building at 1:30 and ask Corey to sign the pledge that if elected as chairman again, he will not run for another office midterm?

Will he keep that pledge as well as he kept his pledge to protect the rural crescent?

PWC residents need to remember that special elections to replace him are expensive and would be for the entire county, not just a magisterial district. Also, who wants their chairman tending to business other than county business.

Later on down the road we can discuss land use, developers and their campaign contributions, the Grizzlies, the rural crescent, the mischaracterization of the UVA report, blatherings about denying medicaid, and sending out his colleagues’ private emails regarding a high ranked county employee (think police chief) to a local blogger.

Today, let’s just concentrate on his level of commitment to the county. The question becomes, Mr. Stewart, if you  are  priviledged enough to be  re-elected, will you serve your 4 year term?

That is the commitment Corey must make if the electorate of Prince William County is to vote him for another term.

Corey, you need to address this issue. We aren’t your stepping stone.  What are your intentions?

The citizens of this county deserve the answer to this question. 

Tomorrow at 1:3o, Corey Stewart will announce that he is running for re-election for Prince William County Board of Supervisor for the Chairman’s seat.  Stewart currently holds that position.

Prince William County voters need to ask him one question:  Does he plan to serve as chairman for the entire 4 years if elected chairman?

Stewart has toyed with running for Senate and other state election during this past election cycle.  Prince William County residents don’t need to  have their chairman campaigning the entire time in office.   Either he runs for Chairman of the BOCS or he sits it out and campaigns for another office.  There is simply no reason for him to campaign for another office on our time.

From News and Messenger:

A grand jury in Prince William Circuit Court has indicted a Fairfax teen on a murder charge for the November stabbing death of 15-year-old Miguel “Mickey” Hernandez in Manassas.

Boris Alfred Juarez Ascencio, 18, of Blake Lane in Fairfax, is charged with first-degree murder for the Nov. 19 stabbing.

According to court documents, Juarez, who was 17 at the time of the incident, has been certified to stand trial as an adult.

In court documents, witnesses said that Juarez stabbed Hernandez several times as he walked home from school on Bartow Street.

Another teen, 18-year-old Mauricio Martinez of Manassas, has also been charged in Hernandez’s death.

According to testimony at a preliminary hearing, Martinez and Juarez were both members of the criminal street gang of Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13.

Witnesses said Martinez identified Hernandez as a member of a rival gang and then Juarez stabbed him, according to police and prosecutors.

Police and Hernandez’s family members have said he was not affiliated with a gang.

Read more…

Move over Corey, there’s more company.  There now 3 PWC gentlemen vying for the position of BOCS chairman.  Corey Stewart, of course, has not said he isn’t running, so we assume he will run for re-election (if he isn’t running for the US Senate).  Bob Weir of Haymarket announced his candidacy during a BOCS meeting during citizens’ time, much to everyone’s shock and awe.  Now Tito ‘the Builder’ Munoz of Dale City has pitched his hard hat in the ring for chairman.

Each man brings his own style to the race and each style is quite different.  It should be an exciting campaign for Republicans.

The Democrats have 2 candidates running.  So far things have been quiet from John Gray and Gary Friedman.  Perhaps they are sitting back and letting the Republicans have at it for a while.  That could be a smart move.  It saves time and energy.  Regardless, they will need lots of time and lots and lots of money.  Someone we know has been filling his war chest.  My Republican buddies have been keeping a close eye on that one.

Should we start taking bets now?  Good for all of them.  At least they care enough to run.

Additional Information in News & Messenger

UPDATE:  Apparently we have been given bad information.  Tito Munoz says he is NOT running for the BOCS chair.

From Facebook:  Tito Munoz The article is false. I will be running for office, but not for the Chairman of the County Board of Supervisors. The Vpap.org information was not entered by me or anyone authorized to make that statement and was unknown to me until I read this false article. Vpap has been informed that they need to make a correction and should not enter any more data until they speak with me directly. –Tito Munoz

UPDATE 2:  When I grow up, maybe I will get this thread right.  John Gray has not announced as a Democrat.  He announced as an Independent.

UPDATE 3:  Gary Friedman has issued the following communication:

The following statement was released by Gary C. Friedman, candidate for the Democratic nomination for Chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors:

“While I am not one to consider the strength of political campaigns to be determined by money, I do believe it is important for a candidate to demonstrate an ability to marshal the resources needed to effectively communicate his campaign’s message to the voters.  In that regard, I am pleased to announce that the Friedman for Chairman campaign closed the filing period ending December 31, 2010 with over $100,000 cash in its account.  I am looking forward to carrying the Democratic banner into the fall elections and championing the most pressing issues facing Prince William County citizens.”

Insidenova.com:

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. – –

Prince William Office of Housing and Community Development Director Elijah Johnson recently received the Sen. Charles J. Colgan Advocacy Award from the Independence Empowerment Center.

Colgan, a long-time Virginia senator, presented the award at the IEC open house on Tuesday.

 Johnson received the award for his efforts in three areas: Obtaining 70 non-elderly, disabled housing vouchers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for Prince William area residents; reducing the waiting list for Section 8 housing; and applying for monies from the “Money Following the Person Grant Program.”

Read more…

Bob Weir, council member for the Town of Haymarket,  publically declared his candidacy for Chairman of the BOCS during citizens’ time today.  Most people looked rather surprised.  Mr. Weir spoke of his outrage over lack of transparency, lack of open government, and the impact and undue influence of special interests and his comments were directed at the Chairman, Corey Stewart.  He also spoke of his disappointment in leadership and overall lack of knowledge of the issues.

Bob Weir told the Board that there were 4 boxes to use in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo.  Mr. Weir will challenge as a Republican.   Corey Stewart responded with “And Happy Holidays to you, too.”

From The Prince William Conservation Alliance:

PWC Comprehensive Plan Environment Chapter 2010 Update – Developers propose 11th hour changes that will force higher taxes this spring
Supervisors vote on December 14, 7:30 pm at McCoart Government Center. Click here for the staff report and here to read about the original draft policies.

Supervisors adopted most but not all the positive changes to the County’s Environment Chapter on December 7. This consensus document, as recommended by County staff, includes input from citizens, environmental organizations, civic groups, businesses and developers.

However, after the public hearing was closed, the Chairman put forward 11th hour revisions at the request of developers. Supervisors deferred these items to to this Tuesday’s Board meeting, 2:00 pm, at McCoart Government Center.

  Read more…

Call it fate, destiny, coincidence, whatever word you like,  but sometimes life is just too bizarre.  I met Erik Finley a few years ago during a paving job Finley Asphalt was hired to do for my community.  I can tell you, from first hand experience, he, and his company are top notch.  They are what makes small business America the best in the world.  He and other small business owners like him ARE the backbone of our economy.  The treatment he received from Corey, his office, and Wally was unconscionable. 

It was happenstance that Erik and I ended up talking.    Here is what Erik shared with me and his story, in three years, has remained consistent.

Somehow, the foreman and I began discussing PWC politics and county government, one topic lead to another and he asked if I would be willing to talk with Erik who was having some issues with the county.  I said, “sure, I would love to”.

Read more…

Today, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors unanimously cut  8 more officers from the police department budget.  That makes a total of 8 officers and 12 support staff in the past 2 years.  In addition, a million dollars has been removed from their supplies budget.  This would have covered  training, radar, and other equipment.  Another half million dollar cut is looming on the horizon.  The cut became effective today.

There have been no new police officers added in the past 3 years.  Supervisor Nohe asked if they were really cutting police officers.  The answer is yes.  Even though there were 8 vacancies, there are still 8 fewer uniformed officers out defending public safety today than there were yesterday because these positions were abolished and cannot be filled. 

Perhaps one of the most devastating areas to be cut  is in the schools.  Starting 2011, there will be no police officers in middle schools.  The school police officer program  has been a highly successful one which cut down on neighborhood crime, bullying, gang membership and other annoyances that seem to plague kids of middle school age.  These officers knew the kids, the teachers, the administrators, the bus drivers, and many of the parents and had a good working relationship with all of the above.  They were able to ward of f potential problems.  After this year, the schools will just have to call and get whoever responds.

There are still 6 officers who are authorized to process 287(g) related matters.  These officers in the Criminal Alien Unit only work on issues dealing with illegal immigration and continue to  be funded. 

Prince William residents are going to have to decide how important public safety is to them.  Most folks don’t give it much thought until something happens and they need a police officer, on the double.  The wait time might be getting a lot longer as retiring officers are no longer replaced.  This might be the time to start asking how much more of a loss can we take. 

Reading the paper, it seems that PWC is plagued by more crime that is associated with inner city crime.  Any time something large happens, many officers are tied up on the scene and cannot respond to other calls.  When officers work a large crime scene, that means they aren’t out in your neighborhood or mine.  Are we willing, as a county, to let this happen?  Or should we start howling and demand that PWC begin to budget for these losses from the state.  A few pennies added to our tax rate might make a great deal of difference in public safety in Prince William County.

The Washington Post reviewed 9500 Liberty for its upcoming MTV Premiere this Sunday Night. Perhaps this is the best review I have seen of our hometown film.

Washington Post staff writer David Montgomeryguides his reader audience to the point in the film where we see film maker Eric Byler testifying before the U.S. Human Rights Commission in December of 2007, at which point we see Byler’s point of view. Rather than saying “Ah Ha!”, Montgomery leads us around this shift from neutrality to the fact that the film returns to showing both sides of this bitter debate. He tells us that those with strong opinion on either side might walk away not quite satisfied with the end result.

David Montgomery’s review is posted in its entirety:

Read more…

“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

Anything to get re-elected

Many years ago, in Prince William County, there was a gang on either the BOCS or the appointed school board who were not-so-affectionately named the 4 horsemen. They were seen as enemies of the school system. It seems that the 4 horsemen have been reincarnated, after several decades, on our board of supervisors. I am trying to remember . Why they were named that?   Was it a nice way of speaking of the educational Apocalypse on the horizon or was it short for horse body parts? Perhaps those  readers  who have been around PWC for a while will remember.

But I digress….

Read more…

From News & Messenger:

Prince William County, Va. – Individual supervisor budgets have become a hot topic among the board since a 5-to-3 vote in favor of a $712,000 increase to the supervisors’ office budgets last week.

That breaks down to approximately $89,000 per office.

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 omit-ted.

The intent of the additional money was to allow the supervisors the opportunity to hire a third full-time staffer. According to Grant, hiring a third assistant was “based on the growth of citizens being served by each magisterial district and the complexity of issues being resolved.”

“The supervisors have seen an 83 percent increase in the number of citizens served per district since 1990, from 30,812 per district to 56,497 today,” Grant said.

Supervisors Michael C. May, R-Occoquan, Martin Nohe, R-Coles and Maureen S. Caddigan, D-Dumfries, voted against the budget increase.  The three agreed that this wasn’t the time to add money to the budget when county employees haven’t received a cost of living adjustment the last two years.

Suerpvisors May, Nohe and Caddigan are aware of how things look.  When did regular county employees last receive a raise?  How much overtime to they all get when there is some emergency or when one of the supervisors makes demands?  

Meanwhile, the chairman, Corey Stewart has gone $7500 over budget.  He complains that one of his staffers needed a raise.  Probably everyone needs a raise who works for Prince William County.  Many county employees work long hours that extend beyond the regular day.  Those same employees often take work home over the weekend or go back in to the office to get things done. 

When everyone can get a little bit more of the pie, then the budget should increase to include the supervisors budgets.  Until then, everyone needs to make due with tightening their belts–even the chairman.

Part 1. What did the BOCS know?
Part 2 will show that Corey accuses others of ‘having blood on their hands’ when he knew very good and well the situation with I.C.E. Judging from the dates, he also needs to admit that this issue did not start or end with the present administration.

This video was from a BOCS meeting Spring , 2008. It shows the problems inherent in the MOA between ICE and the county. Let’s revisit some of the issues. It seems that many people have forgotten what really happened.

Both Charlie Deane and Jail Superintendent Pete Meletis give their points of view.

Chief Deane updated the BOCS on the status of the Immigration Resolution. Superintendent Meletis warned the BOCS of the problems the ADC was encountering with ICE. ICE was not picking up the ICE detainees after they had served their time in PWC. PWC was attempting to have every illegal alien picked up. ICE rep Mark McGraw told the BOCS that their numbers were overwhelming. He felt that PWC was getting away from the original understanding which was to remove the worst of the worst from the county.

Reminder to his critics: Here you will see Chief Deane salute the job he was given to do. What has changed?

At some point, even the most die hard anti-immigration person has to admit that they cannot deport illegal immigrants themselves. They must rely on ICE and a federal deportation judge. A locality can enact all the draconian laws they want…it doesn’t make ICE get there any faster.