Update: LG Candidate Updates. Fraud and Debt Questions
on March 18th, 2013 at 8:51 am
Jean Marie Davis: Fraud!
Update: While I have not been terribly impressed with Susan Stimpson, I just read this article detailing an attack from the Democrats on her. This attack on Stimpson is just maddeningly dishonest.
Now Stimpson could have said it better (which is one of my big issues with Stimpson is a statewide race) but this is clearly taken out of context to make her appear to be a racist. And that is just wrong. Leave it to the Dems to sink the lowest common denominator whenever possible.
I have my doubts about Stimpson, but I never doubt the ability of Democrats to be twisted and dishonest.
I have written two lengthy pieces describing two recent Lieutenant Governor’s forum. You can read them by clicking here or here…. The Roanoke forum can actually be viewed by clicking this link. It is rough, but you can see if your perceptions matched mine.
I wanted to share some of the latest information on three of the candidates that has come to light. For the record, as I have stated numerous times, I am going to be a delegate at the GOP convention for E.W. Jackson. So I do have a vested interest in this race.
But that stems from having a vested interest in getting elected officials in Richmond who will actually stand up for our basic rights. And since I have been actively involved in politics, Jackson is the first state wide candidate I have met who is worth spending my time and effort to actively help elect.
But that being said, there are some things you should know about some of the other candidates. While I want you to support Jackson like I do…I do think you should have this information so you can make the best informed decision if you decide to spend the weekend in Richmond as a delegate for one of the LG candidates.
I was critical of a number of the candidates in the last forum, but in particular, I was critical of the integrity, or lack thereof, of Jeanne Marie Davis. This story adds some clarity to her insensitive remarks bragging about signing up “ethnics” to be delegates. Her delivery about this at the last forum was insensitive and almost comical in its ineptitude.
Here is an excerpt from the article that shows the depth’s that Davis will stoop for this position…
“I had heard a few weeks ago about how Jeanne Marie was signing up Delegates and I’ve been waiting for today to discuss it. The Davis machine now has so little support left among grassroots activists, that they were spending lots of time at the Eden Center in Falls Church. The Eden Center is a Vietnamese cultural center. The problem with going there to sign up Delegates to a political convention is many recent immigrants are not registered to vote! In many cases they are not yet citizens.
So what does the vaunted Davis machine do at the Eden Center? They have staff there screaming at people to sign up and making them feel threatened if they don’t. Hundreds of people with no intention of showing up to this convention fill out the form to stop the harassment. Then Jeanne Marie’s campaign takes all the forms to the county office and presents them and declares their “momentum.”
So why did I wait until today to write this? Today was the Fairfax GOP credentials meeting where all the forms submitted were checked for voter registration and other issues.
170 of Jeannemarie’s forms were thrown out for not being registered to vote. Many of the others when being checked showed voters that have never participated in any election before- showing there are hundreds more that will never go to Richmond for an all day convention. There was even signs of total fraud- with one household registering 25 Delegates that had been signed up to support Davis.”
If anyone support the fraud that is Davis at this point, I simply can’t understand it.
But Davis isn’t the only candidate who has a story floating around they would prefer you not see.
Two of the other candidates have similar narratives that they are using to get elected. They claim to have been successful as local officials; using conservative principles to solve real world problems. They make the case that they can bring this grass roots conservative experience to Richmond. This is a compelling story, but how accurate are the claims of Corey Stewart and Susan Stimpson?
“Perhaps you would prefer to just indebt the Commonwealth as you have done repeatedly in Stafford–earning you the nickname “The Queen of Debt”. We cannot just borrow more and more money for everything and pass that debt onto future generations. It is troubling that amongst all the press releases, ground breakings, and ribbon cuttings for your spending projects, you always fail to mention that you borrowed the money to do these projects. Whether the $67 million High School in your district that you refused to allow the taxpayers an opportunity to vote on in a referendum, $22 million for new courthouse facilities, or any other projects in last years $393 million debt plan that you approved (taking us to the edge of our allowed limit) and which have not had the benefit of a vote by the taxpayers, there is a time when costs will catch up as we are seeing as interest payments on your debt are now becoming due.”
Now I have to say, I think Stimpson’s critic seems like a supporter of the Governor’s transportation plan (at least I infer that from the rest of his email) and I agree with Stimpson on her opposition to the current plan. But if she really is the “queen of debt,” then that combined with the issues I have mentioned in the previous articles makes it more and more difficult to see her as a serious candidate.
One of the reasons Stimpson has looked bad in the forums that I have attended is that Corey Stewart has a similar story, but from a different Northern Virginia county. He has, at least in the forum’s I have seen, done a better job of talking about how he would translate his successes to the state level. I have been very critical of Stimpson’s ability to articulate the conservative message. Stewart has been, at times, very effective at painting a picture of what he would do in Richmond if elected.
While Stewart has been better at conveying the message than Stimpson in forums, there are serious questions about how fiscally conservative Stewart has really been in his role as a County Supervisor. This email from a local resident appears to be well researched and raises serious questions about Stewart’s claims.
CLAIM: Corey Stewart claims to have cut $143 million dollars in spending cuts. FACT: The $143 million that Chairman Stewart refers to are not actually spending cuts – they are merely a reduction in future budget increases. This is Washington, DC style of spending cut. These reductions to the budget are, in reality, a reduction in the rate of increased spending in future years. In fact, actual budget spending has gone up every year since Corey Stewart became Chairman. And worse than that, County debt has increased by $203 million under Corey Stewarts Chairmanship. (Source: October 2, 2013 – FY 2014 Budget Choices & CAFR CLAIM: Corey Stewart claims to have reduced property taxes. FACT: Corey Stewart HAS NEVER voted for a budget with reduced property taxes. To the contrary, Corey Stewart has SUPPORTED, VOTED YES, for every budget that INCREASED property taxes. What’s even more laughable are the two budgets that Stewart voted against actually included reductions in the property tax rate. Also, despite the current economy and the collapse of the housing market where property plummeted in value, Prince William County has experienced an $86 million increase in revenue generate from property taxes. (Source: CAFR, Table 
CLAIM: Corey Stewart claims to have provided fiscally responsible leadership as Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. FACT: Prince William County has a staggering $222 million in unfunded pensions for county employees. (Source: CAFR, Page 92) And before he blames State Government for these unfunded pensions, the $222 million of unfunded pensions are for Prince William County government employees only. These unfunded pensions are the sole responsibility of the Prince William County government and the Board of Supervisors. CLAIM: Corey Stewart claims to have provided fiscally responsible leadership as Chairman of the Board of County Supervisors and shrunk the size of government FACT: Under Corey Stewart’s Leadership, Prince William County added two new departments – the Department of Transportation and the Department of Development Services. (Source: Budget, FY2013) CLAIM: Corey Stewart claims to have provided fiscally responsible leadership as Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. FACT: Under Stewart’s leadership, the Board of County Supervisors increased their own administrative budgets $712,000 per year for five years totaling a $3.6 million increase in the Board’s operating budget. When the public outcry became evident they buried or tried to hide the increase in the Community Development Budget allowing the Board to increase their staff salaries. (Source: FY2010 Carryover Budget) CLAIM: Corey Stewart claims to have provided fiscally responsible leadership as Chairman of the Board of Supervisors FACT: Chairman Stewart agreed to spend $44 million of taxpayers’ money intended for “core government services” on the construction of a Cultural Arts Center. (Source: Hylton Art Center Contract) We in Prince William County have gotten accustomed to Corey Stewart misrepresenting the facts. But the facts are the facts, the truth is the truth. Respectfully submitted, John S. Gray, CPA Prince William County Resident.
This information, combined with this rather unflattering story of an alleged drunken, profanity laced rant, really casts doubts on the Stewart campaign.
With seven candidates, there is a lot of information to parse through and I hope this gives you some additional knowledge that will help you make up your mind.
We certainly do not need a Lt. Governor who will use debt to avoid the tough fiscal decisions that need to be made. I still maintain that we need someone with a fresh vision outside of the normal mainstream of political machinations.
I still firmly believe that man is E.W. Jackson.
Chip Tarbutton
You need to do your homework before running at the mouth. If you had looked at the Prince William budgets you would know that your statement concerning Corey Stewart is not correct.
One suggestion to Greg Aldrich, and perhaps to you: The next time during a Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States do NOT stand in silence with your hands by your side. You look like Barack Obama. I have a feeling that Bishop Jackson would not approve..
Well where is the article wrong? I don’t pretend to be an expert on Prince William budgets. The author cites several documents form the county that appear to back up his claims. It seemed well researched. It doesn’t mean it couldn’t be wrong.
Where does the critic go wrong? If you’d like to post something SPECIFIC that refutes the assertions II’ll be happy to post it. I like Corey and I would prefer to have as many candidates as possible who support nullfiication in the running to be LG. I would be thrilled if you could show the information presented was false.
As for the conversation about the pledge. I have no idea what you are talking about. I lead the pledge in every meetiing and do an invocation before it. If I wasn’t saying it…I think it would have been difficult IF I’M LEADING IT. I’ve been to dozens of meetings with Greg and haven’t noticed that…what meeting are you speaking of specifically?
Is that the best you have…I mean Ed…that is very very weak. Despite that, if you can be civil I’ll be happy to post a reply to the SPECIFIC budget issues you have an issue with around Corey’s campaign. Send it to chip.tarbutton@gmail.com
Two aspects of what you have said concern me: One, that said by Mr. Gray is not correct. Second, no effort was done to verify the truth or accuracy of what the man said. Ronald Reagan said , “Trust but verify.” I have found over the years that “Never trust and always verify” is better in the political arena.
My impression of your writing is that it involved too large of an appetite to make damaging statements of Davis and Stewart. I do not have sufficient information to verify that which you said regarding Davis. That is somewhat murky information. But I can take to task that in your article regarding Corey Stewart. I will thumbnail enough here to adequately demonstrate a degree of irresponsible reporting in the above article. Perhaps someone would wish to do the same for Davis.
The reason I have this information on Stewart is that when he, Radtke, and Jackson first indicated an interest in running for the Senate I and others gathered a large volume of data pertaining to them which has been updated with time. So I ask that in the interest of “fair and balanced” reporting you include the following as a whole.
Prince William County has had a job growth ranking of #8 in the nation for the period from 2000 to 2011 (http://pwcecondev.org/PressRoom/PressReleases/tabid/113/mid/477/newsid477/343/Default.aspx), The Bureau of Labor and Statistics ranked PWC #1 in Virginia and #3 in the nation for job growth. (http://www.pwcgov.org/government/dept/oem/PressRoom/Pages/PR10272011JobGrowth.aspx# , http://www.bls.gov/ro3/qcewva.pdf , and http://pwcecondev.org/PressRoom/PWCintheNews.aspx) and PWC was the highest ranked in Virginia for 2012 by the BLS (http://www.bls.gov/ro3/qcewva.htm). This performance did not come by accident and corresponds to Corey Stewart’s tenure on the Prince William BOS, from 2003 – present as a member and 2007 – present as Chair because of his leadership to streamline government regulations to start a business.
Contrary to Mr. Gray’s statement, $143 M was cut out of the PWC budget under Corey Stewart’s watch, partly by cutting more than 320 county government positions and partly by eliminating PWC programs and projects. As I said in my first response to your article, if you go through the BOS meeting minutes and budgets you will find this, all of which is beyond the scope of this writing to include. And yet PWC maintained a AAA bond rating by adhering to its 5-year budget.
Regarding debt, it is correct to say debt increased, but considering that PWC has maintained a AAA bond rating it is out of context to consider just that debt increased. Part of the debt was incurred to keep in step with the growth in business which brought on PWC’s high rankings in job growth in Virginia and in the Nation. Another portion is due to PWC funding its transportation needs though a $300 M bond in 2007, which was supported by referendum by 70 % of the County’s residents. (In other words PWC went to the People and asked for permission, unlike the Commonwealth has done.) And finally debt was derived from the building of 12 new schools in PWC which were necessary to keep up with the growth in school population which were brought on by job growth. BTW – While Corey has been Chairman the County has twice been upgraded to AAA bond status, these ratings have saved taxpayers $32 million in the last two years alone.
As to lowering taxes Mr. Gray has been disingenuous, to say the least. In 2006 the average tax bill was $3500 and 6 years later the average is still $3500. Given the rate of growth in property values that occurred due to job and business growth, and income growth (7th highest median in the nation) (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/local/highest-income-counties/?hpid=z2) that is a record that few, if any, other localities in Virginia can claim. The constant average tax bill, combined with growth in property values and wealth amount to at least to the claim of 8.5 % in real dollars. (My personal calculation indicate a larger percentage.)
And as for Mr. Gray’s comments on pension liabilities, he is entirely misleading. Unlike the Commonwealth of Virginia and other counties, PWC has not skipped VRS payments. With the AAA bond rating came audits that certified the County’s pension program is healthy. BTW – Prince William County was among the first jurisdictions in the Commonwealth that began to require their employees to pick up part of their retirement costs, another sound financial practice.
I do not understand the farce of Mr. Gray’s statement about the size of the PWC government. I checked on the staffing of fire fighters, a 174 increase, and police officer increase of 129 – yet the overall number of employees is still 320 less as cited above. Could it be that PWC under Corey Stewart’s leadership has focused on what government is intended to provide and has reduced staffing in areas that are not essential or not intended to be a responsibility of government. Gosh darn, a conservative profile.
Finally, as for the Hyton Performing Arts Center:. The investment came from working with George-Mason University on the GMU campus which is a leading center for biotech and medical research, both currently highly desired areas sought by most counties and cities in all States in the nation.
Here is the upshot of all of this: Mr. Gray either has an inadequate set of information or is “somewhat biased.” I could also tell you about the UVa report on the success of the drop in crime and illegal immigration in PWC, but I’ll leave that to you to do your homework.
Finally I should note the following: As I said at the beginning, I and a group of others have maintained an up-to-date set of information on all of the Lt. Gov, AG, and past Senate candidates.. It would not hurt for you to do the same. I only ask that you keep it accurate and thoughtful in the future.
I’ll be working through this data. I don’t think it is fair to say Gray’s data was pulled from thin air as he did produce some documents fron the county that supported his position. But like many things like this…numbers can me made to support almost anything. So we’ll take a look. You don’t really know what effort I did or didn’t do to verify the information, but from what I saw, Gray didn’t just make this stuff up.
I’ll be happy to look at this over the next few days. Thanks for sharing. The Davis information is very easy to find…researching state officials is relatively simple. Researching the BOS members like Stewart and Stimpson is more difficult. In both cases you have conflicting accounts of who gets credit for what…
I am expecting a similar response from the Stewart campaign. When I get all of it…I’ll look it all over. Now as for the assertion that I have some sort of reason to attack Stewart…nothing is farther from the truth. I have every reason to want to see Stewart do well since he is actively talking about nullification and I’m a state coordinator for the 10th Amendment Center. While I think Jackson is a better advocate, I have a personal stake in any candidate who is willing to stand up for the Constitution.
This is from the first forum I say….”Stewart was aggressive and did a good overall job of mixing his feisty anti-establishment message and his successes on the board of supervisors. He openly talked about nullification and that is always good to here in a public setting. His closing remarks were particularly good, tying together his stated accomplishments on reducing taxes and dealing with illegal immigration and his ability to win elections in Northern Virginia while being a true conservative. He seems willing to challenge the establishment and to try and look at issues differently.” That certainly doesn’t sound like I want to GET Corey.
Look for a post soon regarding this. Thanks for the information.