Well, well, well… has Corey finally turned the corner? In the Washington Post article, entitled Stewart Softens Tone, Shifts Focus From Immigration to Economy, we learn that Stewart wants to
navigating Republican loyalists out of the immigration debate with the same vigor he used to help draw them into it
and
to become a consensus-builder.
What has caused these changes in attitude? Is he serious? Will there now be an overture of welcoming and inclusiveness? What can we expect from the newly defined Chairman? So many questions. What does everyone think, is he for real?
Haha. I think he seriously evaluated his chances of higher office as an “immigration wingnut” and found those chances slim. I also think he can be totally marginalized by the rest of the BOCS members – excluding Stirrup, of course. If he fails here, he doesn’t stand much of a chance of higher office in Richmond. He’ll have to learn to play nicely with his fellow Board members – as much as it galls him.
And – he’d better think twice about his leadership on the economy as well. It won’t behoove PWC to be known as having the lowest taxes, the lowest services, and the lowest IQs.
This article is amazing. Who would have thunk it? I only wish he meant it.
Censored, are you saying you don’t want us to become the lowest of the low? Looks like that is where we are headed.
This probably sounds crazy, but through all of this, I could not help but keep a small kernel of hope for Corey to come around. Maybe I am naive, but I feel, even if only a little bit, like a heavy weight on my shoulders is no longer as overwhelming. I hope he can figure out a way to demonstrate his new attitude.
Thanks for posting this Alanna.
It’s really very simple Alanna…Corey goes where he thinks the wind blows. There are two types of politicians, in my experience: Those who believe in what they are doing, and those who are very willing to “believe” in anything they think you want to hear. Personally, my respect goes to the politician that you can trust, regardless of their party or ideology…at least you know where you stand.
By the way, I always expected this, so I’m not surprised.
Opportunistic politician. Mr. Make-over. Mitt Romney tried to do the same thing…become something he wasn’t. Didn’t work for him either.
I have to come back here to say, Corey ought to be apologizing to Chief Deane for the shabby way he was treated. That was truly disgraceful.
No sane person can argue with Chief Deane’s words. They mark a true leader:
“In simple terms, I expect you to treat all people with respect, professionalism and dignity — regardless of their background, ethnicity, economic status, station in life or their immigration status.”
I agree with most of what has been posted here. But the anti-immigrant inanity club is very upset on the WaPo comments page. They seem to feel they’ve been thrown under the bus. They blame a conspiracy to smear HSM’s reputation by connecting their efforts to racist national organizations, discomfort with people from different cultures, and fears of losing the white majority. This conspiracy apparently involves the Post and all other newspapers, all television journalists except Lou Dobbs, and even everyday citizens who agree with the Chairman that “social issues” can no longer be the focus of the Republican party, not now that the nation is collectively aware of the real problems we face … and how such myopia actually makes it harder to solve problems like an economic downturn.
Here’s my latest in a day long back and forth on the WaPo site:
I agree that Corey Stewart still owes Chief Deane an apology. But I think this is an honest first step toward making that apology, not only to Chief Deane, but to all of us. Everyone beat up on President Bush for not being able to admit when he was wrong. So let’s not beat up on Chairman Stewart for being man enough to admit he led us astray, and publicly commit to taking another path.
Put it this way: he’s our Chairman for another 3 years. If we really do care about rebuilding Prince William County’s reputation and restoring our economic future, this was a necessary and long-overdue step. Corey Stewart is our leader and our spokesperson, like it or not. The fact that he has taken this step in the right direction should be reason to celebrate for all but the most extreme social conservatives.
Talk is cheap. Action speaks louder than words.
Such a shame that so much was wrapped in political convenience and basic dishonesty.
I am not ready to be a forgiving county resident until I hear the bullcrap linked to crime recanted and an apology to Chief Deane. Stewart and Stirrup both went all over the place last fall talking about how the crime had been reduced so much since all the illegal aliens left the nest. Additionally, there was bullcrap about the great savings from all the SOL students leaving.
Stewart needs to make sure he isn’t perceived as having a puppet master before he gets any respect from me or my family.
Stewart is an opportunist. Now he’s showing weakness. The best thing we can do as a county to recover our reputation is to flush his political career down the drain.
I agree talk is cheap. This is not really an apology to me. But I’ll be glad if it means there are no more spin about bogus crime stats and bogus ESL students claims. When FAIR comes calling for a quote about the benefits of illegal immigrant hate-momgering, that’s how we’ll know if this is sincere.
But you know the truth is all the Supervisors should apologize. I guess you could say five of them already did when they got rid of the racial profiling part of the resolution in April. I wonder what Greg L thinks of this. And what about John Stirrup? Does he feel isolated as the only Supervisor who is a member of Help Save Extremists of Manassas? Where does this put Jackson Miller? Will he also distance himself from Greg L?
Some of the supervisors sincerely thought their constituents wanted the Immigration Resolution. Remember that they were bombarded with hundreds of emails from people that did not even live in the county. Thank you NumbersUSA. But that did not happen in a vacuum. It was encouraged by someone locally.
Lastly, Supervisor Principi is innocent of voting for any Resolution.
I don’t know how the supervisors could have gotten the idea that their constituents cared about the law and the health of their community. Maybe it had something to do with the hundreds who showed up at the meetings to support the resolution. You’re right, though, about the folks coming from other jurisdictions. There were mentally ill from Fairfax County and Maryland in good numbers to urge Prince William to abandon any respect for the law or those who came here legally. I suspect behind their speeches was the fear of being overrun by illegals. I hope Corey Stewart will resist the urge to stray from his principles….he need only look to John McCain to see what happens to those who abandon their base.
I guess the email fraud is a special case. I didn”t mean Principi anyway. Only the ones from before. But that is really frightening to think that a local government can just get swamped by national organizations with no genuine right to have a say in what happens here. I wonder if Stewart was aware Letiecq was orchestrating the email fraud thing. If it’s true that Stewart is parting company with Letiecq (we can only hope), maybe he’ll come clean. Was he part of the ambush, or was he with the other Supervisors and genuinely caught off guard by the emails from Arizona?
Now there is an interesting question…ambush or caught off guard by the emails. hmmmmmm….ambush.
I
Mr. Stewart has finally realized that the illegal immigration issue is a political loser. His political ambitions are rapidly coming to a close. Linking oneself to Greg L has also proven to be politically disatrous.
Hey, you can voice your opinion at the rally on Friday in front of Fernandez’s work of art. I see that a solid pro-American organization called the National Immigrant Solidarity Network will be there to help stir things up. This will be the first circus of the year with more to follow I’m sure. Amazing how fast people jump to action when they have nothing better to do!
SA, knowing your perspective, I can see why you would object to this group. And it may or not be credible, who knows. But judging by its name this is exactly what they are supposed to be doing. So your end implication doesn’t wash. It isn’t as though this group formed this weekend to help Fernandez. It has a long established if somewhat messy website.
The alleged mail fraud strikes me as particularly interesting. I’m wondering if conspiracy to influence public policy using a false identity (or multiple false identities) violates any laws. Perhaps our County or State Attorney General should look into this for possible criminal violations. Perhaps the new Attorney General might look into this as a Hate Crime Conspiracy, Riko Act, perhaps (to get everyone involved)?
This alleged fraud caused the County a lot of time and money and resulted in the intimidation of thousands of legal County residents. The Government should prosecute the perps to ensure this doesn’t happen again (here or anywhere else). Hate groups who influence public policy by incorrectly representing themselves as resident’s within the jurisdiction of the target Government body need to be shut down for fraud, conspiracy, and interfering with the Democratic process. Those who assist locally should be targeted as part of the conspiracy.
Let’s “get ‘em” (legally, of course).
Opinion, if there was a law against lobbying, I think that there would be too many cases to prosecute. This was a rare case where national organizations converged on a local jurisdiction because media attention, and the severity of the law being debated among other things, made Prince William County into a “national battleground.”
Traditionally, constituents wrote letters to their representatives to express their views. Letters take a bit more time to write, and they have post marks, so the elected officials knew from whence they had been written. With the advent of “the internets,” there is a double-edged sword. E-mail makes it easier for a constituent and an elected official to dialog about policy. But, it also creates the possibility for abuse, since there is no necessity for a postmark or a return address.
Fraud is too strong of a word for what happened here. But it is true that many of the emails that influenced the Board of Supervisors came from people who are anti-immigration zealots living in other parts of the country, probably in border states that had formerly been a part of Mexico and have large Hispanic populations (this seems to annoy certain people).
Oddly, there was an assumption that people with email accounts are more likely to vote than people who show up in person at Citizens Time, and the rest is history. I’m not sure to this day if the Supervisors realize that they received so many emails from people who may vote indeed, but vote in jurisdictions outside Prince William County.
This is just one of the clever ways that the average citizen of PWC was undone in 2007. But the most important aspect of the “ambush” was that John Stirrup kept the Immigration Resolution secret during its incubation. This had two deleterious effects. 1) there was almost no opportunity for the county attorney’s office, the police department, or the county executive’s office to study the possible effects of such a radical and unprecedented shift in police policy and sweeping change to public services policy. 2) there was almost no opportunity for the citizens to learn about how and why their government was changing so suddenly, and to organize a resistance.
The bottom line is that the average citizen of PWC was outsmarted in 2007 by a cabal of elected officials, local agitators, and national organizations. This does not mean we need to outlaw lobbying. But it does mean we need to remain vigilant and involved in our local government, and we can’t allow a small group of people to dictate laws and policies that affect all of us.
By the way, it is my guess that Corey Stewart was as surprised as the rest of the Supervisors were when John Stirrup introduced the Immigration Resolution. And, I see no reason to suppose that Greg Letiecq would reveal to Corey Stewart the various tricks up his sleeve, such as relying on national organizations to inflate his pro-resolution email tally. This is only conjecture, mind you, but my guess is that Letiecq wanted to sell himself to Stewart as the pied piper for a Republican voting block that, at the time, seemed poised to sweep the county and the Commonwealth.
Stewart is on tape, for instance, denying he knew that F.A.I.R. had written the Immigration Resolution in concert with Help Save Manassas. It seems entirely plausible to me that the real machinations of the Anti-Immigrant Lobby’s power play on Prince William County were hidden from Chairman Stewart, and he truly thought there was widespread public support for the resolution. Why else would he stake his career on it?
WHWN, and the delicious irony is that Letiecq today laments that Mr. F’s followers may do just what he, Letiecq, bragged of doing last year – bombard the City with an organized email campaign in support of their cause.
Uh oh – I’m in trouble now. A little bird just told me that Mr. F has done as I suggested and hung a sign between two trees. Hearsay at this point since I haven’t seen it.
Censored, I don’t know much about Mr. F, but I imagine there are a lot of similarities between the two pied pipers and their respective movements. I peg Mr. F as a man with a big ego who refuses to back down to anyone. This causes him to appear courageous to some, heroic to others. I’m sure his followers look up to him just as much as Greg Letiecq’s did once upon a time. Letiecq had more effective tools though.
Censored by BVBL said:
Haha. I think he seriously evaluated his chances of higher office as an “immigration wingnut” and found those chances slim.
Still laughing at Censored’s comment!
You know, Censored, the comparison is really quite illuminating. Earlier in this thread, Opinion was seeking for a way to outlaw Greg Letiecq’s method of lobbying for change. And in turn, throughout the past 20 months or so, Letiecq and others have been seeking to outlaw Mr. Fernandez’ method of lobbying. In both cases, it seems that free speech should win out, as much as we might prefer that both be legally silenced.
I am enjoying reading whwn and opinion’s discussion about those out of town emails. Both have interesting points. Kicking in a third opinion, perhaps the supervisors should require a physical address before an email is considered. It could clearly state so on the supervisor website. Of course someone could go to the phone book if they wanted to pull something off.
There should be a way to prevent this from happening. I don’t believe any of the supervisors have the staff to verify all emails. Perhaps there could be a pool of volunteers from all 3 parties, Dem, Repub, and independent to come in and verify things for supervisors.
It really is scary to think that local policy is being determined out in Arizona. Think back to Disney Wars here in the county. All sorts of people had a lobby effort going on.
Yes censored, it is true. Mr. F. has hung the original sign(PWC and Manassas the National Center of Intolerance) back up behind the “Wedge”. It is suspended by ropes between two trees. He seems to be pushing the envelope pretty far.
IVAN, I just saw pictures of it! You aren’t kidding about pushing the envelope!! I had envisioned a standard sheet-sized sign – not that whopper of a sign with it’s wood frame. And suspended even higher. Friday should prove interesting.
It sounds like its going to be showdown at high noon over there in the City.
Hi WHWN, you said “I peg Mr. F as a man with a big ego who refuses to back down to anyone. This causes him to appear courageous to some, heroic to others.”
I don’t think many people share your view of Mr. F as courageous or heroic. I think most people view him as an idiot who is doing nothing to further his cause by angering people in the community and breaking zoning laws.
As for Corey Stewart… I think that everyone is making this much more complicated than it really is. Look at the national poles, since the economy tanked it’s become the number 1 issue on everyones mind. Immigration has slipped on the priority list with all politicians. It’s not that hard to figure out and shouldn’t surprise anyone.
You gotta give the man credit. He sure knows how to get publicity for what he believes in.
Hello, I was speaking of Mr. Fernandez vis a vis his followers, and comparing this relationship to Greg Letiecq and his followers. Both have admirers, both have detractors.
I’m sure that many would disagree with a characterization of Letiecq as a charismatic and inventive community organizer who pioneered netroots lobbying at the local level. Many would want to call him a nativist, a liar, a hate-monger, etc. It’s a matter of perspective. But at times we forget there is more than one perspective.
As I’ve said, I think Letiecq is more effective, and, both have detractors who would wish to outlaw their tactics.
Ivan, who Corey or Mr. F.
Hello, Actually, I think the Corey situation is fairly predictable of polititians who want to get elected rather than stick to their principles. There is a lot of that going around. Opportunity knocked and Corey opened the door. It will be short lived opportunity.
I would have more respect for Stewart if he 1. told the truth 2. was motivated by something other than political capital, regardless of how short-lived.
Obviously some people see Sr. F as a hero…..a few people. Most of us simply see divisiveness. His right to try it. City’s right to tell him no.
I expect if I put up a home-size velvet picture of Mickey Mouse on the side of my house, the county might come tell me to take it down. I bet they could find some violation somewhere….and I would not win. Community standards kick in somewhere, regardless of freedom of speech.
Think of the City as a large HOA with big snarling teeth when crossed……
Moon, I was talking about Mr. F. But I guess you could throw Corey into the mix too. BTW, I wonder if the Wapo contacted Corey about this story or did he call them first?
I just find it hilarious that we should have to ask each other, “Whom did you mean, Corey Stewart or Mr. Fernandez?”
My comparison was Fernandez and Letiecq. But I suppose to the extent that Stewart was complicit and/or aware of Letiecq’s abhorrent tactics, we could blame Stewart for all that Letiecq has perpetrated. In any case, I would submit that a desire to outlaw a person’s point of view comes more from disagreeing with that point of view than a strict adherence to the law. M-H, what happens if it turns out the city has no ordinance against signs hanging from trees? Should they create one? On what basis?
Excellent question Ivan.
It seems to me that this article was researched over a period of time. So even if Stewart did contact the Post, they took the time to ensure that the rebirth of Corey Stewart was more than just words. Just my guess.
Hi Moon, you said you would have more respect for Corey is he “was motivated by something other than political capital”. What politician isn’t motivated by political capital? I’m not sticking up for Corey here but I’m a little surprised by some people’s reaction to what comes naturally to politicians. Take Obama for example, he took advantage of a failing economy and vowed to clean up Washington. He set the ethics bar pretty high and then limboed under it by nominating multiple tax cheats and lobbyist (which he vowed would not be in his cabinet pre-election). This is nothing new…
If anyone still cares, Gospel Greg is now saying that Corey Stewart has NOT changed and he is still “one of us, one of us, one of us, one of us…”
Letiecq would naturally make that claim, Shelly. Letiecq is nothing without Corey Stewart.
For a short while, Stewart mistakenly beleived it was the other way around. He thought he needed Letiecq. But over the past year, Letiecq has become an embarrassment, a disgrace, and a liability for Stewart. It was the pragmatic choice to move away from extremism and try to embrace the middle, and for Stewart this means a clean break from Letiecq. The only surprise for me is that it has taken this long. It makes me fear that Letiecq has something over Stewart, which made it a more complex decision to renounce Letiecq than it otherwise would have been.
I think what Mr. Fernandez is doing is akin to the civil disobedience of Rosa Parks or MLK. Non-violent civil disobedience.
I see the comparison, Mackie, but Rosa Parks had a very clear message, and sitting where she wanted to sit on that bus said it all. Mr. Fernandez hurts his own cause because the message is so poorly crafted. For example, one of the underpinnings of his message is his objection to hate and prejudice. But by singling out European Americans for historical crimes, he is essentially doing the same thing as Greg Letiecq does on his blog … singling out one race of people. I’d sooner compare him to Greg Letiecq than Rosa Parks.
Both Letiecq and Fernandez have a right to free speech, however. Let me clarify that.
Mackie,
I agree with you. It’s civil disobedience. Nothing more, nothing less.
WHWN (re lobbying) There are actually ethics to lobbying. http://www.alldc.org/ethicscode.cfm Fraud isn’t on the list. If an organized group conspired to assume false identities as lawful residents to influence public policy, I believe said group broke the law. Such actions don’t qualify as free speech (no more than any other fraud constitutes free speech) or lobbying (the lawful influencing of public policy for some constituency or cause). I wouldn’t flatter this group by calling them lobbyists. I would call such a group seditionists.
Call it a hunch: Stirrup will follow the Letiecq lead and deny there has been a real change in Corey Stewart. I hope Corey doesn’t flip-flop back to the dark side again. I like the idea of having a Chairman who isn’t a constant source of shame.
Fine points Opinion. But is a Code of Ethics enforceable by law? Is NumbersUSA registered as a lobbying organization? Is F.A.I.R.?
It would be very easy for someone to investigate whether anyone misrepresented their address when writing to our Board of County Supervisors. But, unless they were fools, our friends from the Southwest did not make up addresses when advocating that we radically transform our local government to suit their national agenda. Rather, they simply left out their address, and any mention of the fact that they lived 3,000 miles away and were responding to an action alert from an extremist anti-immigration organization that had no real stake in the future of this county.