Prince William County’s Discretionary “Slush” Fund, An Abberation in Northern Virginia

Elena

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-state-of-nova/post/should-prince-william-board-have-discretionary-funds/2011/12/20/gIQAVb0YCP_blog.html

Tom Jackman from the Washington Post wrote an outstanding article on the uniqueness of our Discretionary funds in PWC compared to all other Northern Virginia Counties.

In Prince William County, the Board of Supervisors has access to a fund that no other Northern Virginia jurisdiction offers its governing body: a “discretionary fund,” which is really just the money left over after the expenses of running the district office are spent.

I believe my favorite quote was from  Jacqueline Byers, research director for the National Association of Counties.

Jacqueline Byers, research director for the National Association of Counties, said the number of counties with discretionary funds has dwindled greatly in recent years, because of “abuse. We did see occasionally a little too much discretion,” and that county officials sometimes traded approval of each other’s pet projects.

“The counties that decided to keep them, decided to put guidelines in that they could use,” Byers said. Jim Campbell, the executive director of the Virginia Association of Counties, said discretionary funds were “not a common practice” in Virginia.

Gee, ya think there is the likelihood for abuse?  That is what Wally seems incapable of admitting, that gving 100 grand of taxpayer money to your wife’s charity wreaks of impropriety.   My belief is that being in elected office should be a disadvantage not an advantage.  Haven’t we all heard of those “contests” where employees friends and family are ineligible for the winnings.  Why is government any different.  Family and friends should be ineligible for direct government donations to avoid even a hint of preferential treatment.

Even Corey admits this concern in the statement he gave the reporter.

Stewart, the current board chairman, said, “I personally don’t do it. I don’t know if I ever felt comfortable, even when I was a district supervisor, giving to charitable organizations from a government account. Even though it’s well-intentioned, it’s been controversial. For me, it’s not worth the controversy.”

Almost 1 million dollars has been collected from Supervisors in the past several years.  Does anyone else have a problem with this cause I sure do.  I hope citizens will continue to put pressure on the Board to change this practice.  Apparently Corey’s dismissive remark about citizen participation demonstrates his flippant attitude towards our concerns regarding fiscal responsibility.

Stewart said the issue of whether the supervisors should have discretionary funds “comes up like clockwork every three to four years. And then it goes away.”

 

Corey, I imagine you are hopeful that this will “go away”.    My hope instead is that he will  take a leadership role and address this backwards way of “doing business” in PWC.

 

 

Tom Jackman: Should PWC supervisors have discretionary funds?

MoonHowler

Tom Jackman of the Washington Post has written an excellent piece on the use of discretionary funds here in Prince William County, entitled:  Should Prince William Board have ‘discretionary funds?’.  If you haven’t yet read it you really should.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-state-of-nova/post/should-prince-william-board-have-discretionary-funds/2011/12/20/gIQAVb0YCP_blog.html

Jackman hit all the highlights and also stated that Prince William County is the only jurisdiction in the area to allow supervisors such unfettered use of taxpayer money.  Residents have been grousing and grumbling about this practice for years. However, that grousing and grumbling became a primal scream when folks discovered that Brentsville Supervisor Wally Covington wanted to ‘give’  his wife’s favorite charity, Rainbow Therapeutic Riding, $100,000 in discretionary funds.

Oddly enough, this item appeared on the agenda, with no fanfare of course, right before the Thanksgiving holiday.  How convenient.  Perhaps he thought no one would be looking.  To his dismay, lots of “William Watchers” were watching.  This blog posted the account late Thanksgiving night.  Our better side said not to do this story on Thanksgiving Day.   After that, the blogosphere lit up  Northern Virginia lights.  That is a huge amount of money, going to a charity that only has 60 or so recipients.  Rainbow Riding is not in his district and it already gets $33,000 from the general fund.

Now citizens are clamoring for the use of discretionary funds to come to a screeching halt. The Committee of 100 will examine the practice at its February meeting.   The use absolutely should be discontinued.  Now is the time to take a closer look at how other jurisdictions handle money left over from general office expenses.  There is simply too much discrepancy in business as usual in Prince William County.

Corey may wish it would go away, but this time I think the residents will have the final say.  Stay tuned.  Elena will be doing a follow up.

PS Corey….remember those invitations to the October 16, 2007  Citizens’ Time?  What fund did those come out of?  Could it have been your ….discretionary funds? [best Church Lady voice]

 

Gingrich compares Virginia setback to Pearl Harbor

MoonHowler

From Capitol Hill Blue:

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich‘s campaign director is comparing the candidate’s failure to get his name on Virginia’s Republican primary ballot for 2012 to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

That’s right. Gingrich’s inability to take the necessary steps to qualify for a ballot is, in his campaign’s view, similar to an surprise attack that killed thousands of Americans and triggered the nation’s entry into World War II.

Gingrich campaign director Michael Krull posted on Facebook:

Newt and I agreed that the analogy is December 1941. We have experienced an unexpected setback, but we will regroup and refocus with interested determination, commitment and positive action. In the end, we will stand victorious.

The Virginia Republican Party was less dramatic in its reasoning for why Gingrich failed to make the ballot. The campaign simply did not collect the required number of verifiable signatures: 10,000 overall including at least 400 from each Congressional district.

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