Jeremy Borden of the Washington Post traced the wind blown political career of Supervisor Corey Stewart over the past 9 years, on the eve of his announcement to run for Virginia Lt. Governor. In his article entitled, Stewart’s changing stance on development in Prince William, Borden shows a candidate who goes where he thinks he will get to votes. Stewart certainly showed his stripes today as he planned to announce his candidacy from Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center in Woodbridge. According to Borden, at the Washington Post:
Stonebridge, Stewart says, is emblematic of a new way forward for economic development in Prince William, an issue that was the focus of his reelection campaign last year.
Stewart started out as a politician with a strong desire to stop sprawl and to protect the environment. He had many folks, both Democrat and Republican on his side for that reason. This flip flop has caused many of his former supporters to become disenchanted with his political career.
But some former supporters say Stewart has lost his way on development issues.
No longer, critics say, is he seen as someone who would force developers to pay their fair share and help temper the feverish pace of home construction that has overwhelmed roads and schools.
“His campaign account shows he is now beholden to the development community,” said Jeanine Lawson, a former Stewart campaign volunteer. “It’s a disappointment because I thought he was principled on the issue.”
The project’s developers, District-based Roadside Development, contributed $10,000 to Stewart’s campaign account in the past couple of years, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, or VPAP, which tracks money in politics.
In recent years, Stewart has greatly increased his totals from real estate and construction interests, according to VPAP. From that sector, Stewart raised $308,782 in 2010 and 2011, compared with $134,901 from 2003 through 2009.
Back in the old days, Stewart prided himself on not taking developer money. That was then and this is now. The most cursory glance at VPAP tells the story. Cory Stewart is running on developer money. He even says:
“Some of that comes with the maturity of being in office and having to govern,” he said of his shift on development issues. “When you become chairman, you get a broader perspective. You understand . . . ‘We cannot provide for increased prosperity and increased job growth without promoting and helping businesses to grow.’ ”
Stewart says that in a free market, developers have a lot of latitude: “The only way is to work with [developers] and cut deals with them.” [emphasis mine]
We might as well take the man at his word. He can’t make it any plainer. He cuts deals for money. He isn’t ashamed of it and he wasn’t ashamed of Avendale, even though it allowed for high density housing in Rural Crescent. That deal was bought and paid for by football fields for a local youth sports league, the Grizzlies. They even performed for the Board of Supervisors.
Stewart jumps on whatever bandwagon seems popular at the moment. Borden provides us with examples of Stewart has waxing poetic about guarding the rural setting in PWC:
When Stewart ran for Occoquan supervisor in 2003, among the qualifications he listed on a campaign flier was “Refuses to take money from developers.”
In an October 2006 Washington Post article on a campaign debate, Stewart blamed developers for virtually every problem the county confronted — traffic jams and dwindling open space, among them.
“If developers do not pay for development, you do,” he said at the forum.
In explaining his decision to run for chairman, Stewart told The Post at the time, “I looked around and saw all this development and said, ‘This is ridiculous.’ ”
Then there were his fliers and ads, wholly effective, say observers. “Make a developer mad,” one campaign flier read. “Uncontrolled growth is clogging our roads and destroying our way of life,” another said.
Then along came the immigration issue. Suddenly Corey Stewart sounded very much like Mr. Tough Guy, wanting to put every single “Illegal” in jail and run them out of the county. He milked that issue for all it was worth, including suing ICE. He then moved on to Tea Party issues and he made a brief cameo appearance opposing “Obamacare,” the entire time also trying to raise funds for his Rule of Law Campaign which was more illegal immigration activism. It really didn’t take off so I expect it died a quiet death.
Corey Stewart is a true political chameleon. He will hitch his star to whatever the driving force of the day is. People wanting moral flexibility should be pleased with Stewart. Those wanting consistency and focus on issues will be disappointed, as many of the people engaged in land use activism have been. They know that Stewart would sell the Rural Crescent for 30 pieces of developer silver in a heart beat. They need to be aware, however, that should a better offer come along, Corey will be out of here like a speeding jackrabbit, on to the next deal. If you care about a guy sticking to his principles, perhaps he isn’t your man.
Too good to resist this article! Good job Moon 😉
Yes, it sure was, Elena. Checkout my FB page. 😉
Saw it Laf!
I have nothing to do with Stewart, but for some reason,
whenever I read about him, I cringe.
Stewart – Prince William County’s Romney. There is no “there” there.
GAG!
Love it!
” If you care about a guy sticking to his principles, perhaps he isn’t your man.” PERHAPS!!??
Snicker….enjoy the queen of understatement.
“Stewart says that in a free market, developers have a lot of latitude: “The only way is to work with [developers] and cut deals with them.” [emphasis mine]”
Stewart is living in a fantasy world if he thinks there is a free market. Our markets are regulated and politically distorted every which way. He cuts deals with developers to get their money. Pure and simple. He’s a complete sell out.
A free market exists when all costs of producing a product (for example, residential housing) are borne by the seller and buyer of the product. That would mean that the developer pays the full costs of roads, schools, etc. rather than just bricks, lumber, fixtures, etc. of building a residential unit. A potential buyer looks at the product and the price and determines if they want to make the purchase. If the buyer chooses to purchase the house, townhouse, condo or whatever at a price that generates a profit the developer considers acceptable a free exchange takes place. If the potential buyer is unwilling to pay a price that covers all costs and makes a reasonable profit for the developer, no exchange takes place and the residential units don’t get built.
This process represents free, voluntary transactions, which is nothing but ECON 101 and what proponents of the “free market” claim to support. It’s how true free markets allocate resources efficiently.
The problem is that the real estate market does not work in any way similar to a “free market” in Prince William County. What takes place here is what economists call “rent seeking” activity. A developer figures that they can’t make any money by charging a price that reflects ALL costs. In fact, they might not sell anything by doing that.
The developers’ solution is to pay off local elected officials through campaign contributions, and other perks and benefits, to get them to pass off much of the cost to the taxpayers. A few thousand dollars of campaign contributions to ensure you get a friendly elected Board of Supervisors is far cheaper than paying for all of the costs your projects generate. With massive taxpayer subsidies, you can now reduce your price, sell boatloads of new units, make tons of profit, and get out of town while taxpayers are forced to pay and suffer a deteriorating quality of life.
An even cursory review of most of our supervisors’ campaign finance histories on VPAP reveals this to be precisely the system employed here.
Note also that in such a system elected officials sometimes refuse to support the tax increases required to pay for the subsidies they approved for their developer supporters, while blustering that they are “fighting for the taxpayer!” Thus, instead of a higher tax bill citizens get increasingly overcrowded schools and congested roads, no new parks, etc. In a true “free market” where buyers and sellers bear the full costs of the product being exchanged neither raising taxes nor reducing the quality of public services is necessary.
The system for land development in place in Prince William County is in no way, shape or form a “free market.” It’s best described as crony capitalism and influence peddling. Any politician who describes this system as a “free market” is either a blatant liar or an economic illiterate.
Great exchange between you and Blue Moon! The problem NTK, is that citizens buy that load of BS and people like us are accused of NOT supporting commercial development and being tree huggers, or worse, communists 😉
@Elena
You are absolutely right. Our main problem is that economics is complicated. Understanding economic issues does not lend itself to sound-bites. I have confidence in people’s ability to understand but concerns about their willingness. Someone gets home from work, takes care of their kids, is tired, and feels more like watching “American Idol” than informing themselves on land use economics and tax policy in Prince William County.
Along come some well-spoken politicians who tell the voters what they want to hear out of one side of their mouth and cut deals with developers that screw over the taxpayers out of the other side of their mouth. People who speak out against all of this, as you say, are labeled tree huggers (although I see nothing wrong with wanting to preserve some trees instead of letting developers bulldoze them all down because it’s cheaper to develop forested land that way) or worse and marginalized. We don’t have tens of thousands of developer dollars to buy media and get the truth out, so people vote for the smiley politician whom they see in the nice photo with their family, or even worse standing in the woods claiming to support conservation also.
In the end, we have congestion, dense development that reduces everyone’s quality of life, higher taxes, declining education standards, etc., etc., etc. Developers make out like bandits and, along with the politicians they helped elect, send their kids to private schools and live in gated communities.
Welcome to Prince William County.
Part of the problem is the “real men love asphalt and concrete” mentality. Grass and trees are seen by some as sissy and unproductive.
I laugh when some of our contributors talk about doing away with National Parks, State Parks and other govt. owned properties. Instantly I think of Sedona, AZ. Sedona is red rock country. There is no better place to see the ugly underbelly of capitalism than there. The minute a corporation buys up a canyon and builds a fancy gorgeous resort, all of a sudden the place becomes inaccessible to the common man who doesn’t have $500 a night to spend.
Can you say gated community? http://www.enchantmentresort.com/?gclid=COr8s761r68CFYbe4AoddD5Hlw
Most areas are similar to Prince Billy Bob.
I can’t think of many places are are really “free market.” I am not sure why they should be. don’t we come together as a community to do what is best for communities?
Somehow, accepting money from developers, whether it was in the old days of the railroads or todays political campaigns is sleazy, regardless of place or time.
“The system for land development in place in Prince William County is in no way, shape or form a “free market.” It’s best described as crony capitalism and influence peddling. Any politician who describes this system as a “free market” is either a blatant liar or an economic illiterate.”
Well said NTK. However, in the case of Corey Stewart, I think it is both rather than an either/or.
“The problem NTK, is that citizens buy that load of BS and people like us are accused of NOT supporting commercial development and being tree huggers, or worse, communists ”
Elena, on target, as usual. However, a wise man once told me that in the end, it may turn out that the burdens of freedom will prove to be too great for the majority.
I think history shows that while the human spirit always yearns for freedom, in society most of us are more than willing to trade some of that freedom for civilization.
In politics, alas, most of the time, most of the people are fooled by soundbites and pretty photos, as NTK mentions, but, and therefore, we end us with the government we deserve because the price of civic involvement is too great for most people to bear. You and M-H are clearly exceptions to that generalization. You carry your civic involvement with grace and honor.
Stewart continues to be a legend in his own mind. If we could buy him for what he is worth and sell him for what he thinks he is worth, we could pay off the national debt.
Why thank you Blue Moon!
@Blue Moon
Thank you very much for the kind words.