April 25: Citizens beware! Hostile take-over!

MoonHowler

hostile

If anyone out there in Prince William County  land really believes that the fire-house primary scheduled for April 25 is an accident, I have a bridge for sale.  Life isn’t that random.  The harbingers of hostile-grab have been out there for months.  The plans have been in the process of being laid for  several years.  We have been warned time and time again.  I am just not sure who was really listening.  Some of us were.

Even if no one was listening, we should have all sat up and taken notice when a GOP candidate was eliminated from his primary because he filed his paperwork late.   Now what is the likelihood of 2 different late filings disqualifying people within the same two months in the same county?  I am just not buying it.  Essence of rat comes wafting in once again.

Look no further than the Gainesville Cartel.  Let’s face it, the contenders for supervisor wouldn’t have a ghost of a chance in a general primary.  The Gainesville Cartel has been recruiting and building its contenders over the past year or so.  It starts with tearing down others and building up little-known people into something they are not.   Recruitment has been heavy handed at times.  The tearing down and destroying has been going on for quite some time.  Just follow the internet ink.

The ultimate goal is to party-bust and rid the local party of all Republicans who might be not only too moderate but also might not be under the influence as those who would see themselves as king makers.  Yes, there is some definite royal ego involved in all this political chicanery.

It’s very safe to say that voters will not be getting an independent thinker if any of the supervisor contenders are elected on April 25.  The puppetmaster will be ever-present, not far behind the candidate contenders, speaking in their ear.  Should the contenders win the fire house primary, it will almost surely end up a sweep for Democrats.  That’s just what happens when those with tea-party mentality try to take over a county.  Prince William would become a former image of itself, with  even more drastically reduced services and a leaner educational system.

I can hear the Democrats doing the heavy breathing thing, smacking their lips and salivating over the thoughts of their win.  If the supervisor-contenders pull this off, and they very well might, because of the nature of fire house primaries, then they will face a general election where all bets are off.  The Democrats  see the shady business going on with the bat-snot crazy side of the local GOP and are sitting back chuckling, waiting for the fall-out to settle.  They won’t even have to soften the  Republicans up after the hostile take over.  The local GOP will have already handled that end of things.   This election is ripe for the picking by lucky Democrats.

Meanwhile, I understand that concerned citizens have contacted the DOJ over election ….errrr…irregularities.  They should.  Something is rotten in Prince William County.

 

Judge denies the incumbents a primary

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

A judge refused Friday to overturn the Prince William County electoral board’s decision to block Republican efforts to hold primary nominating contests for several incumbent members of the Board of Supervisors.

After a court hearing, Judge Paul Sheridan said he doesn’t believe he has the authority to tell the county electoral board to reverse its position on the matter, which began when Republican party officials missed the state deadline for requesting primary elections for Prince William County board of supervisors chair Corey Stewart and three other Republican incumbents who wanted them.

“It’s not for a judge, in light of all this, to tell a political party or state and local agencies how to proceed,” said Sheridan, a retired Arlington County judge brought in to hear the case, which has roiled political waters in Prince William County.

So the incumbents have been screwed.  Perhaps just as important is the fact that the voters have been screwed. For example, I cannot vote for anyone in the fire house primary.  I don’t pass the Republican purity test.  I voted in a Democratic primary in the past 5 years.   I also voted in a Republican primary, being an Independent.  I also cannot vote because I vote absentee.  You cannot vote absentee in a firehouse primary.

It’s a sad day for both incumbents and voters.  I have no idea why the deadline was missed but it just isn’t right.  To the general public, it looks like there is some voter fraud going on.  I am not sure how, but eventually something will leak out.  I just find it incredibly strange and non-random that the targeted people have been boxed in to this situation.  I expect there will be a lot of “pew packing” at the firehouse primaries to make sure that the incumbents are ousted.

I hope if that happens that the incumbents run as independents.  I will set aside a little money to donate to their campaigns should that happen.  Fair is fair.  And this situation wasn’t fair.  I still smell a rat…a big one.

THIS IS NOT A TAX BILL

MoonHowler

The tax assessments are in for tax year 2015.  What on earth has all the hype been over.  I was expecting to have to take out a second mortgage just to be able to afford the increase.  I had been eyeing the cat food for months now, figuring I was going to have to substitute at least a couple meals a week with the stuff because of PWC’s oppressive tax burden, imposed by all those “tax and spend” supervisors.

Such is not the case.  Back to hamburger and chicken.  The sky is not falling.  My tax bill increase, if it stays at the advertised rate hovers in right around $300 per year.  That’s about $25 a month.  I think I can afford that.  Oddly enough,  the tax amounts have gone down.   The assessment statement was much more detailed this year.

2013    $1.2562

2014    $1.2212

2015    $1.1936 (advertised)

Its pretty obvious that our tax amounts have decreased.  The actual housing assessments have increased which shows growth in the county.  You always want your house to be appreciating.  PWC housing assessments have always been low, compared to what you can get on the real estate market so things are even better.

The bottom line is, my taxes will go up a little bit more than they did last year.  My house is worth more.  My taxes were fairly flat for several years after the great recession so I am really not going to complain.

However, the tea party mentality people of the county will have you believe that our current supervisors have been fleecing us for the past 8 years.  That is simply a lie.

I live in an older neighborhood, Sudley, to be specific.  My house is about 45 years old.  Sudley has held its value fairly well and most streets still look presentable.  It’s not grand living though.  If you want granite countertops you have to remodel your kitchen.  If you want 10 foot ceilings you are pretty much out of luck.   If you want mature trees, you are in tree heaven.   Some of the people squawking the most about taxes live in much fancier digs than I do.  Perhaps some of them need to return to normal living if their taxes are too high.

I have lived here a long time.  I expected my taxes to go up over the years.  They have not disappointed me.  They have.  This yearly occurrence is normal.  It is what happens.  If your taxes are too high, you either bought too much house for your income or you really shouldn’t be living in Northern Virginia.

 

Something is rotten in the County of Prince William

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

The Prince William County court case over whether primary elections should be held for board of supervisors chairman Corey Stewart and three GOP colleagues has a hearing scheduled for Friday, officials announced on Monday.

Stewart (R-At Large,) county Sheriff Glenn Hill and supervisors Martin E. Nohe (Coles) and Maureen S. Caddigan (Dumfries) filed the lawsuit last week to overturn a county electoral board decision against staging primary elections after a local party official missed a state deadline requesting that they be held.

The incumbents hope to avoid a less predictable firehouse canvass or caucus nomination that would draw fewer voters and more likely favor lesser-known opponents.

One might want to stop right here and ask one’s self who has been behind shaking all the challengers out of the woodwork.  There has been some pretty active recruiting going on for about the past year.   The three board supervisors have also been the object of picking, mimicry, cheap shots  and down-right lies for several years.

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PWC Incumbents denied a primary

MoonHowler

Insidenova.com:

The Prince William County Board of Elections, which recently switched to Democratic control, has denied a request to allow several local Republicans – including Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart and Sheriff Glen Hill – to defend their seats in the June 9 primary.

In an emergency meeting Wednesday, the three-member board met to consider whether Stewart, Hill and supervisors Maureen Caddigan, Potomac; Pete Candland, Gainesville; and Marty Nohe, Coles, could defend their seats in the state-run primary — even though the local GOP committee missed a Feb. 24 deadline to make that request to the Virginia State Board of Elections.

The three-member board, which switched from Republican to Democratic control March 1, denied the request in a 2-to-1 party line vote.

This might not sound like a big deal if you are one of the folks who isn’t part of the party faithful, but I can assure you, it is.

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Pre-election prognostications

MoonHowler

This upcoming supervisors race is getting increasingly amusing.  Some of it is very predictable.  Some of it, not so much.

I hear things. I never tell names and tales in the same breath.  It cuts off your source of information.  Information is gold to a blogger.  You can use it wisely and prudently or you can shot-gun it all over the place and blow folks out of the water.  I have seen both.  I try to follow the former rather than the latter path.

I find it laughable that the same person ran his own strong-arm candidate acquisition scam.   I think about 20 people got strong armed.  Not many people have the stomach for this game so many just said no.

It appeared that there would be one Republican candidate and one Democratic candidate for the BOCS chair.  Then along came a rival, yapping at Corey heels.  I question the wisdom of  Candland support so early in the game.  That sends a clear message to the current chairman that Pete Candland is an adversary and doesn’t plan to work with Corey at all.  Candland might as well have declared war.  Why would you want to send that message, just out of curiosity?  Is that smart to show your cards that early in the game to someone of the same party, sitting on the same board?

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Budget work session part 2: untelevised at Buckhall Fire Department

MoonHowler

buckhall

The next budget work session will be this coming Saturday at the Buckhall Fire Department on Yates Ford Road.  It will probably be a  lot more comfortable and a lot more homelike for the supervisors and staff.  I am not so sure it will reach more people.  In fact, I am betting it reaches fewer.

The session cannot be broadcast.  The only possible broadcast must be from the board chambers.  The meeting cannot be changed back to the chambers because it has already been advertised for the Buckhall Fire Department.

I felt the session last Saturday was very informative.  Even though the session ended early because of the horrible weather, I felt like I was coming away with a lot better knowledge of how the county worked.  I am so sorry the decision was made to hold part 2 in another location.

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Who’s the wealthiest of them all?

MoonHowler

From Forbes:

Rank County State Median Household Income
1 Loudoun County Virginia
$117,876
2 Howard County Maryland
$108,844
3 Fairfax County Virginia
$107,096
4 Hunterdon County New Jersey
$105,186
5 Arlington County Virginia
$100,474
6 Stafford County Virginia
$97,606
7 Putnam County New York
$96,223
8 Somerset County New Jersey
$95,825
9 Douglas County Colorado
$95,324
10 Morris County New Jersey
$95,294
11 Montgomery County Maryland
$94,965
12 Prince William County Virginia
$93,744
13 Nassau County New York
$93,214
14 Santa Clara County California
$91,425
15 Charles County Maryland
$90,880

Prince William County is #12. That’s not too shabby. Half the households make more than $93,744 annually and half make less. Loudoun, of course, puts us to shame with a top median household income of nearly $118,000 per year.

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School Board needs to hold BOCS’ feet to the fire

MoonHowler

feet

Bristowbeat.com:

The Prince William County School Board gave the Superintendent guidance on preparing a budget that would explore cuts to discretionary programs, Wednesday, but would fund teacher salary increases and class size reductions across one grade level in the district.

In discussion, the proposal to eliminate full-day kindergarten proved to be unpopular amongst board members. School Board members were also unhappy about eliminating specialty programs, but nonetheless agreed to review them along with other discretionary programs. 

Back in December, the Board of County Supervisor’s provided its own budget guidance to the County Executive. They asked her to create the county’s Fiscal Year 16 [FY16] budget based on a tax increase of 1.3 percent, rather than the 4 percent tax increase prescribed by the board’s five-year plan.

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Cheap-ass BOCS antics threaten all-day kindergarten

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

Prince William County’s schools enrollment boom has outpaced the growth of the district’s budget for years, a quandary exacerbated by the recession. Class sizes have ballooned. Bus service has been cut. Per-pupil spending has flattened.

Faced with the prospect of the county’s enacting a smaller than planned increase in the property tax rate, the school board has again begun weighing drastic cuts, this time to the district’s treasured universal full-day kindergarten program, which Superintendent Steven L. Walts once touted as his “greatest accomplishment.” After years of cutbacks, board members said there are few places left to look to save money.

“It’s more of an economic calculation than an educational calculation,” said school board Chairman Milton C. Johns (At Large), who has championed the expansion of the program. “We’re out of options.”

So this is what it comes down to?  The BOCS needs to stop trying to “out-Republican” each other and do the right and responsible thing.  Cutting new funding back to a $12 million increase is not the right and responsible thing to do when PWC gets approximately 2000 new students per year.

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When good people won’t run….

MoonHowler

This morning when I check  in to Facebook.com, I saw some very sad news from Prince William County School Board Chairman Milt Johns.  Let me first off say that Mr. Johns is a Republican.  He and I have very different political views.  In fact, on some of them, we would probably stand toe to toe and scream at each other.  Mr. Johns, however, was the school board chair.  Those issues that we vehemently disagree on would have rarely come up.  I also don’t know Mr. Johns personally.  We have met professionally, before I retired.   Milt Johns’ press release:

 

For Immediate Release

After months of prayer, reflection, and discussions with my family, I have decided that I will not seek re-election as Chairman at Large of the Prince William County School Board in 2015. When my term ends at midnight on December 31, 2015, I will have spent nearly a quarter of my life serving on the Prince William County School Board. It is time for me to focus on other matters, including my family and my law practice. I do expect to continue to have …a role supporting Prince William County Schools and in local political activities.

 

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Chairman Stewart prioritizes quality of life issues and education

MoonHowler

corey

Insidenova.com:

Saying Prince William County residents are more concerned about overcrowded classrooms than their annual real-estate taxes, Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart proposed a change in local tax policy Tuesday that would focus more on raising needed revenue for schools and county services and less on capping tax hikes.

Stewart, R-At Large, floated the idea during a joint meeting of the county Board of Supervisors and School Board held at the Edward L. Kelly Leadership Center.

Pointing to the recent two-year county survey, as well as a separate survey his office conducted for political purposes, Stewart said increasing traffic congestion and school overcrowding are more immediate concerns for many residents than taxes.

“Regardless of your political stripes, people are more concerned about their quality of life at home than they are about keeping tax bills so low, I mean 30 percent lower than in Fairfax and Loudoun counties,” Stewart said. “There’s a price we are paying for that.”

Thanks goodness Corey Stewart sees that going on the cheap just isn’t a winning ticket for Prince William County.  He is correct.  Quality of life issues and education are important to the people of Prince William County.  People want more parks and open space, smaller classrooms, better roads, and  responsive public safety.

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County Employee, Ray Utz, Arrested

Elena

hello ladies utz

For those of us who heard the stories, who knew of the myriad of complaints that had been filed against Ray Utz, the common mantra today has been this…..”Wow, I am shocked but not surprised”

There use to be several women in the Planning dept several years ago, but. one by one they left until there were none.  I believe there is now one woman, and she is a secretary. Too many people in leadership positions were aware of these complaints, and yet, nothing was done. All were deemed “unfounded” and so the women left and Ray Utz stayed.

Here is the story from Inside Nova:

Raymond Utz, the second-in-command of the Prince William County Planning Department, has been arrested after police say he exposed himself to women while driving.

Utz, 49, was the county’s assistant planning director since January. Before that, he served 11 years as the county’s chief of long range planning. County spokesman Jason Grant said Utz is no longer employed by Prince William County, but would not comment on whether he was fired or resigned.

Utz was arrested Wednesday, Nov. 19, after two reported incidents of indecent exposure, one in Woodbridge and the other in Lake Ridge.

Just before noon, police were called after a 38-year-old woman reported that a man in a black Honda CRV lowered his passenger side window while both drivers were stopped on Gideon Drive and Smoketown Road.

“At that point, the victim noticed that the driver was exposing himself and making an obscene sexual display,” Prince William police spokesman Jonathan Perok said.

The victim was able to provide officers with the Honda’s license plate number, which was registered to Utz.

 

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The Leonids: Fauquier kicks Prince William’s booty

MoonHowler

leonids

Prince William Times:

When:: Nov. 15, 7 to 11 p.m.
Where: C.M. Crockett Park, 10066 Rogues Road, outside Nokesville
Fee: $6 per car
What to bring: Warm clothes

Grab a warm coat and get ready to enjoy the excellent horizons from C.M. Crockett Park outside Nokesville, the perfect stage for the 2014 Leonid Meteor Shower.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac forecast expects 10 comets per hour this year, and a new moon allows for the best visibility of the annual shower, which has been a true crowd-pleaser since 1833.

The park, set away from bright lights, competes only with the lights of Manassas, and a little disruption from the Warrenton-Fauquier Airport.

The park is just across the Fauquier border, about 10 minutes from Nokesville.

The moon factors into a viewer’s ability to glimpse the meteors, and last year the full moon ruined the visibility. This November, however, the new moon provides ultimate viewing conditions. However, the forecast remains the wild card.

The Leonids show up annually and seem to emanate from the constellation Leo. No howling over the cost even from these quarters.  At least Fauquier is doing SOMETHING.  I had asked for years to have an event like this in Prince William County, specifically at Silver Lake.  I was told that I would have to pay for security.   That cost is a deal breaker.  $6 looks like a real bargain.

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Pepe le Pew invades MY habitat

MoonHowler

pepe

A freaking skunk must live under my front porch.  I can always smell it.  When it snowed all last winter, something would dig out no matter how much we blocked the entrance.  We could see the track leading to under the porch.

My neighbor told me he saw a skunk go under there.  I thought he was daft.  Now my nose confirms that my neighbor must have been right.

We used to have pest control here in Prince William County.  I have had them pull sick raccoons out of my shed, and investigate invading pests of other kinds.  Now I am told they will not come and remove the skunk.

Private pest control wants a fortune to even come out.  I am not even sure my unwanted guest is there during the day.  I suspect he sleeps during the day and prowls at night.

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