Captain Flip Flop, this is your life Corey Stewart!

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]

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War Museum Status: What you see is NOT what you will get

Several folks have asked about the status of the War Museum. Need to Know, a regular contributor at Moonhowlings.net  has been following this initiative and has kindly offered his findings for a thread:

 

[Disclaimer: All guest posts are the opinion of the poster and do not necessarily represent the views of moonhowlings.net administration. M-H]

 

Regarding the proposed War Museum:

The land belongs currently to the Hyltons. They are “donating” it but the package the BOCS will consider October 5 includes new development rights that will benefit the Hyltons. They, Stewart and their proponents are waving the flag for a museum to honor veterans to garner support but it’s nothing more than a land deal to benefit special interests and campaign contributors. The “donation” of land will not go through unless the BOCS approves the entire package.

The staff report can be found at:

http://www.pwcgov.org/planning/documents/PLN2010-00379.pdf

Note that this staff report reads like a promotional brochure for the project, lacking any semblance of due diligence and analysis as to whether the project is in the interests of PWC taxpayers or not.

A few more details:

The supporters state that the project will need $50 million and that they will raise all of that from private sources. Note, however, that after allegedly working on development of the project for nearly a decade they have, as of the last Form 990 filing, less than $1 million in real assets. Form 990 is the annual tax filing required by the IRS for non-profit organizations. You can see them by clicking on this link:

http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/PubApps/showVals.php?ft=bmf&ein=200008915

The 2009 Form 990 shows total assets of a little over $4 million, but over $3 million of that is in the form of pledges and grants receivable that their statements have carried for at least two years. It’s not real money.

There’s not a chance in h*** they are going to be able to raise enough money, especially in an economy such as we have now, to build this thing without extensive taxpayer support.

 

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