|
|
|
| Fri, Nov. 20 - - Mobile - RSS | |
|
|
Stafford County News and NotesBy Jonas Beals
Nov. 11, 2009 9:09 am
Final campaign finance reports for the year are due Dec. 3, so I'll get to those when they come out. There is, however, one more donation to tally since the last reports were due. Gary Snellings received $1,500 from the REALTORs Political Action Committee of Virginia on Oct. 29. There it is. More campaign finance info to come in about a month.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=55&p=1257948570
Nov. 3, 2009 12:05 pm
Candidates still report large donations, even after the final campaign finance reports came in on Oct. 26. Here's what the registrar's office gave me yesterday: Gary Snellings: $1,250 in donations
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=55&p=1257267956
Oct. 28, 2009 4:52 pm
New campaign finance reports were posted on October 26. Please keep in mind that all the numbers listed below represent cash donations and do not include in-kind donations. Expenses are also not included, but rest assured that the candidates are spending this money on something. This is the final campaign finance update before the election on November 3. Funds raised between October 1 and October 21 of 2009 (number of donations in parenthesis):
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=55&p=1256763153
Oct. 21, 2009 2:19 pm
New campaign finance reports were posted on October 15. Please keep in mind that all the numbers listed below represent cash donations and do not include in-kind donations. Expenses are also not included, but rest assured that the candidates are spending this money on something. Funds raised between September 1 and September 30 of 2009 (number of donations in parenthesis):
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=55&p=1256149160
Oct. 14, 2009 4:35 pm
No local government race would be complete without the standard accusations of sign-stealing, sign-switching and straight-up sign removal. The Aquia Supervisor contest has all that and more. Paul Milde and Paul Ortiz have taken those shenanigans from the roadside to the information superhighway. Ortiz recently purchased two internet domain names--veteransformilde.com and veteransformilde.org--and Milde is not amused. This sort of domain poaching has happened plenty of times before, including this incident we covered two years ago. There are some important differences this time around. First of all, any person even thinking of running for office should immediately buy their desired domain names. This is common knowledge these days and is something Milde and Ortiz are both aware of. Second, Ortiz did not swipe paulmilde.com, Milde's official campaign site. Nor did Ortiz buy paulmilde.org or paulmilde.net, both of which are available. He bought the "veteransformilde" domains, which Milde said he had no intention of ever buying or using.
"He's intentionally trying to confuse the public by using the same colors and the same words," Ortiz said before pointing out that Milde has no military experience. "I know thousands of veterans who support me," Milde said. "He doesn't have the rights to votes of all veterans." When asked why he would purchase domain names that haven't been made public and likely never will, Ortiz said "probably because everyone else does it. If you don't, your opponent possesses all those internet addresses. It's an effort to ensure that if you want to talk about veterans in this county, vets4ortiz is the way to go." Milde responded to the same question by saying "I think it's underhanded. He's trying to trick people into coming to his website. It's just childish and disappointing." Both men feel their opponent's actions show a lack of integrity. Irene Egan, the other candidate in the race, has managed to avoid the fracas. Her website is ireneegan.net.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=55&p=1255552544
Oct. 14, 2009 4:35 pm
No local government race would be complete without the standard accusations of sign-stealing, sign-switching and straight-up sign removal. The Aquia Supervisor contest has all that and more. Paul Milde and Paul Ortiz have taken those shenanigans from the roadside to the information superhighway. Ortiz recently purchased two internet domain names--veteransformilde.com and veteransformilde.org--and Milde is not amused. This sort of domain poaching has happened plenty of times before, including this incident we covered two years ago. There are some important differences this time around. First of all, any person even thinking of running for office should immediately buy their desired domain names. This is common knowledge these days and is something Milde and Ortiz are both aware of. Second, Ortiz did not swipe paulmilde.com, Milde's official campaign site. Nor did Ortiz buy paulmilde.org or paulmilde.net, both of which are available. He bought the "veteransformilde" domains, which Milde said he had no intention of ever buying or using.
"He's intentionally trying to confuse the public by using the same colors and the same words," Ortiz said before pointing out that Milde has no military experience. "I know thousands of veterans who support me," Milde said. "He doesn't have the rights to votes of all veterans." When asked why he would purchase domain names that haven't been made public and likely never will, Ortiz said "probably because everyone else does it. If you don't, your opponent posesses all those internet addresses. It's an effort to ensure that if you want to talk about veterans in this county, vets4ortiz is the way to go." Milde responded to the same question by saying "I think it's underhanded. He's trying to trick people into coming to his website. It's just childish and dissappointing." Both men feel their opponent's actions show a lack of integrity. Irene Egan, the other candidate in the race, has managed to avoid the fracas. Her website is ireneegan.net.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=55&p=1255552526
Oct. 13, 2009 4:24 pm
Looks like Lorraine Gardener is making good on her promises. Gardner's house abuts the famed SPCA property off Andrew Chapel Road. She was perhaps the most vocal opponent of the project and during public hearings suggested that she would file lawsuits if the SPCA was approved. It was approved, and she did. Today. Against the Board of Supervisors. I don't have details on the suit, but I understand it challenges the county's newspaper advertisement of the conditional use permit. Pretty typical for a lawsuit against the board/county.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=55&p=1255465490
Oct. 12, 2009 3:43 pm
Ever since Paul Ortiz declared his candidacy for Aquia District supervisor, I've gotten calls and emails alleging that he violated the Hatch Act. I never dismiss rumors out of hand, but some are easier to verify than others. I've probably gotten more anonymous messages and emails on Ortiz's campaign than any other, so I went to the source. The two issues I've heard about involve 1) a donation from a company that Ortiz does business with in his government job and 2) being endorsed by the Stafford Democratic Committee. Ortiz didn't want to get too involved in specifics, but he did say that he's had to face these allegations. He did not specify what agency contacted him. "There is no violation of the Hatch Act, that has been decided upon," he said. "An agency was contacted and they've contacted me. They have said that there is no violation." Ortiz has been endorsed by the Stafford Democratic Committee, but an endorsement in itself does not violate the Hatch Act. "They identified me as their choice," Ortiz said. "I'm not allowed to say they're endorsing me. That's their call, not mine." He further stated that he has legal counsel on hand to advise him on all aspects of his campaign and that he "has not received any donations from corporations."
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=55&p=1255376625
Oct. 7, 2009 1:28 pm
After a lengthy public hearing last night, the Stafford Board of Supervisors failed to approve an updated comprehensive plan. The 4—3 vote against approval was the final blow for a plan that was in the works for three and a half years. Every supervisor I spoke to after the meeting was pleased with the "core" of the plan, and felt that it would eventually pass without major changes. There were enough smaller issues to cause concern, however, and a majority of the board felt they needed more time to work out the details. Check tomorrow's paper for more details.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=55&p=1254936493
Sep. 21, 2009 11:05 am
The Virginia Public Access Project, a nonprofit organization that tries to make campaign finance information readily available to Virginia citizens (read about them here) has added Stafford County to their list of local elections they track. It's part of their "Local Elections Initiative," and you can see all the covered cities/counties here.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=55&p=1253545531
Sep. 17, 2009 11:42 am
New campaign finance reports were posted on Sep. 15. Please keep in mind that all the numbers listed below represent cash donations and do not include in-kind donations. Expenses are also not included, but rest assured that the candidates are spending this money on something. Funds raised between July 1 and Aug 31 of 2009 (number of donations in parenthesis): Funds raised between July 1 2008 and Aug 31 2009 (number of donations in parenthesis):
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=55&p=1253202126
Sep. 17, 2009 10:22 am
While much of the time and attention at Tuesdsay's board meeting was devoted to the SPCA, there were a few other items that might be of interest to Stafford residents. 1) The other public hearing of the evening considered rezoning a parcel of land just south of the new Stafford Hospital Center from A-1 to B-2. The 53-acre parcel is can be found at 75 Old Potomac Church Road. The planning Commission recommended approval, as did staff, and it seems the proposed uses were consistent with county plans for development in the area--offices, retail and medical offices. Supervisors voted 6-1 to approve the project, with Woodson voting against. The only thing that seemed to hang up the process (and only very briefly, at that) was a somewhat intricate buildout plan that required multiple roads being built for ingress/egress, including a possible four-lane intersection with Rt. 1 south of the skating rink at full build-out. 2) Supervisors once again discussed a bylaw revision that would make it more difficult for board members to vote on an issue if they have received an associated campaign donation. Also known as the "bribery" issue. By me. When we last saw the board acting on this item, they passed an Ockham's-Razor version proposed by Cord Sterling. Joe Brito brought it back up and County Attorney Joe Howard worked on a catch-all version. All versions can be ogled here. The version that passed was the one originally proposed by George Schwartz two meetings ago. The language is lifted from Loudoun County and mostly deals with donations from entities that could benefit from land-use decisions. It passed 5-2, with Milde and Brito voting against. 3) For those keeping score, 52 people spoke during the SPCA public hearing. 34 were in favor of the CUP, 18 were not.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=55&p=1253197349
|
What do you think?
If you would like to post a comment about this blog, please log in.
You can use your FredTalk user name and password here. If you don't have one yet,
REGISTER Now...
Contact News and Notes from Stafford County.
Tags:
2009 Supervisors Race (1)
Blog Roll
|
Jonas Beals is the Stafford County reporter for The Free Lance-Star.
 |
|||
|
|||
