Wow! Check out what Joe Budzinski has dug up on Andrea McGimsey. She has been the Executive Director of something called the Climate Prosperity Project, Inc. based in St. Louis (no not, the little St. Louis in western Loudoun County, but the big one in Missouri!) since June with apparently no one knowing about it. Any mention of it on her official Loudoun County bio? Of course not. There she is listed as owning an internet consulting firm. Is that really dealing with internet issues, or is it dealing with more of this climate change stuff? Who are her clients and are there any conflicts there? Why the secrecy? Does this explain her recent absences from doing BOS business and her never being prepared for anything other than county energy discussions? There are no smoking conflict of interest guns available right now, but the potential for having such conflicts is huge. That this job wasn’t publicly announced here in Loudoun County smacks of the kind of cozy relationships and back door dealings that the environmental crowd accused the last BOS of.
As an example of a future conflict – will she be participating in discussions and voting on the new power plant proposed near Leesburg? How can she profess to have an open mind when she is the paid Executive Director of an organization dedicated to a “carbon free future”? That plant will burn natural gas, and while it is being hailed by many in the environmental community as a great leap forward for recycling wastewater, using natural gas as fuel instead of coal, and producing energy locally, it is not green enough for some.
This also takes me back to the botched Journey Through Hallowed Ground mess (I wish I could link to my old post, but it has gone where the rest of the TC archives have gone) where she pushed through funding for “hospitality training” out of sequence, winning a contentious 5-4 vote, that probably would have been 8-1 if proper procedure was followed. The given reason for the breach of protocol was that it was for the right reasons and for the right people. Is that why the county energy plan is being pushed through now? It doesn’t matter because it’s for the right reason and the right people? Is this being pushed through for the good of Loudoun County or to further feather McGimsey’s green nest? Unbelievable.
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Dec 07th by Loudoun Insider
The enviro progressives are seeking to rake the taxpayer over the coals through this nonsense science they started decades ago. How much has Loudoun wasted on “green” initiatives to do our part in global warming, another hoax taxpayers have been fleeced with… The McGimsey enviro type will stop at nothing until they have control over all power, the EPA just ruled Carbon Dioxide as a pollutant – to circumvent the legislative process. These poeple will stop at nothing to usurp your liberty for their political, and now we see with McGimsey, financial gain.
I’ll say first that I favor anything that will curb the county’s finances. If that eliminates old technology to make strides in dropping energy uses by the county, and using renewables to do the same job, I’m on board. The fiscal conservative in me wants to see those hard numbers that say that the cost of using those renewables does not exceed the cost of doing nothing. In other words, if we use the same amount of money to switch to those renewables that the old fixtures would have cost the county over a 10 year period anyway, then it isn’t fiscally responsible to move ahead…because the money is being spent with no improvement in a desired time period, and the finances of the County would be better used on something with an immediate impact to cutting costs.
This sciolism (and often deliberate misinformation) by the climate change crowd is deeply disturbing.
As for the Andrews’ venture, Andrea has voiced her area of concern as the transition area …not the degree of “green”. I’ve sit with her on a number of occasions and told her that “green” is not a switch that you flip. You show Andrews’ project as a financially viable alternative in order to let capitalism take hold, and let other ventures jump into the game to compete for higher levels of “green”, thereby jump-starting the march towards the dream. I specifically coined it as “baby steps” instead of ginat leaps.
LI, I honestly don’t believe that McGimsey HAS a “company”, since it only ever appeared on her campaign lit (CEO of Sidewalks and Cyberspace Inc., an internet consulting firm—with no website) as such, and in her old staff bio on the PEC site as follows:
“Andrea McGimsey is the field director for eastern Loudoun County, working with her suburban neighbors to craft a positive future for our communities while protecting our natural resources, rural economy, and historic treasures. She came to PEC through her work on the Campaign to Save Courtland Woods and years of citizen activism in eastern Loudoun. Andrea is a graduate of MIT and holds a masters degree from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in interactive media. Her professional experience in digital and traditional media span the corporate and nonprofit sectors from producing The Wall Street Journal CD-ROM to professional stage work at Shakespeare & Company. PEC’s new sidewalks & cyberspace strategy came out of Andrea’s five years of experience working in interactive marketing and strategic development at America Online and her training with the Wellstone Foundation. Andrea is a former member of the Sterling Volunteer Fire Department, where she was awarded Administrative Member of the Year in 2003 for raising $80,000 in FEMA and corporate grants. Andrea performs 18th century dancing with the Living History Foundation and has appeared in the August Court Day Trials in Leesburg.”
IOW, it was was PEc called the Campaign for Loudoun’s Future, that little netroots political endeavor where she was just a “concerned citizen” on the record in 2004, and didn’t appear in this bio/staff format until mid-05, after the 990s for 04 were filed, which showed that the “concerned citizen” was paid $65K in total salary and compensation in 2004 as one of the top five highest paid of PEC’s employees (along with Stewart Schwartz of the Coalition for Smarter Growth), for running the Campaign for Loudoun’s Future.
She may TRADE as Sidewalks and Cyberspace Inc, but I bet she only has one or two clients! lol
p.s.–I’m referring to her bio in the linked info on the MO group, where she is listed as a Supervisor and President of her own company—which I take to mean her Sidewalks and Cyberspace “strategy”.
So who are clients? She should be forced to provide a full list, and heaven help her if it includes anyone connected to this energy plan nonsense.
I meant to say who are her clients above. Barbara, what is the MO group, and where can we find more information on her company?
According to this WaPo candidate bio from 07, she is president of “Sidewalks and Cyberspace”:
http://loudounextra.washingtonpost.com/elections/candidates/53/
If you can find a website for it, please link to it, because I’ve never been able to find one, which I find fairly amusing for a supposed internet firm!
Seriously, please have at it and post whatever you find–I am a devout student of people who excel in bogus credentialing, and I smell a lesson here somewhere.
The ONLY reference I’ve ever found for her being compensated for anything referenced as “sidewalks and cyberspace” is that old staff bio that calls it a strategy she developed for PEC.
I’ve been through their 990s, which show a lot of interesting things (like most recently shuffling money from one charitable organization to another under the same umbrella in order to loan it at 3% to a director who used to be Kaine’s appointee to the CTB), but it doesn’t specify to whom they paid about $50K for internet services.
No breakdown of smaller expenditures.
Smaller.
lolol
McGimsey needs to provide a full accounting of her consulting services. This reminds me of the Snow-Dietze situation, only I guess this time it’s OK since these are the “right” people!
Wow, and they gave Scott York and Steve Snow grief for their jobs and now this? Seems very, very hypocritical to me.
Tips are rolling in on this.
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In this power point presentation, McGimsey is listed as a Senior Fellow of Global Urban Development, which is associated with the Clinton Global Initiative: http://www.co.new-castle.de.us/countycouncil/home/fileuploads/images/keynote%20climate%20prosperity%20delaware.pdf
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She then goes on to spend most of the presentation touting the Loudoun County Energy Plan and herself as Chairman of the Energy Committee. Someone explain to me why that isn’t a conflict.
There’s a direct link to the Climate Prosperity Project on the Global Urban Development website: http://www.globalurban.org/
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And Delaware, where that presentation was given, is one of the Climate Prosperity Project’s pilot communities.
Please review the Code of Ethics, particularly #8.
http://www.loudoun.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=312&fmpath=/Code of Ethics
Birdie, Perhaps Andrea needs to consult the County Attorney? How do we know that she didn’t?
Pretty interesting, but Virginia’s conflict of interest laws are so vague and general, that even if McGimsey voted to give County money to this group (say, under contract), there would be no conflict- – unless McGimsey was the sole employee or consultant to benefit from the contract. Under state law, she only has to recuse herself from voting in things that financially benefit her. We all knew she was an enviro extremist anyway, so what’s the big deal here, except she’s just keeping it quiet?
She may not be violating the State conflict of interest laws, which are totaly inadequate, but she certainly looks to be violating the Code of Ethics she signed.
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Here’s Code #8 mentioned above:
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“Avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest. A member should recuse himself or herself from participating in deliberations or voting on issues which might be interpreted as questionable or borderline conflicts of interest, and which might be perceived as rendering direct personal or professional gain for himself or herself or for family members. If a Board member desires to vote on a questionable issue, he/she should seek the opinion of the County Attorney and made the opinion public before the vote in question”
That is verbatim above – I went into the comment editor to make “professional” bold, as it is on the original. That “made” in the last sentence should also propbably be “make”.
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If using a county-paid for energy plan prepared at your direction as the centerpiece of a presentation for your day job in one of your pilot communities isn’t using that for professional gain, then I don’t know what wouldn’t be. She should no longer be involved in any official capacity with this plan and should not vote on it in my opinion.
Lets clarify this: McGimsey used a Loudoun County TAX-PAYER funded “strategic Energy Plan” to sell HERSELF professionally and her business at conferences where she attended as an employee of the Climate Prosperity Project? This is absurd!
Who was paying travel/hotel expenses for the conferences?
Is there an impeachment process for these scoundrals?
Here’s her bio from that Delaware conference:
http://www.co.new-castle.de.us/countycouncil/home/fileuploads/images/sustainable%20bldg%20symposium%20feb%2018%20speakers%20bios%2002-16-09.pdf
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Mentions her job title (different than the current one, but related) briefly then goes on and on about her duties as a Loudoun Supervisor. What was that again about using official duties to promte oneself professionally???
An elected official is environmentally conscious??? Oh, the humanity! Don’t care… How about doing investigative journalism on something of substance, such as a “family values” politician who has divided his family between a residence in Fairfax and a residence in Loudoun…
Buffy, are you recycling the old canard about Delgaudio?
Or mistaking Miller’s move to Oak Grove?
Speaking of moving, Ms. McGimsey did to run in Potomac.
She still owns property in Dulles, although it seems she has been added to the deed of the property listed as her Potomac residence.
This is more than being “environmentally conscious”.
And funny, I see she now used to be “senior management” at AOL?
She USED to used to be interactive marketing.
Wow, this is some amazing stuff.
Where is the outrage from Mike Larris and his Washington Post muckrakers?
Should not this be the subject on a Post-inspired FBI investigation.
The double standards and hypocracy are just amazing.
Buffy, I brought that issue up myself. I am quite certain that if there were proof provided to the MSM that they would run with it in a heartbeat. This job was up to those running against him, and they obviously didn’t produce.
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I am all for supervisors being environmentally conscious, and I encourage it. But this is a whole other can of worms. There are clear conflicts present in this instance.
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Why is it that the two most liberal supervisors are also the two with the most obvious conflicts -Kelly Burk working for LCPS and now this?
“Why is it that the two most liberal supervisors are also the two with the most obvious conflicts -”
You know the answer to that. They are smarter than you and they KNOW without a hitch what is in your best interest….even if you already know!! So, they may have to tell you a few untruths to get you onboard, but so what? In the end, they took care of it, even if it was misrepresented.
It is the very definition of a liberal.
1) they are very generous with other people’s money, but NEVER with their own.
2) they know what’s good for you- and if you need to be lied to to make you comply, they will oblige.
3) Conflicts are what Republicans have. The rules are completely different for us –DAMN IT!!!
Virginia has the worst Conflict of Interest laws in the country. It’s embarrassing. And Richmond never wants to do anything about it.
Why do you think that is, Sassy? because they’re just as bad if not worse down there. We the people need to make ethics reform a priority before we lend our support to statewide candidates.
BVBL writes about this as well: http://www.bvbl.net/index.php/2009/12/07/global-warming-hysteria-in-loudoun-county/#comments
Interesting comment about the energy efficiency audits over there.
Wow, how quickly we forget history and turn on friends. I remember a time when Lori Waters was voting to extend utilities to the Transition Area and to gut environmental protections and to build the Western Transportation Corridor through River Creek and the Greenvest properties and to accept and process the CPAMS that were going to add 35,000 houses to the County Comp Plan and giving speeches at conventions to share all the good work she was doing with a national audience. Gee, what was Andrea McGimsey doing then? She was going door-to-door in South Riding and Leesburg and Potomac alerting people to what was happening and what it meant. And she was doing such a good job at it that the PEC hired her, the WTC got tabled, and Lori Waters began to see the light.
And I remember a time when this blog agreed with them and couldn’t wait to oust a Republican Board. And I remember a time when at least one of you believed that conservative meant conservation and started up a chapter of REP (http://www.rep.org/). A Republican group which supports climate change legislation, fancy that.
Yeah, the conflict of interest laws suck and yeah, the county is way too dependent on piggy-back contracts for consultants. The public safety radio system and the financial IT system consultants are two of the more egregious examples. But I don’t see anybody here doing more than take personal potshots. Where were all of you when Burton’s Transparency effort was being voted down? What support did you give Bob Marshall’s efforts last year? Why didn’t you hold McDonnell accountable for his conflict of interest when he refused to initiate an investigation into Plowman and the last Board? What promises for new ethics laws did you get before you threw your hat in for the new Loudoun legislators? I’m betting you didn’t get a single one.
LI2oo, you have part of it backwards: Andrea didn’t do such a good job going door to door harvesting emails that the PEc hired her.
Her fake company, Sidewalks and Cyberspace, is actually the strategy she was EMPLOYING going door to door on BEHALF of the PEC, who PAID HER to DEVELOP IT for them.
In 2004, she was publicly a “concerned citizen”.
In 2005, when the PEC filed its 2004 990 forms, she was shown to be one of their top five highest paid employees in 2004 at 65K salary and comp.
McGimsey rolled into office on fake sidewalks and cyberspace angst, crying about corrupt people with conflicts and no ethics, which is of course what she WAS PAID TO DO.
Nice apologia, but total bullshit.
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