A regular TC reader sent me this fascinating list of contractors vying for a contract to install solar power projects for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority at Reagan and Dulles airports. “Sidewalks and Cyberspace”, the sole proprietorship alias of Loudoun Supervisor Andrea McGimsey, is listed at the top of page two as a prime contractor and joint venture applicant. Can’t you just see her out there pouring the concrete and turning the bolts? Or is she a convenient front person since she is THE leader in energy issues in Loudoun County, where Dulles airport happens to be? I’d love to see a copy of her submittal, and wonder who her joint venture partners were.
The date of this list is July 13, 2009, which is during the time she was pushing the Loudoun energy plan (of course calling for more solar projects) through the BOS, and apparently during the time she was Executive Director for the Climate Prosperity Project. Does anyone wonder now why she seemingly has no time for Potomac District business? And exactly when will the full BOS finally call on her to explain herself in regard to their own Code of Ethics? Or will that never happen since she knows all the right people and this is for the right reasons?
![[Post to Twitter]](http://www.tooconservative.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter.png){kind=icon}
Feb 03rd by Loudoun Insider
LI, this would be interesting to cross-ref with the various items moving through the BoS legislative calendar to see if she voted on any airport issues while in the running for a job as a solar contractor.
If she personally is a solar contractor, I wonder how many entities are moving through the particular set of walnut shells known as Sidewalks and Cyberspace?
This could get pretty interesting!
Uh-Oh!
“Who wants to make a lot of money???” “Raise your hand!!” “HIgher, Let me see who you are???”
HMMM.
LOL….Busted!
While this is more interesting then what you’ve posted on McGimsey before, I still don’t see a conflict. Unless I”m mistaken, LoCo doesn’t fund MWAA.
So exactly what is McGimsey’s expertise in solar power, other than experience she has gained by being supervisor and travelling to all these climate change conferences on the county dime???
.
Remember, the Code of Ethics that she signed says that supervisors shall avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest and will not use their supervisor role for personal or professional gain. I await the apologists response to this one.
Yawn, our posts crossed. LoCo doesn’t fund MWAA but interacts with it. And McG is using her new found energy credentials, obtained largely on the county dime, to further her new found energy expertise in consulting and going after solar installation contracts. I think any reasoanble person would say that is using her office for professional gain. This contract proves it beyiond a doubt for me. She has no nuts and bolts expertise in this stuff as far as I can tell (remember, this is for installation!) so presumably she was part of a larger joint venture using her county role as a carrot. This stinks, and its very comparable to the Snow-Dietze and Tulloch-Hobe Mitchell connections that so many, including me and her, raged about.
Hasn’t Andrea McG spoken in favor of property tax breaks here in Loudoun if you install solar power?
Looks like McGimsey can get you tax credits and provide installation!
Wouldn’t McGimsey be on the roof installing solar panels, not pouring concrete? Did she apprentice for this work, or go straight to supervisor? (Pun intended)
McGimsey’s days are numbered. More information will flow from this (cause theres a lot more out there) and its only a matter of time before Cracker Jack Roberts recommends privately that she resign.
Loudoun Lady, if any child who grows up to be a community organizer can also be President…….
be afraid.
be very afraid.
lolol
LI if you can demonstrate a conflict, I’ll be with you. I just don’t see that yet. Neither you nor I know what McGimsey cites as her credentials. I could also view her discussing Loudoun County government efforts in some respects as her bragging about what is being accomplished in Loudoun County from an energy efficiency perspective. It might have been naive on her part, not seeing that even an innocent reference to county oriented business could be spun a different way, but I really didn’t see any mal-intent with her discussing Loudoun’s energy goals/initiatives in her professional life.
All of that said, I would like to know who her larger joint venture was with.
BTW, LI, I’d take much of this a lot more seriously if the venomous Sally Mann wasn’t behind much of it.
Please Yawn, enough with attacker the accuser. And this isn’t just about conflict of interest, it’s about the Board’s own Code of Ethics that she signed and is obviously violating in my opinion. I’ll be waiting with bated breath for the BOS inquisition!
Oh for God’s sakes! Someone just sent me this:
http://www.leesburg2day.com/articles/2010/02/03/news/9886edc020310.txt
Are Miller and McGimsey seriously going to bash the EDC while they have their own special advisors??? And Burton will take issue with that but not see any problem in voting for McGimsey’s shoved through energy plan??? Too ironic!
Yawn, why do I get the feeling that you might be speaking for a friend named Sweat? lolol
LI, where is the obvious violation? THe obvious conflict? And attacking the accuser? Please, you’re as guilty at that as anyone, ever. I seem to remember you attacking Sally plenty when you didn’t like her antics. But now that the inquisition is in full force, you’re happy to cozy up to her and her heavy-handed tactics.
And nice mention of Miller and McGimsey concerning the EDC, when it was McGimsey, Burton and Miller quoted in that order. But Burton is “going along” with Miller and McGimsey. Interesting partisan distinction.
So where is the Washington Post on all of this? The last Republican board had similar issues and it was plastered on the front page. Not a word so far from any paper, you can’t help but wonder about media bias since they have all bought into the global warming panic storyline.
Yawn, I had issues with both Barbara and Sally at one time or another, but I’ve come to respect them both. Sure they both can go over the top (like I can as well) but they are smart ladies and awfully tenacious. You’re reading way too much into my separation of Burton – I wanted to single him out since he has been the big leader on conflict issues, but excuses McGimsey’s. And if you need me to explain how McGimsey is conflicted on all of this obviously you have not been paying attention. You get an F.
Does this mean that McGimsey was part of a “panel?”
Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Burton is the one leading on the EDC issue. He called the EDC a shadow government! McGimsey’s and Miller’s comments in that article were significantly understated in comparison.
On the alleged conflict, no, you haven’t demonstrated a real conflict. You’ve thrown things at the wall hoping some would stick. Is it a conflict for a citizen supervisor to bid for work for a federally funded project? I just don’t think so. On making a case that McGimsey has a conflict, yo get an F!
Yawn, if McGimsey voted on any issues involving MWAA while seeking a job with them (as a possible front for whom? Since when is she a solar installation contractor?), that doesn’t pass the sniff test.
If McGimsey is still doing (paid?)”grassroots activist” stuff, perhaps in conjunction with initiatives she is credentialing on in other venues, AND voting on, that is beyond sniff.
No one will know until she does proper disclosure, and that means cleaning up this catchall Sidewalks and Cyberspace phantom.
No transparency was ever enough for the (paid) concerned citizen McGimsey, and she isn’t meeting what used to be her own standards.
Not by a long shot.
The problem for me is, she has a pattern of concealing her employment. Back when the only credibility at stake was “grassroots” activism.
She’s an elected public servant now.
She can’t behave like your standard astroturf anymore.
Yawn, I shouldn’t bother but I’ll spell out the basics for you. McG came into office as a community organizer with past employment history at AOL. She then started with climate change being her big issue on the BOS. She travelled extensively to many climate change conferences on the county dime. She introduced a motion, whihc passed, for Loudoun County to join the Climate Communities organization, whihc Loudoun paid at least $15,000 of taxpayer money to be a member of. She met her connections at the Climate Prosperity Project through Climate Communities, with the CPP later naming her Executive Director. She used county prepared documents in a presentation for CPP. She’s bidding on solar installation work for whihc she has no discernable experience other than that gained through her county connections. And I’m sure there’s more.
.
The Loudoun County BOS Code of Ethics that she signed says that supervisors shall avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest, and that they will not use their offices for personal or professional gain. I say she fails miserably on both counts. Obviously you feel differently. Oh well.
“cozy up to her and her heavy-handed tactics” Would you be so kind as to identify the “heavy-handed” tactics. That way, I can identify them from the Freedom of Information that aids every citizen who pays taxes and expects the BOS to be above reproach, and to shy away from negotiations THAT EVEN LOOK IMPROPER, per their own pledge.
Did the BOS work on any issues involving metro in the last year? MWAA is building the metro extension to Dulles, so would that mean McGimsey would have to recuse herself from any discussion involving metro?
They have been involved in the re-look at 606 and the Metro station, which involves MWAA, and the county since any change in planning would be eventually partially executed on county land.
I don’t know if she’d HAVE to recuse, because I don’t know what this solar installation solicitation means, or what else there is out there since she doesn’t disclose any Sidewalks and Cyberspace.
I do know that I saw at least four commissioners recuse from a variety of issues, three when I was on commssion.
One, for owning property with their spouse in an agricultural district up for review. When the item was called, they asked to be recognized, stated their affiliation, and left the room until the item had concluded.
One, whose spouse operated a business classified under a policy under discussion. When the item was called, they asked to be recognized, stated their affiliation, and left the room until the item had concluded.
One, whose company (not them personally, but the company for which they worked) had previously done work on a project for one of the partners in an application. When the item was called, they asked to be recognized, stated their affiliation, and left the room until the item had concluded.
And one, before I was on, who served on the non-profit foundation board of an entity that could be affected by a policy under discussion. When the item was called, they asked to be recognized, stated their affiliation, and left the room until the item had concluded.
Any behavior remotely resembling this from the eidos of transparency, ethics, and clean government?
…..chirp……..chirp……
LI, so basically McGimsey went to various conferences paid for by the county. What conferences? Why was she selected to go? No matter the case, she apparently networked at these conferences. I don’t think that’s a conflict. Networking sort of just happens. Your second point is the IAD bid. Again, that’s a federal contract she’s vying for and thus no conflict. If Loudoun was mandating IAD to install solar panels, that would be an issue.
As an aside, I find it interesting to see IAD and private entities embracing renewable energy technologies. I know this crowd doesn’t believe in such things, because the Earth is flat, scientists are paid by Al Gore and the ice caps really aren’t melting thanks to our reliance on coal and middle eastern oil!
To BulletProof Monk, I see Sally’s heavy-handed tactics all of the time. She tries to force her political opponents from Lori Waters to LI to McGimsey and Jim Burton to answer questions that have no answers oftentimes threatening lawsuits, which in and of itself is pretty heavy-handed for someone with a legal background. You might not be aware of it, but it’s hard to prove a negative. She has proven herself to be heavy-handed in most all of her actions. As someone who is relatively moderate, Sally is one of the reasons that I could never associate with the LCRC, even if I respect the hell out of some of your members like Supervisor Waters.
Yawn, I think you just busted yourself–do you think it diverts from your somewhat feverishly nonchalant defense of McGimsey to claim you respect Mrs. Waters?
In case you haven’t noticed, one of the first things VLF queen McG did upon getting office was try to take fellow-VLF endorsee Waters off Economic Development.
She went on to chase her off COG, where she replaced her, with plenty of “grassroots citizen” chatter ginned up through the old astroturf blog at the operative word.
Mcgimsey misses no chance to rip Waters.
Where were you, since you respect her so much, when McG was chasing her out of appointments and committees?
(And what will the nest strategy/talking point be? lol)
Horrors! I threatened to sue the County, with their team of attorneys, and million dollar (minimum) slush fund for outside counsel. How heavy handed of me! AND venomous! I bet they were scared they might not have the resources to fend off my attack!
**
Loudoun and Ms. McGimsey are not heavy handed. NO, it’s not heavy handed at all to blow air into a FOIA bill, abuse your power, chill any attempt at inquiry, shut down opponents, hide behind a fictitious name, and just not disclose anything, not even an employer when you are on UTUBE schmoozing to clients, using materials prepared by staff at Loudoun County, one MIT intern that you hired to take advantage of the County resources?
**
Nothing to see here, move along….
The next election is going to be interesting!!!!!
Looks like house cleaning again. And McG and Miller are criticizing the EDC hmmm what have they brought into the county????? Hell Miller did not even know George Mason was coming into his neighborhood until he read it in the paper. They are total opportunist all for themselves not their neighbors or the county. I will repeat Millers proffer for the kid magnet Fairfield is a road to nowhere. I am going to keep this out there through the next election to show what hypocrite’s Miller and McG really are.
Listen here, those slow growth supervisors have their own shadow government they answer to. They protest too much because of their own crushing guilt.
You’re going to hang her out over going to a bidders’ conference to receive an RFI? An RFI? Are you kidding me? Heck, Hunton and Williams was there too. As one of the largest law firms in the Commonwealth, they must have dozens of potential conflicts. And not too many lawyers install solar panels either. But I would hope that they would firewall off their Public Sector folks from other interests. Much like we should expect McG to do the same. If she doesn’t, slam the hell out of her. But to do it because she showed up as a someone interested in a “Request for Information” with no revenue attached to it? Y’all have ample free time and vivid imaginations. Hell, you might was well blast her morals because she was an avowed (and public, even) Thespian in college. That shows a terrible lack of moral grounding.
Blaze, you still have not answered the question of where that client was located (what county?) that you stated gave non county business to Sidewalks and Cyberspace?
Hunton and Williams was only on the list for a client. If Ms. McG was smart she would not have put her company on the list, but had an agent do it for her.
**
Good for us she is not that smart.
**
Hunton and Williams does not have a public conflict/McG does. You are confusing a private conflict with Ms. McG’s conflict as a public official…Public officials do not firewall off their conflicts, like lawyers are allowed to do–they avoid them, and disclose them (a concept that Ms. McG does not seem to want to understand,)
***
It is pretty clear she is trying her best to profit off of climate change and energy–and she should not be doing that while she is a public official with responsibilities relating to energy and climate, ie GOG, B0S, fed stimulus $$s etc
Barbara, I’m actually no fan of VLF. No fan of the PEC. I actually agree with you on a lot of how the PEC operates. And I even agree with someone who said above they are a sort of shadow government. That’s probably a stretch, but they certainly have influence thanks to the monies they hand out come election time.
And I actually do like Ms. Waters. Don’t always agree with her, especially on the social stuff, but she is who she is and doesn’t apologize for it. She’s also extremely well-informed on the issues, something I’ve found over the years that Democrats and Republicans can’t always say.
I also think you’re right that McGimsey rips Waters on occasion. And Waters rips McGimsey on occasion too. That’s not a one-way street. As far as the chairmanship of the economic development committee goes, I actually don’t see that as an issue. The Democrats have a majority on the BOS and have every right to make sure that the Democrats have the chairmanships of the committees. If you think otherwise, then I’m sure you believe that, say, Delegate Scott Surovell should be chairing one of his committees in Richmond?
BNS, this issue by itself isn’t a huge deal, but it does raise eyebrows. And she has some explaining to do if she was involved in any MWAA discussions at the BOS while bidding for this (did she win any or part of it???). However, all of this stuff adds up to someone who is obviously using her role on the BOS as a vehicle to gain experience and connections in the climate change world. Not only is that self serving, and hugely hypocritical for her, but it’s also against the BOS’s own Code of Ethics.
Yawn, I don’t disagree that the majority is going to make the decisions.
The problem I have with the way it was handled was the astroturfing, which is where I believe McG’s real expertise lies.
She lied about being paid to run a fake petition, thereby collecting hundreds of emails to start to manage through the political Tupperware network.
She created approximately a dozen groups before they even had members through this method, and then had “founded” a “coalition of groups”, all while lying about being paid to do so.
She used to send out email alerts with links to letters to be “personalized” and sent with the click of a button, then would go to the county building, pull the emails, and go read them into the record as a “concerned (paid) citizen”.
How’s that for a closed and completed circle?
She appears to be doing the same thing on the BoS, for much bigger stakes.
Take the energy committee: it was ad hoc in 08, and disbanded at the end of the year for poor attendance (apparently, from some of the listserve discussion of some of the citizens groups she still interfaces with primarily attended by her own groups).
In “the tightest budget on record” last year, it becomes a standing committee, and pushes through a supposed grant application that was really apparently a comp plan amendment but without the process.
She is now credentialed (apparently internationally) as passing a groundbreaking plan as chair of the committee.
And how many directorships etc will get milked from that?
If she is continuing her paid concerned citizen schtick by getting the astroturf ready to support initiatives she is proposing and then voting on (because of the “outpouring of concerned citizen support” based on talking points in her own emails to key people) and THEN getting jobs from it, yes we do have a shadow government, and it is a publicity and policy factory of a closed circle of money that has zero to do with the public service she so altruisticly cried great (actress? lol) crocodile tears over when she was paid only 65K to do so.
There are too many little items popping up here and there that say to me the fake concerned citizen has taken the same show on a bigger road, and it needs to be looked into before our own policy and government is irretrievable from the moonbat activism resume factory.
Thanks for the more detailed explanation of your thoughts.
I’ve watched too much of her BS over the last few years to cut her much slack on this.
Let’s get to the bottom of it, and let’s do it before we get any more policy embedded that will cost us big $, and make her even more on the sly.
I used to think that Barb’s ranting about McGimsey lying about being paid was just more of Barb’s anti-PEC mantra. No longer do I doubt her on this.
.
And don’t forget that her bud Peter Garforth, the guy who put together that $250,000 energy plan, was at one time head of marketing for Owens Corning. And McG was involved in interactive marketing or something of that sort at AOL. This is indeed one big marketing effort, not so much for the taxpayer, but for the global warming agenda. With Loudoun County as the “test lab” as stated by one of Kaine’s state appointees.
LI, we are historically a testtube for a lot of stuff–llok at route 50 traffic “calming”, that started as a sensible plan to save the main streets of historic towns and villages with a US HIGHWAY THAT RUNS FROM THE ATLANTIC OCEAN TO SACRAMENTO going through them. It began with entry features and constructions in the villages themselves to let people know there was a town there, and don’t blow on through at 55, accompanied by a bypass that would deal with people TRYING TO USE THE US HIGHWAY, and the truck traffic on the TRUCK ROUTE it also is.
It expanded all the way east to the edge of the suburban policy area, lost the bypass, and now, for the very first time, has the ONLY intersection of TWO US HIGHWAYS with a goddamn roundabout.
Some testtube, when places that have had rotary intersections of major highways far longer are RIPPING THEM OUT (Massachusetts).
If PEC just did what they say they are, instead of functioning primarily as a political lobbying organiziation, I wouldn’t beef about them nearly so much.
Barbara, I know you dislike some of the grassroots tactics of the PEC. And I’m sure at one point McGImsey was part of it. But to be fair, everyone that is trying to get a result “astroturfs.” INVOA and HCA both employed the same tactics. But I’m not sure how any grassroots effort impacted the effort to put a Democrat in as Chair of the economic development committee.
I don’t have the same level of disdain for McGimsey that you do. I do wish she’d expand her focus as a supervisor, but she ran on energy, climate and growth issues. She is what she said she was. And if there was a conflict, a clear conflict, I’d be in your corner. But I agree with what Blaze n Saddles wrote above for now.
But by all means, get to the bottom of it as you say. But I do wish that instead of the constant stone-throwing that I see aimed at McGimsey here and at NovaTownHall was instead focused on a substantive debate on the issues that has spurred the attacks. Instead of trying to derail the energy plan by bludgeoning McGimsey, a better path would have been to attack the energy plan on the merits. There was some of that, but much more of the former and all that does is make McGimsey a victim for others to rally around.
As someone who’s done a lot of government contracting, and whose RFP responses often required trucks to deliver, it’s obvious precisely what Supervisor McGimsey is trying to do. In effect, she’s offering her name and position as a Loudoun County Supervisor to a Prime Contractor to beef up their “management team” with her “credentials” i.e. “Supervisor.” It’s called influence-peddling – she’ll take a check, and do *nothing*
Yawn, would you complain if a Senator showed up as part of the Management Team on a federal government bid? I’m pretty sure I know the answer – “It depends on whether there’s a (D) or an (R) after their name.”
It’s corrupt, even if there’s no controlling legal authority, and you know it.
Someone needs to fix the paragraph breaks on this site!
Ever wonder what happened to The Operative Word, the official McGimsey blog? That went away when McGimsey’s main aide left her job there. McGimsey aides are tasked with following the blogs and defending her there. TOW was just another astroturf venture for McGimsey. The biggest problem she has with keeping things like that going is that she can’t keep them working for her for very long. Some get fired but most simply quit on her. It’s the most dysfunctional office on the fifth floor.
Deep Throat, I’ll spill the beans here.
That was McG’s aide, but only as a contributor.
The main man beind that venture left Stevem’s Miller’s office some time ago. Sean was a political campaign manager in search of greener pastures elsewhere in the US.
LI, not “just” a marketing scheme.. (for herself and for her “agenda”)
***
A marketing scheme, yes, but also a candy handing out scheme, and constituency/power building scheme. NONE of it disclosed as required by law.
It was a group effort, to boost HCA for Miller, and to boost McGimsey’s agenda. It was amazing how much blogging was emanating from the fifth floor of the government building. I don’t think we’ll see a return to it, however. They came too close to getting caught last time.
Wonder if Sidewalks and Cyberspace is registered in Arlington, Fairfax, DC or Fauquier?
To bid on the project, under an alias, she would need to register her alias with the Circuit Courts in those Counties, or the DC Superior Court.
Wonder if she has done that??? Using an alias to secure a federal contract could get her into trouble….
Is this group so blind as to assume that the Republican BOS members Waters and Delgaudio and lean-GOP chairman York don’t feed the blogs information? Does LI get his information from personally spending time on the fifth floor? Doubtful. I don’t really have a problem with the political battles being waged online for all to see. It’s free entertainment for us political junkies. But I’m not sure how it’s some Bolshevik plot when Democrats do it. (Been wanting to use “Bolshevik plot” in a sentence for about a week now!)
Yawn, minor correction: She is what she said she wasn’t: a sleazy government official whose first interest is lining her own pockets via the special interests she really works for, instead of “The People…*gulp* (sob!)”
I know, I know, the Greater Good (as defined by the personal interests of the self-appointed oligarchy) justifies absolutely ANY and ALL means.
Squiddy, the real problem here is Virginia’s flimsy conflict of interest laws. I don’t see how a D or an R would have violated any conflict of interest laws with what is alleged.
Let’s take another example. Del. Clay Athey represents developers all the time in front of various county and city legislative bodies in the Shenandoah Valley. In effect, he’s offering his name and position and expertise as a state Delegate to a Developer to beef up their “management team” with his “credentials” i.e. “Delegate.” It’s called influence-peddling – he’ll take a check and provide his leverage and expertise.
Same thing you allege McGimsey is doing. Do you see Athey as influence peddling? Athey and McGimsey are both part time elected officials. Athey has a legal skill set to offer and McGimsey has a knowledge base of energy efficiency issues to offer. Both come with the caveat that they are electeds.
“Bolshevik plot” is your own word insertion there, yawn.
Big difference between getting interviews with government officials off the record, and government officials hiring other astroturfers with tax dollars to peddle talking points on the government clock.
So, here we go–Yawn, did somebody finally email you some statewide Republican “look over there” talking points to work with?
So, not a big snoozer anymore, and the deodorized flopsweat is still there, but now we get some more workmanlike diversion?
Nice, good issues, ask LI or Brian to start a thread on it.
McGimsey is paid right here with our tax dollars. She needs some looking into.
p.s.–McG doesn’t really have a “knowledge base”, unless that’s what they’re calling “talking points” these days.
She is a link in a chain. Just as she funnels out the BS, someone funnels it to her.
just like the money.
Barbara, whether or not McGimsey has a knowledge base isn’t for us to decide. It’s for the market place to decide. Just like the marketplace decides what land-use lawyers are the most effective.
I personally have no issue with what Athey does. It’s the same thing being alleged that McGimsey does. I have no problem with either. But if some people view McGimsey’s professional endeavors as apples and Athey’s endeavors as oranges, I’d posit that it’s others in this thread who have a differing standards depending on if a D or R is next to their name.
And I don’t need anyone to peddle me talking points. I’ve been around Virginia politics at a pretty deep level for a long time.
People were upset that Steve Snow worked for Dietze Construction, but at least he did not try to hide it behind some fictitious name. People were upset that Scott York worked for Service Star, but at least he was upfront about it, and told everyone, disclosed it, and did not vote on issues that came before the Board that could have affected his employer.
**
Ms. McG HIDES her employment, HIDES income behind a fictitious name, refuses to disclose “income, gifts, honoraria,” etc REQUIRED under VIRGINIA’s admittedly not so tough conflicts of interest laws. Yes, the law should be tougher, but she cannot even comply with the law as it is written, and yes, she is accepting things of benefit, income, etc, required to be disclose. It may be lawful to accept these things, to do the things she is doing, but she has to DISCLOSE it, for us to be able to examine what she is doing and if it is lawful..
***
We are asking for full disclosure as required by the State law.
Yawn and others – I absolutely agree that Virginia’s conflict of interest laws stink. But the Loudoun County BOS has its own Code of Ethics that goes well beyond state law, and that McGimsey herself signed. I’ve never said she violated state COI laws, I’ve been beating the drum that she is violating the Code of Ethics that was strengthened and put in place by this new BOS to limit some of the BS we saw in the last BOS. She is operating just like Tulloch and Snow, but with a different set of co-conspirators.
Yawn, I don’t think anyone is comparing apples and oranges.
You appear to be offering sacks of oranges so we can all compare them to McGimsey’s horse apples.
Don’t really know the nuances of what Athey is doing – he could well be corrupt, or he may actually be providing an actual service. Is he a lawyer? Passed the Bar? Does he have a demonstrated expertise in the subject areas he’s representing? Does he recuse himself from any legislation that may overlap with his area of expertise? And, more to the point, is he from Loudoun County?
What’s McGimsey’s demonstrated expertise on the subject? What are her credentials in the subject area, and how, exactly, will it benefit a Primce Contractor? Does she have background in construction? Project Management? What does she see as her role? Most likely, “Legislative Adviser” or some such – a no-show payoff to put her name on the letterhead.
Athey is a lawyer. I don’t think he recuses himself from votes in Richmond that impact the builder community.
Whether or not we think McGimsey has credentials in the subject area being discussed is irrelevant. Just like Athey may or may not be the best land-use lawyer. But the marketplace decides. I don’t know why this is so hard to understand.
Barbara, please tell me how the two situations differ from a conflict of interest perspective. And please try to avoid rationalizing due to your extreme and unhealthy hatred for McGimsey.
Yawn, did you frigging read what I posted above??? This isn’t about state law, it’s about the BOS’s own Code of Ethics. Burton, along with Miller and McGimsey, yell and scream about the EDC while McGimsey herself uses her position to further her previously non-existent credentials in climate change. Remember people being ticked off about Tulloch going into development ventures with Hobie Mitchell (the Harley dealership deal) and Snow, with no previous construction experience, finding work with Dietze? With McG at the top of the list of those pissed off?
We should call “Yawn” “Yarn” because that’s what he (or she) is trying desperately to spin.
**
Talk about ANYTHING but Andrea.
**
Sorry, I want Andrea to disclose her sources of income, gifts, honoraria, etc, as required by State law and not HIDE her employment, or her income with some fictitous name, and I want Andrea to provide me with the documents requested for full sunshine on her activities, as required by Law.
***
I know Yarn would like to spin this into a discussion about what others might be doing, but this thread is about what Andrea is doing (or not disclosing, or hiding) with respect to our State requirements, and also the County Conflicts of Interest resolution that Ms. McG signed to make us think she was going to be so above board (when in reality she intended not to honor it?)
LI, not disclosing her employment or sources of income, honoraria, etc. does violate the State Conflicts of Interest law, which requires at a minimum, full disclosure.
But I agree she is in BLATANT violation or the County’s adopted Code of Ethics. (That she pushed for.. and signed.)
I’m done with trying to help Yawn understand this, and based on what Deep Throat says above (which sounds awfully realistic to me) this is probably one of McGimsey or Miller’s aides. They probably are missing The Operative right about now.
I have lots more LI and will dish some out now and then. Suffice to say, Andrea has disappointed many in the slow growth camp by concentrating entirely on her pet issue to the exclusion of all others. Her squandering of political capital on climate change while we have huge zoning issues left to tackle is really a step too far.
Keep it coming DT, and welcome to TC!
Yawn, I don’t hate her personally. She is what she is.
I DO hate some of the practices of which she is a glaring, blatant and apparently unrepentantly hypocritical example.
And no thanks, I really couldn’t care less about an academic discussion of comparing her transgressions with people who don’t live here and aren’t bulking their resume with my local taxes.
I just went to the loudoun.gov website and pulled up LI the code of ethics. Here’s what it says about conflicts:
“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 gain for himself or herself or for family members. Engage in no business with Loudoun County government or school system, either directly or indirectly, which is inconsistent with the State and Local Government Conflict of Interest Act or the Public Procurement Act.”
From my knowledge, McGimsey hasn’t engaged in business with LoCo government or the school system directly or indirectly. If someone can prove otherwise, please do. And no one here has pointed to a vote or deliberation McGimsey has made or been a part of that constitutes a conflict of interest.
Now I know it doensn’t fit the McGimsey is crooked meme espoused here, but in case you guys want to know what you’re talking about with the code of ethics, feel free to look it up yourself.
Barbara, I find it fascinating that you refuse to discuss civilly the similarities or differences between McGimsey in this instance and Athey in his professional relationships. Just stick your fingers back in your ear, mutter lalalalalala to yourself and continue with your online smear campaign.
Let’s see Yarn,
***
Since McG refused to disclose her employer, or her relationships, or her sources of income, and hides behind an alias, then how do we know what she is doing?
***
All we see is her waiving a report/slideshow prepared by County staff, at a schmooze event where she is the Executive Director or the Climate Prosperity Project, and to the group of potential consulting clients, she starts out with “Who wants to make a lot of money? Raise your hand, high”
***
Disclosure (as per the State Code) is required. And then we can fairly judge what she is doing with County resources (for personal gain) and what votes are proper or not…
***
Did she vote on the motion to spend the $15,000 to join the Climate Communities group?
***
What does her vote on the “energy” plan mean for her consulting business Sidewalks and Cyberspace? or her employer, the Climate Prosperity Project? or her joint ventures? or her clients (who are looking forward to Loudoun County tax payer $$s?)
**
She needs to fully disclose all of her sources of income, her honoraria, her travel expenses, meals, any gift–as required by STate law, and she needs to avoid using Loudoun County for personal gain.
Yawn, rotfl. I have no intention of changing THIS subject.
If anyone is lalaing, it is you, and pretty desperately.
Sally, I’m a bit more concerned about what the energy plan means to the county, now that McG got her international belt-notch out of it (and just in time for Copenhagen! At Least SOMETHING succeeded before Climategate started actually getting press in the UK! lol).
As Miller noted in attempting to soothe all the flat-earthers who opposed that green panacea, it won’t be law until it gets in the ordinances. And it will, if we added to our comp plan!
Well, I’m starting to wonder of there was no Dillon issue, because we CAN comprehensively plan for our county.
If what was passed comes under comp plan instead of any Dillon issue needing enabling, then LoCo VA just got snookered into amending their Comp Plan without proper process–no notice of intent to amend, no CPAM process, no nothin.
And all by the woman who used to hyperventilate at the very thought of the greedy fingers of the untoward creeping toward the delicate parts of that sacred document! The heroine who (while salaried and comped to do so, but shhhhh!) taught a generation of voters to revere The Plan whether they knew what it was and did or not!
Did we GET the grant? How about we rescind the more extravagant parts of that backdoor CPAM after we do the basics of the grant stuff if we did get it?
I wonder, did it happen without a CPAM because CPAMs are B-A-D? rotflmao
It’s not changing the subject, Barbara, it’s debating it comprehensively instead of simply having it be a partisan attack fest …. but that’s clearly all you guys are interested in and that’s probably why the mainstream media isn’t writing about your hyper-partisan witch hunt.
Yawn this blog is the most widely read and respected political blog around.
Certain democratic BOS would of never got elected with out the help of the people on this blog. They will also not get re-elected. The operative went down right before Miller started to seriously run against Rust. Coincidence???? Of course not because he was getting killed on his and McG’s own blog called the Operative. Even Millers wife called me on the phone during that period that she had a bone to pick with me on something I wrote on this Blog. Which by the way was public knowledge before I posted it here. Yawn if you want the democrats to have a chance put up a blog that shows them in a positive light unlike the operative was able to do. Because the way it is going the democrats are going to be slaughtered in the next election.
I’m sorry Yawn, but I don’t believe the thread was opened as a comprehensive study of potential disclosure contretemps in the state of Virginia, but as a continuing discussion of Ms. McGimsey’s use of county credentials and resources to inflate her resume for personal gain.
I don’t know that this is overtly partisan, since it about an individual’s misbehavior.
I don’t recall anyone saying ALL Democrats do this.
(personally, I don’t think of McGimsey as a Democrat. I think of her as a Wellstone progressive operative)
Do you classify the mainstream media as the local papers? They’re on a weekly publishing cycle, and there are some big stories already going on. Let’s wait and see.
The Post? I wouldn’t hold my breath! They ran how many stories FOR the people who ran McGimsey, about nonexistent indictments as heavily breathed-about by sources too sensitive to name?
I’ve seen some interesting weirdness in some publications about the issue, but not about her nest-feathering. It was actually some of the feathers–lol!
Haughty dismissal is working about as well as nonchalant boredom while sweating.
Next?
Some of this is old regurgitation of previously debunked material. The set of slides is public domain material, and in watching her talk, I didn’t even see her mention the slides in question anyway, so I’m not sure what the beef is about those. If you think there is a case, convince the Commonwealth’s Attorney to press charges. Otherwise, you’re just engaging in partisan sniping for attempted political gain only. But frankly, none of this is surprising knowing the fringe element that posts here.
Mr. Stewart is one of McGimsey’s stalwarts on climate change cheerleading, a fringe itself. In another example of hypocrisy here that same crowd was slamming Lori Waters for “plaigarizing” from the CES document when she used them. Finally, everyone in the county knows Jim Plowman will never touch another politically charged case after the Mark Tate case blew up in his face.
If this was anyone other than Andrea McGimsey, who ranted and raved against the last board for conflicts of interest, I wouldn’t be raising as much of a stink about it. And a commenter above had it right that there are a lot more pressing environmental needs in this county that she should have been expending political capital on other than this.
Mr. Stewart is also a stalwart of Loudoun Sustainable Network/Sustainable Loudoun Network/Loudoun County Committee for a Sustainable Society/Sustainable Loudoun (of which McGimsey has also been a stalwart since before she became a candidate) which served as the conduit for most of the public input on the energy “strategy” (which, however, their talking points referenced as a “Plan”, which is also how its being referenced in publications as the very first one in the whole United States).
IOW, here comes the cavalry.
I guess we’re just so far out in front in this county, we’re just a whole bleeding fringe period! lol
Will Stewart, Yes the slides are in the public domain, since the public paid for them. But they were created so that Ms. McG could take her dog and pony show on the road, to promote the Climate Prosperity Project (of which she was the exec director.) County staff was misused. Her MIT intern “stayed up all night” to get the presentation ready for Ms. McG to take to a group of prospective clients in Delaware. This is misuse of her office, misuse of County staff and misuse of taxpayer dollars.
**
Mr. Plowman has suggested that Jack Roberts continue his investigation, and otherwise, that it is a State statute, that the AG would most likely enforce…
++
Until all of the facts are brought out into the open, with full disclosure of all employment, all sources of income, all travel, honoraria, etc as required by the law, we do not know what violations there may exist…
Plowman does have a perception problem here since he did absolutely nothing to look into the last Board. If he looks into this now he will look even worse and blatantly partisan. Another reason why I continue to wish for a state level special prosecutor to look into these types of politically charged cases. Commonwealth’s Attorneys are political animal sand too close to the power brokers in their communities to do this effectively.
And do any of us really expect Jack Roberts, the Board’s attorney, to be unbiased in this???
Isn’t Jack’s first responsibility to the entity of the corporate Board, and only to individual members insofar as their actions reflect work as part of that body?
Ignorance of law on the part of any member is not considered a defense in breaking one, and most D&O insurance won’t cover any individual member of a corporate body that breaks a law they are required to be cognizant of keeping.
It may end up being in his best interest as rep of the corporate entity (and of the corporate entity itself) to advise that she get her own affairs in order, and if necessary that the body as a whole take some action to distance themselves from (or correct) any individual action on her part that led them to take (potentially) improper corporate action–i.e., like passing a supposed grant request that is now the country’s first ever local energy plan, a whole new credential for Ms. McG.
Jeezus, Yawn, did you really just say “The marketplace will decide” what a politician is worth on the open market?
You think she might run afoul of this provision?
Offer or accept any money or other thing of
value for or in consideration of the use of his
public position to obtain a contract for any
person or business with any governmental or
advisory agency;
http://www.vml.org/CLAY/SeriesPDF/06-07FOIACOIARpt1.pdf
Jack Roberts is ineffective as the County Attorney. Time for turnover in that office (among others).