Chamber Insider Helped Scott York Win Citizen of the Year While Helping Him Run for Re-election

written by Jeanine Martin August 3, 2015

Each year in May the Loudoun Chamber of Commerce and the Loudoun Times Mirror host a gala where they award the Citizen of the Year for the county. The award is not given to current political candidates or those in office who intend to run for office re-election.

After Loudoun County Chairman of the Board Scott York assured Chamber President Tony Howard and the publisher of the Times Mirror, Peter Arundel, that he had no intention of running for office again, they chose to make him Citizen of the Year. Had the Chamber been aware of York’s intention to run again, he would not have been chosen for the award, or so they said. When Scott York declared his run for re-election a week after he accepted the award, reactions were swift and universally negative.

A member of the Board of Directors of the Loudoun Chamber of Commerce, Colleen Gillis, a partner in Cooley LLP’s real estate group, knew in April that Scott York intended to run again, and was in fact helping him get the required voter signatures to get on the ballot while also helping him to secure the Citizen of the Year award. Gillis is a land developers’ attorney who is frequently before the Board of Supervisors on behalf of real estate developers including One Loudoun development, Dulles World Center, Brambleton and Willowsford. She and Scott York have a very friendly relationship as was evident in York’s email to her on April 6th:

“Hello Colleen,

See attached petition form and instructions. The form is a two page form and needs to be printed on one sheet of 8.5” x 14” paper.

Good news, I only need 125 “Loudoun Registered Voters” to qualify. 200 less than I thought!! However, should I pull the trigger, It would be nice to dump a boat load into the electoral board. Would show strong momentum! We want to at least collect 200 + incase we end up with some bad sigs. (perhaps I should send someone to the LCRC convention to collect sigs! : ))

Candidate filing deadline is June 9, 2015

It will be interesting to see what the other two candidates file on the 15th.

It would be good if we can begin to get the sigs taken care of along with all the paperwork so if a certain thing that needs to happen happens, the paper work is all done and we will not need to scramble.

Have you heard if anyone out there is donating to the King camp?

Best,
Scott”

(One question might be, where did this email originate? Did York send it from his county email during work hours? It’s not legal to campaign while on county time. York went after Eugene Delgaudio for campaigning from his office. Delgaudio was vindicated.)

York said in the email “It would be good if we can begin to get the sigs taken care of along with all the paperwork so if a certain thing that needs to happen happens, the paper work is all done and we will not need to scramble”. The ‘certain that needs to happen’ is the Citizen of the Year award. Gillis was helping York to secure the award but they had to keep that on the downlow because they knew York couldn’t get the award if other members of the Chamber board learned that he intended to run for re-election. Unfortunately it’s this kind of blatant cheating and dishonesty that we have come to expect from so many elected officials.

The bigger question, why is a land developers’ lawyer helping York to run again for Chairman? I think we all know how pro-development Scott York is, along with several of his buddies on the board, Suzanne Volpe, Matt Letourneau, Shawn Williams, and Ralph Buona. (Since writing this article I have been informed by Supervisor Letourneau that he, Williams, and Buona do not always approve every housing development that comes before the board and I should not lump them all together with that assumption.) Of course Gillis wants to keep York on the board, it’s good for developers! She wanted to keep him on the board so much that she was helping him collect signatures for his re-election while also helping him to secure the Chambers’ Citizen of the Year Award, an award not given to sitting elected officials unless they are retiring. Gillis obviously knew that Scott York had no intention of retiring when she was helping him collect signatures for a run.

We might also ask, was it only Colleen Gillis who was aware that York was planning to run for re-election or were other members of the Loudoun Chamber of Commerce also aware that York was running? York has a close relationship with the Chamber. Were they all pretending to be unaware that York was running for re-election so they could support their buddy for the award? Scott York betrayed our trust, was the Loudoun Chamber complicit?

On May 28th, Scott York became Loudoun County “Citizen of the Year.” By Scott York’s actions, that award had been seriously tainted.

Jeanine Martin

Also known as Lovettsville Lady, I am a Republican activist in the wilds of western Loudoun County.

15 comments

KingLoudoun August 5, 2015 at 9:03 am

It would be nice to have Virginia’s Attorney General Office or other appropriate division of state government review the actions of our local government. Section 2.2-3103 of the Code of Virginia prohibits conduct by a locally elected official as follows: (Paragraph 1) 1. Solicit or accept money or other “thing of value” for services performed within the scope of his official duties, except the compensation, expenses or other remuneration paid by the agency of which he is an officer or employee. (Paragraph 5) 5. Accept any money, loan, gift, FAVOR, service, or business or professional opportunity that reasonably tends to influence him in the performance of his official duties. (Paragraph 8) 8. Accept a gift from a person who has interests that may be substantially affected by the performance of the officer’s or employee’s official duties under circumstances where the timing and nature of the gift would cause a reasonable person to question the officer’s or employee’s impartiality in the matter affecting the donor.

The Circulation of Petitions by Colleen Gillis Snow, an Attorney who frequently represents applications before the County is clearly a “FAVOR” being performed with the expectation that Chairman York would provide a favorable review of applications before the County. Favoritism is prohibited conduct under the law. This email obtained by Loudoun Times indicates that Scott York is Soliciting “favors” in the assistance of getting signatures on an election petition. Although it is not clear at this time that it was done with the requirement of providing a favorable review on application, the reasonable person standard would lead to a conclusion that the expectation of any application before the County receives a favorable review and would not be submitted without the anticipation of a favorable review.

For these reasons, both Scott York and Colleen Gillis Snow and the nature of their relationship need to be investigated by the State for violating the law. The integrity of our government appears to be compromised and the purpose of this law is to remove even appearances of transgression and restore the best interests of the electorate. I hope that the Virginia Attorney’s General office will take the initiative to open an investigation on this matter and do what’s right in protecting the public’s interest.

David Dickinson August 3, 2015 at 10:26 pm

The question I have is why doesn’t the BoS do anything about it? If we want to talk about a lack of cajones, let’s talk about the sitting Board.
Scott York has already had his authority stripped from him in the past. Based on these current facts coming to light, the ALL REPUBLICAN BoS should strip Scott York of his authority as Chairman. They have the authority. They need to use it.

Jeanine Martin August 3, 2015 at 11:23 pm

Too many of the board members like York. He’s their buddy.

G. Stone August 3, 2015 at 3:48 pm

T Donovan wants to piss on our legs and tell us its raining. The facts and timeline here are quite clear to anyone with owns or can read a calander, can read and follow basic timelines and has the common sense above that of your average racoon. T, being a paid partisan hack for Mr. York wants to cover up the fact that his candidate that being Mr York lied and blew smoke up peoples asses in order to game the groups in question. That gaming of course was done with the winks, nods, and behind the scenes help from York buddies who dig the perks, special treatment and acess that allows themselves to turn a buck with the help of the Chair, while feining and swooning about his methods as being less than above board. They get to play both side of the street. Knowing the duplicity at paly here, I am going to hold my nose and believe them when they are quoted in the LTM that York lied to them. He did lie to them, now the fact that they all winked at each other while he was doing it is another story for another day. This story is based in the truth that Scott York mislead friend and foe alike in order to further his political ambitions. BTW I really do wish these York operatives would have the balls to use their real names, come on fellas grown a pair and step into the marketplace of ideas without the shields of alter egos. It’s chicken shit, phony and tedious.

Jeanine Martin August 3, 2015 at 5:05 pm

Well said!

RINO August 3, 2015 at 5:53 pm

Stone….you,Jeanine and the rest of the King camp are getting desperate. It’s so obvious. I saw the look of absiolute shock in your eyes when Noble lost at the convention, get ready for round two in November. How come you don’t run? You certainly have the pipes.

G. Stone August 3, 2015 at 7:39 pm

Rino… Get your testicals out your wife’s purse and use your real name. People who use phony names can’t gloat… Btw I am sure what the hell Scott York s propensity to fib and blow smoke has to do with Eric… You are using a crayon to connect those dots… Now the King campaign is going to point out the Chairmans duplicity at every opportunity…

G.stone August 3, 2015 at 7:40 pm

Not sure …

T Donovan August 3, 2015 at 9:17 am

Jeanine, your information is historically incorrect making your assertions incorrect. The Chamber and Loudoun Times Mirror has certainly awarded Citizen of the Year to several sitting politicians who sought re-election in Loudoun. Loudoun Treasurer Roger Zurn received it in 1997, as Treasurer, and obviously continued to run each 4 years thereafter and is seeking re-election this year. In your own town, Lovettsville, you should know this being “Lovettsville Lady,” beloved Mayor Elaine Walker received the LTM Citizen of the Year award while Mayor in ’05 and ran many times after like Zurn until she retired, I believe, in 2012.

Jeanine Martin August 3, 2015 at 2:17 pm

The award was given to Scott York because he told the Chamber he was retiring from the board. Perhaps I should have said they have never given the award to a sitting Supervisor who intends to run for re-election. You need only read the editorial in the LTM to know that York lied to the Chamber and to the Loudoun Times Mirror to get the award. the http://www.loudountimes.com/news/article/loudoun_chairman_scott_york_betrays_our_trust321

ChinTurret August 3, 2015 at 3:12 pm

yup, more inaccurate statements from the blundering blogger. Can anyone point to one post from this hardcore partisan, that has not included errors, innuendos, or outright lies? I think not.

Jeanine Martin August 3, 2015 at 4:58 pm

Spoken like the true democrat you are. You might want to consider starting your own leftist blog. Just an idea………

Jeanine Martin August 3, 2015 at 4:57 pm

Don’t you work for Scott York? Aren’t you on his payroll?

groupie August 4, 2015 at 11:36 am

Why is Tony Howard liking this answer? Isn’t he the one that tried to verify that York was not running for re-election so that the Chamber award would not looked rigged? Or did he lie to the LTM too? How stupid that Chamber folks would come on here and stick their nose in this, especially when it is York’s paid staff that is defending him on this issue. Better stick to what you know Mr. Howard, stop being led around by the nose on this.

Jeanine Martin August 4, 2015 at 11:54 am

I noticed that too and wondered why Chamber President Tony Howard would ‘like’ that comment. I have to wonder if the Chamber is worried that folks will realize, despite their protestation to the contrary, they were well aware that Scott York was going to run for re-election and the award was part of their efforts to help him win.

Chamber Insider Helped Scott York Win Citizen of the Year While Helping Him Run for Re-election

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