Corey Stewart as of this write up has raised $504,904 in his bid for Governor according to the Virginia Public Access Project. As per NumbersUSA, that’s enough money to buy every undocumented illegal migrant, alien, Wookie and Klingon in Virginia a Taco Bell Chalupa! Mr. Stewart has quite the interesting money trail from developers to landscapers to minor league baseball teams; however one donor raises a stench fouler than the others.
American Disposal Services as of last month has donated $50,000 to Corey Stewart. The next biggest contributor from the waste management industry was by comparison a paltry $2,200. What gives with such a generous donation from an atypical donor? This is where things get turbulent, so warp speed Mr. Sulu!
Prince William County is like other neighboring NOVA counties in that trash collection is provided by the private sector. Apart from Fairfax and Loudon, the PWC greets residents with a whopping $70 trash fee on their property tax bill. This according to the county website is to fund the local landfill and the recent addition of a $10 million recycling center. Mind you this policy was in place prior to Stewart being elected. Yet just for giggles, know how much does American Disposal Services gets charged for using the landfill and said recycling center? According to Solid Waste Chief Thomas Smith, zero. Zip. Nada.
Every resident or other business such as construction waste is charged $45 p/ton to unload. Is it getting stinky, yet? To be fair, part of the $70 trash fee has been dedicated to relocating illegal aliens captured in Prince William to an encampment at the wayward base of the landfill designated as District 9 ½. That was satire. Want to know what wasn’t? In 2014, Prince William County guaranteed a company $4 million to research businesses that can deliver ‘waste to energy’, requiring another $65 million and two years to build, BOTH of which were paid from the fee. Or maybe it’s a tax. Tomato, tomoto.
A random survey of the residents in Prince William County revealed that less than 65% of the residents visit the landfill. Another 15% of the county visits it less than three times a year, and a minimum of 10% visit monthly. Furthermore, the laws of Virginia require that individual counties apply to the Richmond state office of the Attorney General for approval to tax individuals within a county. Also, counties are required with this application/approval to have a vote by citizens on the proposed tax before it can be implemented. County Code 28-104 asserts it is a “fee” instead of a tax. Ah, semantics.
All this talk of trash and taxes has me feeling dirty. Let’s switch to something more clean and pure, like America’s past time. It feels like only yesterday I wrote about savvy sports owners fleecing the public for stadiums. The Potomac Nationals have given Corey Stewart $95,000 over the past few years and I am quite curious as to what they expect in ROI. I reached out to Potomac Nationals Media Relations, but as they were busy trying to clone Stephen Strasburg a new arm, they weren’t available for comment.
Finally, what would this post be without an ode to our friends in the Real Estate/Development lobby? At $50,000 the take from this oft-pampered political cabal is nothing out of the ordinary. However, some specific donors are interesting. According to campaign finance reports released last month, Stewart received $5,000 in June, and a total of $22,500 since 2014, from Guiseppe Cecchi, chief executive officer of IDI Group. Cecchi is the money behind the Rivergate apartment complex in Woodbridge, approved by the board of supervisors with Stewart’s support in October 2014. The project was opposed by some supervisors who argued the development would hasten school overcrowding and traffic congestion on U.S. 1.
According to a poll released yesterday by Christopher Newport University, Stewart is currently fighting for a distant second place behind Ed Gillespie. Time will tell if his funding gets a boost from his cries to ‘drain the swamp’, but as he continues to paint himself as an outsider taking on Richmond corruption, he may need to evaluate taking out his own trash.
21 comments
This blog attacks Corey like it attacked Trump. The blog was wrong about Trump and it is wrong about Corey. Gillespie worked for Enon which destroyed people’s lives, gonna write about that?
Then you must have not supported Ted Cruz because he did some legal work for the Bush 43 team arguing a point regarding immigration laws which made amnesty look good.
And if you supported Trump, you must then be Democrat because none of the other 16 GOP candidates gave more to Democrats than did Trump.
For the record, I voted for Trump, and donated to his cause as well. So don’t call me a RINO or some establishment hack. But if you expect every person to have clean hands 100% of the time, you’re nuts.
#EdGillespie2017
I’d take the whackos, the weirdoes, any of our flawed elected/unelecteds, even our ineligibles over the #nevers that infest our party.
#CoreyStewart2017
What corporate or special interest money given to PAC’s or politicians doesn’t have stink on it? You dumb enough to believe Wall St. and special interests just give money away for nothing? It corruption at it finest, legalized bribery.
This is worthless negative hit-piece on Corey Stewart not worthy of publication. Plus it’s intellectually assaulting. This is the type of garbage blog that gives this platform — and others like it a – a bad name. So Corey got donations from his local supporters? So what? The author gave no facts and positioned it as a “series.” It’s an icky post not deserving of this important platform. Lets at least keep the Bull Elephant clean and devoid of candidate hit pieces masquarading as analysis. John
When I anger the great John Fredericks, I know I’m doing something right! It’s not meant as a hit piece, in fact – I ran it past a Stewart supporter before I let it go. I just did Ed yesterday : http://thebullelephant.com/funny-money-part-1-ed-gillespie/
That’s good! LOl!
So… Simply restating what can be found at http://www.vpap.org is a hit piece? The trash industry likes Corey…. A lot apparently!
Much of it is humor, tongue in cheek.
I must have missed something – this series doesn’t seem funny. Maybe it’s my advanced age?
John, you do a great job of keeping the focus where it should be on your radio show. And, we can see where the money comes from to support your radio show.
But with blogs, the main focus appears to keep the focus AWAY from where it needs to be in this country, JOBS, THE ECONOMY, AND CORRUPTION IN GOVERNMENT. I think people have a right to know who’s money finances blogs. Perhaps requiring a financial report for blogs, who and how much is needed? When I see certain blogs with zero advertising, I have to wonder who’s trumpet is blowing.
I would also advise people that since Amazon has decided that the security of this country is not important, and that the president does not know what he is doing, to do as I have for years, BOYCOTT AMAZON. Don’t let corporate thugs like Jeff Bezos take your money and use it against you and this country! Besides, you can get better deals somewhere else.
One of the many often subtle (sometimes not) articles pushed on this site as informational rather then what they are in effect candidate based partisan wood line based hit pieces. You don’t like Corey, fine, but if you have a criticism to present at least lay out your “meaningful” positions or objections based on facts and verifiable actions rather then innuendo and spleen. The Steward coverage here is taking on the mantra of what occurred during the recent Donald Trump presidential primary race when this publication became the home to the most disingenuous “we aren’t neverTrump”, neverTrump blog site, in the state. I’d simply support intellectually honest here because the “clean and devoid of candidate hit pieces masquerading (sic) as analysis” that you are calling for is far in the past.
John, “follow the money” is a time honored tradition.
Let me say this as a supporter of Ed Gillespie. I’m not sure what the purpose of this series is. Corey Stewart has raised money as has Ed Gillespie and as has Wagner and so will Riggleman.
Would the writer prefer the government telling us who can and cannot not run?
Companies have the right to donate. Many have donated to Ed, many to Corey, Wagner and soon to Riggleman. Don’t insult the money or the donors. They’re what keeps us from being wards of the state.
What has happened to our sense of humor? We’re becoming like those oh-so-serious democrats!
Perhaps we’re tired of hit pieces being covered by lame jokes and ‘jes kidding’ in the FSM and now in Blogs of Trust??
No, fair enough. Companies do have the right to donate. I’m just trying to find the more unorthodox contributions. Gillespie was rather hard because his contributions were so run-of-the mill
Yep, run-of-the-mill.
I don’t support Ed Gillespie and agreed with you completely regarding your comment but there is in my opinion a long term trend here among some contributors to snipe at other’s positions or candidates rather then just come out and clearly state a position or candidate issue pro or con. Whether this was intended to be humorous (as one publication principle herein claims), informative, investigative or critical what it amounts to content wise is the same thing resting in Mr. Stewart’s largest contributor’s business landfill sites – garbage. Voters looking for informative information or analysis to assist in their future Republican primary decision need to look elsewhere.
So where is the rumored “pissing Corey” photo?
I haven’t heard about it. Details please.