Guest Contributor Bill Petrak

All I expect from a politician is they do what they said they would do, they are honest, and they have a solid moral compass. Is that really too much to ask? For those of you who have children, a simple question could answer whether or not you should support a candidate...would you want candidate X to marry my daughter (or son)? If the answer is NO, I suggest you might be supporting the wrong candidate. As a resident of Prince William County for 13 years, I would highly recommend you DO NOT vote for Corey Stewart to represent the Republican Party for the upcoming election for the Virginia Governor. Those of us in PWC who know Corey Stewart like to joke about how we love “election year Corey.” During the year before Mr. Stewart runs for re-election, he is the most solid conservative in the Commonwealth. As soon as the election is over, Mr. Stewart runs quickly to the left and becomes a solid liberal when voting as the Chairman. His philosophy has been that we, the commoners, will forget about all his liberal indiscretions and focus on his most recent conservative achievements. In other words, he believes the electorate has a very short memory. Before I get too far into this article, I want to say I wish no ill on Corey Stewart. For those of you who have actually met him, you know he can be a very charming man; someone who would be fun to have a beer with. I wasn't going to say anything negative about Mr. Stewart's run for governor; I was going to give him a pass. However, "Reason #2" below recently pushed me over the edge on keeping my opinions to myself. And quite frankly, those of you who really don't know him deserve to know who you may be cheering for. Mr. Stewart likes to brag about how he has cut taxes in PWC and how low our taxes are compared to the rest of Northern Virginia. As a PWC resident, I have no idea what he's talking about. PWC is the second highest county in the state when it comes to property tax rates; second only to Loudoun. The only reason our taxes appear to be lower than other Northern Virginia areas is because the price of our homes in PWC are much less than places such as Fairfax and Arlington; sometimes half the price. And personal property taxes are through the roof. Last year, my wife and I paid $1523 for our two American vehicles. That’s a cost of $127 a month to the County for the privilege of driving our vehicles. Recently, we traded one of our vehicles in for a purchase and this year we are projecting our tax bill to be around $1900 ($158 per month). Anytime a person considers buying a new car in PWC, they have to consider the monthly cost of paying the County. In addition, we have a dog tax, a burglar alarm response tax, a congestion relief tax (when you sell your home) and several other fun taxes. For the record, any recent conservative achievements in PWC would have never come to fruition if it weren't for the leadership and determination of Republican Supervisors Pete Candland, Jeanine Lawson, and Ruth Anderson. Yes, Mr. Stewart voted in favor of many of these recent achievements; however, in non-election years, these three are fighting hard against Chairman Stewart's tax and spend tendencies. If you truly are a conservative, here are three solid reasons (among many, many more) to keep Corey Stewart from the Governor's Mansion: Reason #1: A few years ago Mr. Stewart led the charge to raise property taxes in PWC by over 21% (4% a year) over a five year period. We were flabbergasted by Chairman Stewart's defiance of his constituents who pleaded with him to not raise taxes. Thankfully, after two years, we got a reprieve by “election year Corey” and by the leadership of Pete Candland, Jeanine Lawson and Ruth Anderson. I can't imagine Mr. Stewart being able to reduce taxes in Virginia when he couldn't do it in PWC. He can’t help himself; he loves to tax and spend...ABC. Reason #2: Mr. Stewart likes to attack Ed Gillespie for taking campaign contributions from big donors and he rails against wasteful spending. People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Under Mr. Stewart's "leadership," there are millions and millions of dollars being wasted in PWC. As I write this article, Corey Stewart is leading the charge to build a stadium for a minor league baseball team in a very bad location. In a nutshell, this bad idea started with the construction funding coming from a $25 million check from the team's owner, a $30 million dollar check from the developer, and $10 million coming from naming rights. Total = $65 million in 2012. Fast forward to 2017...under the current deal, the owner is now NOT writing the big check, the developer is NOT writing a check at all and the naming rights money will go to the team owner. The land will be owned by the developer, the stadium will be owned by the County (on leased land) and the 76 year old team owner will sign a 30 year payment plan to the County...all funded by taxpayers of PWC courtesy of, and orchestrated by the "leadership" of, Corey Stewart with the help of a few other libs who plan on issuing county bonds to fund it. By the way, Mr. Stewart has just happened to have taken $140,000 in campaign donations from the team, the team's owner and the original developer. Like many other scams perpetrated by some of our elected officials, the PWC taxpayers are getting fleeced again by Mr. Stewart and his band of libs...is this who you want to be our next Governor?...ABC. Reason #3. Woodbridge, Virginia has a Democratic County Supervisor who was up for re-election to a 3rd term in 2015. Woodbridge is a heavily populated Democratic area in eastern Prince William, but the supervisor was very weak and had made some big mistakes during his time in office. He could have been beaten, but no one wanted to challenge him. Then one day, one year before the election, a very good candidate popped up and was willing to run against the incumbent. Everyone in the GOP Committee was happy. Many of us thought we had a chance to take another seat from the Democrats. Then, four months later, out of nowhere some guy came to a GOP meeting and announced he was running for Woodbridge Supervisor...WHAT???!!! Who is this guy? And why is Corey Stewart the only person in the room wearing his campaign sticker and backing this guy? As it turns out, this candidate, according to multiple sources, had the most sordid background you could imagine. His reported indiscretions were the kind that normally forced U.S. Senators and Congressmen from office. There were court documents posted on the internet and eye witness testimony to corroborate the indiscretions. On top of that, the candidate had just moved into a Woodbridge apartment from another area. Could it get any worse? The next thing that surfaced was a disgusting rap video made by Stewart’s candidate starring him (the candidate) and a "female friend"...you can't make this stuff up! This guy didn't have a chance to win in the general. So why would Corey Stewart be backing this guy? When primary day arrived, it got worse for the candidate. The "female friend's" ex-husband showed up with a big sign that read, "A VOTE FOR XXXXX XXXXXXX IS A VOTE FOR ADULTERY!" The candidate and his helpers had been handing out endorsement flyers by Corey Stewart all morning. By noon, the candidate was desperately running around trying to talk people into voting for him; it wasn't working. All of a sudden, a bunch of people showed up with lists of voters and they were seen making phone calls from the lists. Within 30 minutes cars started showing up left and right. By the time the polls closed, Stewart’s candidate won the primary by approximately 100 votes. Of course he went on to lose the general election. Stewart’s candidate got 30% of the vote and 10% were write-ins. Instead of Mr. Stewart backing a family man, a man with integrity, and a man with a chance to win a new seat on the Board of County Supervisors, he foisted his broken and seriously flawed candidate on us, and we lost the seat. To this day, people do not understand why. Is this who you want in the Governor's Mansion?...ABC. For those of you who are not aware, it's very important to point out that we have a 6-2 Republican majority in PWC on the Board of County Supervisors. If Corey Stewart were a real leader and conservative, PWC would be a conservative utopia. Instead, he and a few other RINOs have run the County into the ground and now we are starting to be overrun by Democrats and their votes. We've already lost the School Board and most recently the Clerk of the Court. Thanks to Corey Stewart's "leadership," I fear we will possibly lose the Board of Supervisors. After watching him for the past several years, it wouldn't shock me if Mr. Stewart ran as a Democrat in the next county supervisor election. Now for many of you who have fallen for Mr. Stewart's charm (and false statements), this article is going to be a big slap in the face. I am not trying to make you feel silly or hurt your feelings, I am just trying to tell you Mr. Stewart isn't who you think he is; and once again, you deserve to know it. It's always upsetting to find out someone you really like isn't who they say they are; sometimes the truth isn't so pleasant. And for those of you who are firing up their keyboards and getting ready to pounce on me for being a __________ (you fill in the blank), I ask you to calm down and do your research. You'll see for yourself who Corey Stewart really is, and why so many Prince William conservatives refuse to back him. Virginia is a purple state turning blue. We can fight back and try to bring it back to a red state or we can continue to prop up bad candidates who turn off conservative voters. We need to pick the candidate this year who has the best chance of winning in November. Take it from a PWC resident who has kept up on its elected officials, Corey Stewart is NOT that person...ABC.

Guest Contributor Bill Petrak

A New Term in Virginia Politics…COREYAGRAPH

Corey Stewart…Why he lost the Primary & why he will not be a U.S. Senator

Anybody But Corey (ABC) – A Prince William County Perspective