Until recently, members of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors haven’t tried to sell themselves as international diplomats and business development experts. They aren’t.
Nor do we have a long history of waste, fraud, and abuse when it comes to how members of local government spend our tax dollars, especially for money budgeted for constituent services.
But now four Democrat members of the Board have been caught red-handed in the biggest local government scandal in decades. This is what Entitlement looks like.
This year alone, Chair Phyliss Randall, and Supervisors Juli Briskman, Sylvia Glass, and Koran Saines have violated their oath of office by diverting nearly $100,000 in taxpayer money (that we know of) for first class travel for themselves and others to Ghana and Uruguay. Even the purchase of a pricey camera to take pictures of themselves because it wasn’t enough to use their taxpayer-paid cell phones.
That money could have been spent to hire another elementary school teacher, firefighter, or deputy sheriff this year. Instead, it was wasted.
Our taxes paid for these four to travel with their aides, a political campaign donor and others under the guise of “sister city” partnerships – without a compelling reason, and with no return on investment.
The four supervisors did this out of a sense of entitlement, and Loudoun taxpayers paid 100% of the bill. Then, after being confronted by an investigative reporter for WJLA-TV7, they doubled down, and Chair Randall defended their actions. Many of their political allies have done the same, including Laura Tekrony, my opponent in the contest for Supervisor, Little River District. Ms. Tekrony is Chair Randall’s chief legislative aide, and her prolonged silence about the abuse is telling.
Instead of an apology or accountability from the four elected supervisors, Loudoun is being fed lies that more than $1.37 billion in investments and 2,500 local jobs resulted from these and similar “sister city” trips. In fact, the trips have produced absolutely nothing in economic benefits – zero dollars and no jobs, as documented by the county’s own records.
Supervisor Kristen Umstattd, a fellow Democrat, immediately, unequivocally, and publicly called out this misuse of taxpayer money by her colleagues once it became known. She also proposed significant changes to the Board’s travel policy that may be voted on as early as next month.
I am thankful for Supervisor Umstattd’s integrity and support for the policy changes, but we need more.
I call for the money spent by Chair Randall, and Supervisors Briskman, Glass, and Saines on the Ghana and Uruguay trips to be paid back out of their own pockets.
It’s our money, not theirs, and their lie is now exposed.
Ram Venkatachalam
Brambleton, Little River District Supervisor Candidate
5 comments
Sadly, when elephants fight, the grass suffers.
Better idea than the above tit-for-tat screed: Consider how the government can better the lives of citizens and act accordingly.
A competition to better the lives of constituents needn’t descend into a battle to degrade one’s opponents.
Here is a question for the Democrat trolls who fester here occasionally? Why do you have to lawfare Trump so hard? Why do you have to remove all semblance that this country isn’t a banana republic using the government on its enemies… Spare me the Orange Man bad crap… You guys had a phony Russian dossier, crime families that sell their influence, etc… AND NOT THAT a turd like Turtle McConnell, Romney or Murkowski are any better…
Why don’t you just win the election by stuffing the ballot box with mail in ballots??
[…] Republished with permission from The Bull Elephant. […]
NO…. It is time to lawfare them. Create a constructive charge like the Democrats do now. Not just pay back the money… prosecute them.
Drag out the cases… make them pay for their own defense and empty their bank accounts. That is what scumbag lawyers working for Merrick Garland do… a filthy POS himself.. Oh and be sure to file these cases where you could prosecute a ham sandwich… like the bastards do with that filthy banana Republic DC..with its cotery of idiot judges appointed by Obama…
No the days of paying back are over now… the Democrats want to prosecute their enemies… Back at you…
This should also be done on a national basis.. Let’s file some racketeering charges against the Bidens… Hillary and Obama… Let’s see what communication took place to coordinate the cases against Trump..
Let’s go full banana Republic like the Democrats are leading us… Let’s use the full force of the government on our opponents… That’s what those corrupt bastards do..
Great idea! When they have just a little bit of money left, revoke their citizenships and use the rest of their money to ship them to Ghana and Uruguay.