July 9, 2011 9:28 AM
Scott York's history "serving" Loudoun
********
My Scott York collection:
Loudoun: Act now to oust Scott York
Scott York's Desperate Flip-Flop
Scott York: Send him back to the private sector
Scott York's history "serving" Loudoun County
The campaign to oust Scott York and get less self-serving leadership into Loudoun's Board of Supervisors is heating up. If you don't know much about Scott York, consider that four years ago, he endorsed the most radical group of Democrats ever to run Loudoun County and now - sensing defeat? - has swung a deal with two tp conservatives.
Doesn't look so good for any of the parties involved.
But here are details which may have escaped your notice while you were busy making a living, paying taxes, and raising your children:
Fact Check . LoudounQ Who is best qualified to be Chairman of the Board of Supervisors?
A Stockman is a bona fide professional with training and experience identifying the practical implications of policy, ordinances and contracts. His ability and experience as a business owner and taxpayer is necessary to ensure accurate and workable contracts, ordinances and policies that safeguard our County and citizens. Steve is imminently qualified to perform with excellence and diligence to avoid unintended and costly consequences. Stockman previously served on the Board for 8 years.
York has allowed contracts to pass with errors, or that are open-ended which directly affect Loudon citizens through higher taxes and property rights problems (e.g., Chesapeake Bay Preservation Ordinance and proffers) that could have been avoided with a careful review of the proposals on the front end.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q Will the real Conservative Republican please stand up?
A. Scott York has circulated misinformation questioning proven conservative Steve Stockman's outstanding Republican credentials based on Steve's once voting in a Democrat primary. Many Republicans voted in the last Democratic primaries as a conservative strategy dubbed "operation chaos" by Rush Limbaugh. Google it!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q Who's who in the world of endorsements?
A There has been some confusion concerning endorsements. It is true that Steve Stockman has not been spending time at political fundraisers and appealing to career politicians. Steve has been making hundreds of calls to the people of Loudoun asking what matters to them. Steve has been seeking the endorsements of his fellow taxpayers on convention day July 23rd.
As yet, York has not openly endorsed any Democrats as he did in 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdH1W3eI1J0 and has said he will stick with his recent decision to run as a Republican in 2011. Every Republican candidate has indicated their strong respect for Steve Stockman and their willingness to work with him if he is nominated. Steve has had very productive conversations with many of these individuals who have assured him that they are looking forward to working with him.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Q. Where do the candidates stand on Loudoun's transportation issues?
A. Scott York committed the citizens of Loudon County to an open-ended contract with the Washington Metropolitan Airport Authority that had us paying a percentage of whatever they decided to bill us, for whatever bells and whistles they wanted, and also without any protection of tolls on the leased Toll Road. MWAA wants to raise the tolls to more than $10 each way to pay for the rail to Dulles, so Loudouners will pay twice! Steve knows we cannot afford the bill they want to send us as our percentage, and now our commuters cannot afford to use the toll road.
Additionally, with gross errors throughout the years in rezoning applications, by approving unenforceable or inadequate proffers, Loudoun citizens have not gotten the paved roads and other infrastructure improvements that they were entitled to when the rezonings were granted. We have been stuck holding the bill, while developers were able to out lawyer our staff. Steve Stockman, a real estate attorney, understands the importance of carefully reviewing and writing rezoning proffers, contracts, and ordinances and of keeping tax rates low. Steve supports the Reagan notion that lowering taxes will bring more business to the County, and thereby more revenue, and thereby more taxes collected in the long run. Right now our taxes are not competitive for businesses or homeowners, with Fairfax County being 20 percent less, for example. Higher taxes mean land is harder to sell, values continue to drop, and the tax rate has to go up to "equalize" things-- this is what Scott York has done to Loudoun. York voted for $1.30 per $100 real estate tax rate, the highest in Virginia by far, and the highest in the southeastern United States. First order of business to bring economic development to Loudoun is to lower all taxes, and cut spending.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Q York ads have asked Steve Stockman, "What have you been doing the last 20 years?"
A Steve has been running a successful small business, working in his church and as a principled community leader.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Q Did York support or oppose the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area (CBPA)
A Both. Scott York was part of the majority vote who voted an "Intent to Amend" the county ordinances by going forward with a CBPO. They did not do this as a zoning ordinance amendment, but as a codified ordinance, so all they had to do was vote an intention to amend, and publish that intention (and not the full text).
When the full text was developed, the plan was for the BoS to adopt the CBPO. It was then revealed to York that he owned property that would be affected. This time Scott York voted NO. Quote from the County website on Chesapeake Bay: http://www.loudoun.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=3278
But it goes deeper. Under Scott York's leadership, Loudoun has signed onto Agenda 21 which not only discourages the private ownership of land, but has goals of making half of the Commonwealth of Virginia "wilderness" under government control. Under Scott York's "leadership", Loudoun County has joined a UN sponsored group, ICLEI (google it) to support the Agenda 21 global plan for "social justice" and redistribution of wealth through control of natural resources on public land. One must wonder, "Did he read ICLEI, or did he pass it so we can find out what is in there?"
Steve Stockman says, "Yes, we want clean water, and we have worked hard for decades to keep our water clean, but we do not need oppressive, complicated, growing of government and nanny state oversight over every simple homeowner decision that the CBPO introduced."
-------------------------------------------------------------
Q. In the past, did Scott York personally accept money from developers who had business before the planning commission he was serving on?
A. Back in the 1990's, when Chevy Chase Bank owned thousands of acres of land in Loudoun County, they sponsored a promotion in Cascades ... they sent out THOUSANDS of keys to a lock box and asked recipients to come into the bank to see if their key opened the box. Inside the box was $10,000 for ONE lucky winner.
And guess what? That ONE lucky winner turned out to be none other than Scott York, then a member of the Loudoun County Planning Commission. Chevy Chase Bank was in the process of rezoning land, but that "prize" was not considered a gift or donation. ------------------------------------------------------------
Q Does Scott York work selflessly for the people of Loudoun and to promote the interests of businesses?
A In 2002, a Colorado company called ServiceStar Development, Inc., bought 12 acres of land in Ashburn that turned out to be a really good investment. They bought the land for $1.6 million and sold part of it in 2005 for about $22 million. ServiceStar Development, Inc., got a lot of personal help going through the development process from a man named Scott York. He happened to also be Chairman of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors. Somehow, the staff's recommended denial of requested special exception uses was ignored, and ServiceStar was allowed to develop something zoned as an Industrial Park into a retail center with a gas station, drive through bank, restaurants, etc. ServiceStar did not have to go through the Special Exception process, a public hearing process with staff reports, etc-- but somehow the Special Exception requirement was dropped, and ServiceStar was allowed to develop by right, just submitting a site plan. ServiceStar hired Scott York in 2005. ------------------------------------------------------------
Q Does this Chicagoland-on-the-Potomac style government really hurt anybody, or is it just how things are done in Loudoun?
A It seems that insiders somehow get to avoid the rules. The rules should be fair, and they should be equally applied to everyone, not just a few. Insider deals can result in significantly hurting many landowners and then significantly enriching those lucky enough to find ways around the Staff. The neighbors near the ServiceStar property in Ashburn might be the ones to answer this question best. They complained that they didn't want the strip mall and the traffic it would bring, or for that matter, a traffic light installed within 400 feet of another light at Smith Switch Road. But apparently the needs of those taxpayers didn't outweigh the needs of a company that provided regular cash flow to Chairman York. It was about that time that the contributions started coming from ServiceStar .... first, $5,000 ... then another $5,000, and ... another $5,000. http://www.vpap.org/donors/profile/index/143016 --------------------------------------------------------
Q. Has Chairman York ever worked in the private sector or is he a career politician?
A. Mr. York has held other jobs. He worked as a contractor for Toll Brothers for a long time. Also, in April 2005, after Mr. York was re-elected, and ServiceStar flipped part of their properties for tens of millions in profit, Scott York was brought onto the ServiceStar payroll for over $100,000 a year, according to Scott. And that's when he started meeting directly with county staff to make sure the favors continued. Then, in 2007, in time to run with his slate of slow/no growth Democrats, Scott York resigned his position with the developer, ServiceStar. In some people's minds holding these two positions at the same time would qualify as "Double Dipping"? Mr. York has gone from one extreme to the other, supporting growth at any cost, and then no growth. He has not been a reasonable or rational voice for taxpayers.
Eugene Delgaudio said: Nov. 4, 2007, "YORK STILL GUILTY OF TELLING LIES Scott York hasn't told the truth for a long time. As recently as this week he was forced to disclose that he is no longer employed by ServiceStar. Was he fired, or did he resign? York is guilty of a lot of things that Mike Firetti has been taking him to task for. No one has ever done it like Mike has." --------------------------------------------------
Q Will the same party York helped defeat 4 years ago forget his divisive influence and choose to help York continue his lucky streak by making him their nominee? Just four years ago, Scott was making substantial donations and other support to some of the worst Democrats ever elected in this county including Andrea McGimsey, Stevens Miller, Kelly Burk, Jeanie West, and Susan Buckley.
A. The choice for Loudoun is between a candidate who is an educated man, a common sense business man who has worked to meet payrolls and budgets, a "principled conservative," who is hoping to work closely with the GOP leadership for the good of Loudoun, and . . .
Scott York, who many say is a "political opportunist" who has broken ranks with Republicans to support a radical Democrat Board that raised our taxes by 38%, allowed the CBPO to waste countless hours of taxpayers' valuable time, supported Agenda 21, a radical "Energy Plan" for climate change, and recommended hiring an energy consultant to implement a local cap and trade program in lieu of other economic development options. You can be sure that nothing like this would have happened if we had had principled conservative leadership during the last 20 years of York's reign. The Choice is Clear... Choose Principled leadership You Can Trust! WAKE UP AMERICA! WAKE UP voting citizens of LOUDOUN!Love,
Posted in Loudoun County | Permalink
Comments
Your claim that the current BOS raised taxes by 38% is plainly false. They might have actually raised the tax rate by this figure, I have not checked, but the average tax bill in Loudoun County has been relatively flat over the past four years. If you want to know Scott York's record on tax increases, review the past fifteen years of his votes on the budget where in some cases he voted for increases in average tax bills in excess of 20% in ONE YEAR. Over the course of his leadership on the Board, taxes have gone up something like 300%.
Posted by: Loudoun Taxpayer | July 10, 2011 11:10 AM
First of all, please note that I am not the author, but posting something written by someone else.
The reason taxes have remained flat is because the tax increases have been because of declinging property values. Hence, as property values go down (which they have considerably), the BOS raises taxes to continue bringing in the same amount of money.
This also means as Loudoun families tighten their belts to deal with the changing economy, the BOS has not done the same, but squeezed us harder.
There's plenty that could be cut - in the monstrously bloated school budget - not because of personnel but because of Hatrick's penchant for showcase schools on steroids. Not to mention the BOS travel expenses and other accoutrements of power.
The BOS has snubbed their noses at the "common" people and modeled themselves after the current Washington regime - always the best for them, less and less for us.
We exist to send them money for their agendas, not as constituents whose interests they hold dear.
Time for a change. Conservative leadership and conservative policies.
Posted by: Barbara | July 10, 2011 11:32 AM
Post a comment
