Delgaudio regains control of $120K Sterling District budget

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Tue Jul 22, 2014, 08:50 AM - Edit history (8)

Delgaudio is back spending the taxpayers' money again. Donny Ferguson needs a new pair of shoes.

Delgaudio regains control of $120K Sterling District budget

Thursday, Jul. 17, 2014 by Trevor Baratko

Controversial Loudoun Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio on Wednesday night was granted access to $120,500 in county funds for a Sterling district office budget – the same amount as his fellow board members for their districts – but not before a flare-up with fellow eastern Loudoun Supervisor Suzanne Volpe. ... Delgaudio (R) was afforded the district budget allocation one year after being stripped of the funds, this following the report from a special grand jury investigating allegations he misused public assets. The report did not bring forward criminal charges against Delgaudio, but a summary of the grand jury's findings noted that Delgaudio likely did abuse county resources, but that his actions weren't illegal because of a technicality in state law.
....

Volpe then said that some Republican volunteers ran into Delgaudio last weekend knocking on doors with a man who said he was “hoping to be hired as one of Supervisor Delgaudio's aides when he gets his budget back.” ... Commented Volpe, “I don't know about anybody else, but if the first thing you did with a potential hire was show them how to knock doors for you; that's not usually my first requirement when I'm hiring someone to be a staff aide."

“I hope I don't need to say anything more,” she added. ... Delgaudio quickly interrupted – “Is that another allegation?”

Volpe continued, saying the board should expect Delgaudio, in a later meeting, to come to the board requesting the county reimburse his legal fees. ... For his part, Delgaudio said he was simply knocking on doors with “an American citizen” last weekend, and that he's “not campaigning for anything.”
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Contact the writer at [e-mail].

How much do you want to bet that "American citizen" was Andrew Beacham, whom Delgaudio "couldn't recall," but who was appointed by Delgaudio to the board of the Loudoun County Library? Either that, or it's someone just like him.

{Loudoun County, Virginia} Controversial Library Board Appointee Resigns

After Failed Recall Attempt, Delgaudio Wins Funding For Sterling District Office

Posted: Thursday, July 17, 2014 8:00 am | Updated: 8:12 am, Thu Jul 17, 2014.

....
Before voting to restore Delgaudio’s office budget Wednesday night, the board voted unanimously to initiate a new local ordinance to establish that "the misuse of public assets by any part-time officer, agent, employee or elected official of Loudoun County government would be a crime punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor." That ordinance is scheduled for a Sept. 10 public hearing and supervisors said they expected to enact the law that same day.
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Supervisor Ralph Buona (R-Ashburn) read from Stamos’ motion of dismissal her findings about Delgaudio’s treatment of Donna Mateer, who raised the misconduct allegations, and other staff aides. ... The motion stated, “Mateer was clearly treated poorly. There are numerous emails between her and Supervisor Delgaudio that attest to this fact. Having also interviewed his other staffers, the Commonwealth finds entirely credible Mateer's claims that Supervisor Delgaudio constantly put her and other aides down verbally. The Commonwealth believes Mateer when she says that Supervisor Delgaudio berated and degraded her, emotionally and mentally abused her, and was demanding, impatient, and verbally abusive. The testimony of the more than 30 individuals who testified during the Special Grand Jury investigation painted a vivid picture of the Supervisor that the Commonwealth finds consonant with Mateer's description of her working conditions.”
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It was Supervisor Suzanne Volpe (R-Algonkian)—a former Loudoun County Republican Committee chairwoman who supported Delgaudio’s political campaigns over the year—who was most critical. She cast the lone vote against restoring the supervisor’s office funding. ... She urged the board to delay the action until the new county ordinance expanding the criminal liability for misusing county resources was on the books, a suggestion supported by Buona and Supervisor Matt Letourneau (R-Dulles).

After other supervisors said they saw little merit in delaying action until September, Volpe raised questions about whether Delgaudio understood the boundaries between constituent service and campaign work. She told supervisors Delgaudio made door-to-door calls with a man who said he hoped to be hired as the supervisor’s county aide as soon as money is available. She also warned that Delgaudio would likely turn to the county government to pay his legal bills resulting from the recall petition case. A Circuit Court hearing is scheduled for Monday to decide that issue. ... Delgaudio objected to those comments. He said he was simply walking with “an American citizen” who he was considering for future employment. He also said that in a previous failed recall case in Loudoun, the county was required to pick up the $40,000 legal bill for that supervisor.

Eugene "I Can't Recall" Delgaudio

The Washington and Old Dominion Railroad having been abandoned in 1968, it took four days for the news to reach Washington, DC:

[link:http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/loudoun-county-supervisor-regains-control-of-sterling-budget/2014/07/18/8cb73c40-0e91-11e4-8c9a-923ecc0c7d23_story.html|]

By Caitlin Gibson July 21 at 1:36 PM

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Supervisor Suzanne Volpe (R-Algonkian) made the substitute motion to delay Delgaudio’s control of his budget until the new measure {a new county ordinance that would criminalize the misuse of public assets by all county officials, including part-time employees} goes into effect. A similar statewide law, also spurred by the Delgaudio case and supported by Loudoun supervisors, went into effect this month after being signed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) in March.
....

Delgaudio responded that he has “changed” over the past year, noting that he dropped a lawsuit he had filed against the board, apologized for his actions and accepted his punishment. ... “I accepted the censure last September, I apologized to the board last September. I stopped this .?.?. arrogance,” he said. “I stopped that.”

But Volpe pressed on, noting that Republican volunteers encountered Delgaudio knocking on doors last weekend, accompanied by a man who was identified as someone “hoping to be hired” in Delgaudio’s office. ... “I don’t know about anybody else, but if the first thing you did with a potential hire was show them how to knock doors for you, that’s not usually my first requirement when I’m hiring someone as a staff aide,” Volpe said. “I hope I don’t need to say anything more.”

Delgaudio quickly protested. “Is that another allegation?” he asked, adding that the man was “an American citizen” and describing Volpe’s comments as “reckless.”

“We’re not campaigning. I’m not campaigning for anything,” he said.

That's not what his website says. Another day; another lie. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.