Loudoun Board Bars Use Of Builder Campaign Funds - washingtonpost.com
or click on the title above.
By Sandhya SomashekharWashington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 2, 2008; Page B01
Loudoun County supervisors voted yesterday to bar themselves from accepting campaign contributions from builders and others with proposals before the board as part of a broad effort to restore public confidence in a body that some have viewed as too close to the development community.
_______________________________________________________
Leesburg Today CLICKHERE for the whole article
07/04/2008
Loudoun Supervisors Restrict Contributions from Developers
By Erika Jacobson -
In an attempt to assure residents that there are no back-room agreements or conflicts of interest happening at the dais, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Tuesday adopted new policies limiting the action a supervisor could take on an application submitted by a campaign contributor.
"I think there has to be transparency in ethics and government. I think this takes us one step forward in making this distinction," Supervisor Susan Klimek Buckley (D-Sugarland Run) said.
Under the new policy, supervisors would be prohibited from taking campaign contributions from anyone with certain land use applications pending before the county from the time that application is submitted to six months after the board's action on the item or the withdrawal of the application. Applications included under the new policy are rezonings, special exceptions, proffer amendments, concept plan amendments, zoning appeals as well as any other appeals before the board of supervisors, Comprehensive Plan amendments and requests for early removal from Agricultural and Forestal District.
_______________________________________________________
Living in the Triad area of North Carolina my whole life. I'm saddened and disgusted by what seems to be serious misconduct involving local governmental officials, for example Heart of the Triad, campaign contributions, and developers plus their lawyers influence on boards and commissions in Guilford County and especially the city of Greensboro.
Triadwatch reported the influence of the developers on the Greensboro Land development ordinance committee CLICKHERE , also Jordan Green from Yes Weekly went farther with article on the developers more assertive on panel to rewrite Greensboro's land development ordinance CLICKHERE
We cannot ignore the substantial influence developers or their coalition called the Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition also known as the TREBIC CARTEL have gained over the past decade in their pursuit of paving over every acre in Guilford County.
It is time we curb developers' influence by banning them from contributing to politicians who will decide on their zoning or land-use permits. It's also time we give the public a say in development proposals that impact their neighborhoods for example getting a bill passed to make Greensboro comply with a North Carolina General Statute called Protest Petitions.
A developer should not be allowed to financially contribute to a candidate for public office in a county or municipality in which they plan to seek government approval.I hope what has happened in Virginia trickles down south to North Carolina.
3 comments:
Thank you for bringing this information to us. It is heartening to know that somewhere out there one can find a whole group of honest politicians who are willing to stand up to the movers and shakers and try to produce an honest government.
Why don't we do this in Guilford and Greensboro? Because the people have had the thieves and liars for so long that they are entrenched perhaps too deep. The entire city and county governments are rife with dishonest employees and these are at the top or near the top where decisions are made. Some council members and commissioners are dishonest, but the politicians come and go. Mitch will outlast all who are on the city council now and he knows it. his bosses(and we all know their names and if not just notice some of the names on buildings and such), his bosses will protect him from any real harm no matter how many bloggers call him slime. And his bosses will pour enough money into the campaign funds of the "right" people to get them elected if the heat gets too much. They ( the M&S) allow a Mary Rakestraw or Trudy Wade in office from time to time just for a few giggles. Notice however how Robbie Perkins is elected again and again even when his hands are dirty up to his elbows.
But, thank you again for the good news. it kinda gives one hope. BB
I lived in eastern Loudoun County for 14 years, and my sister has lived in western Loudoun County for more than 38 years.
The area i lived in (Sterling Park) is a nightmare now, and the creeping crud of development has spread westward to encompass Leesburg. the people of Middleburg, where my sister has a 30 acre horse farm, are desperate to keep their quality of life intact.
It's long past the time when this should have been stopped.
When can we expect Greensboro and Guilford County to learn the hard lessons so many other areas have learned?
bb and bubba thanks for the post. One can only hope that some change could happen here in Guilford County, here is a quote from my quest column with a great quote and you know this person who said this
I will leave you with a quote from a Greensboro resident who said it well: "It's time that citizens had a way to stop the business-as-usual crowd from developing our quality of life out of existence."
Post a Comment