THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 2009

THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 2009

Political Theater

Most Board of Supervisors’ meetings are, to be

frank, rather dull. This last one, however, was

full of high dudgeon, almost a spectacle, with everything from indignant rants, to capitulation, to what appeared to be a very clever “coincidental” appearance.

First, supervisor Ron Frazier very directly accused School Superintendent Dr. Bob Chappell and the School Board of trying to slip something into their budget for a project that the BOS had yet to approve.

Either Frazier was misinformed, or he had a bone to pick, as the line items in question would be funded from a source completely independent of that which would fund the project in question.

Assuming even if his charges were true, the BOS still has the authority to remove items from the budget. So what was all the fuss about?

It turned out that Frazier’s real beef was with a proposed “performance based” contract with Ameresco to upgrade county buildings and schools. Chappell and the School Board just happened to be convenient objects for his ire.

None of the other supervisors showed much agreement with his position: that this contract needed to be ratified by the voters through referendum.

Then, county resident John Lesinski, a Democrat, announced that he would be running against Republican incumbent Todd Gilbert for the 15th District delegate seat. Why Mr. Gilbert would show up at this BOS meeting, instead of all the other ones he didn’t attend, seemed only slightly coincidental.

But, coincidence aside, that was not all. Tbward the end of the meeting, several supervisors made a point of praising Mr. Gilbert’s championing the county in Richmond, and that they were very grateful for all his effort. Not a word was said in support of Lesinski’s candidacy even though he is a resident and Gilbert is not.

It’s not the sentiments we object to, but the timing and the venue and the appearance that the county Board of Supervisors publicly “supports one candidate over the other, and on the day one chooses to announce.

Lastly, and not surprisingly, the board quickly disposed of the proposed purchase of Peter Kramer’s Washington Arts Building, notwithstanding the fact that an appraisal for the building - so demanded by a certain faction - came back at $820,000 as opposed to the $658,000 on the county books. Still, it was below the proposed purchase price of $975,000, but not unreasonably so, especially if the purchase would save the county money and keep the county government in the town of Washington.

Pack a courthouse with angry citizens - more incensed that the county appeared to be “bailing out” the seller than making a well-reasoned decision - and you get a board willing to capitulate instead of making sound fiscal choices. The hearing was one sided.

Is the Bank Road site the only, other viable option? We don’t think the case was made, but either way the result certainly wasn’t due to calm and judicious deliberation.