In 2007, Stafford Democrats met with great success at the local level. Dr. Harry Crisp (D-George Washington) and Bob Woodson (D-Griffis-Widewater) defeated their Republican opponents and provided Democrats the necessary votes to flip the board majority from 4 votes Republican to 4 votes Democratic.

Enter George Schwartz (D-Falmouth) who pulled off a major upset victory in 2005 in the Falmouth Supervisor race against Mark Osborne (R-Falmouth). After the 2007 victories, Crisp, Woodson and Joe Brito (I-Hartwood) voted to elect George Schwartz as the new Chairman of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors; thus, putting a Democrat in charge for the first time.

Schwartz decided, immediately upon his election as Chairman, that Stafford’s implementation of the Business, Professional and Occupational License (BPOL) should be the first major piece of legislation that the new democratic majority take up. Schwartz was certainly no stranger to controversy, earning the nickname “Furious George” from his Republican opponents (and some Democrats). It is without a doubt that George possessed a strong intellect, but what would quickly become his Achilles heal was his poor temperament, “me first” attitude and his yearning for power. The potential was there for Schwartz, but unfortunately it was never realized.

Many democrats warned Schwartz that making BPOL the first issue that this new democratic-led board takes up was rife with many land mines. Schwartz mostly won his election in 2005, based on a populist message that developers needed to pay for their impact on our community (e.g. schools, roads, other infrastructure) and that homeowners should not be asked to subsidize this impact through higher property taxes. Fast forward to the end of 2007. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Bush recession began in December 2007. As we all know 2008 was a difficult time for many businesses and families, with employers shedding over a million jobs. The problem for Schwartz was that 2007 was not 2005. Secondly, the BPOL fee affects all businesses and not only developers.

Schwartz also was ill prepared for the aggressive marketing campaign put forth by the Republicans and the business community to derail BPOL, even though many warned him about this from the beginning. He simply dismissed many of his fellow Democrats and labeled them as not “real” democrats, even throwing off a well-respected local Democrat from Stafford’s Economic Development Authority (EDA). Schwartz’s answer to the aggressive marketing campaign put forth by the Republicans was silence.

If all of this wasn’t bad enough, the manner in which Schwartz eventually was able to pass BPOL provided endless fodder for Republicans. It was passed in the dead of night. Supervisors were so tired that some couldn’t even push the correct voting buttons. Personally, I don’t believe our elected officials should be conducting the people’s business in the dead of night and when they are obviously too tired to press the right buttons. Republicans seized on this and made the Schwartz-led board look foolish in a much-circulated YouTube video. To make matters worse, they decided to pass BPOL and delay actually collecting it until 2010. From a political perspective, this allowed Republicans to make the 2009 elections a referendum on BPOL.

In the days, weeks and months after passage of BPOL, Schwartz again failed to present any organized effort to explain it to the business community and homeowners. The Republicans were successful in creating a huge public outcry opposed to BPOL. Fast forward to 2009. Republicans were able to turn this opposition to BPOL into votes and regained a majority on the Board of Supervisors, sending Democrats into the minority for the next four years.

Also as a direct result tomorrow, Republicans will be voting to reinstitute the merchants’ capital tax and get rid of BPOL (I’ll have more to say about this in a subsequent post here).

I keep hearing cries of outrage from some fellow Democrats who pushed so hard for enacting BPOL that more must be done to save it before it is too late. Too late???? These folks need to wake up and understand that it is too late! If only these same folks were so vocal in opposition to Schwartz’s tactics back in 2008, Democrats might not be in the predicament they are today. Democrats must understand that ideas are important, but choosing the right leadership and candidates are just as important.

The failure in leadership of former Supervisor Schwartz has brought Democrats to where we are today. It is time to face the reality or be destined to repeat the past. It is time for Schwartz and his supporters to stop blaming everyone else and face the facts. To those who refuse to move forward, may the Schwartz be with you!

This past Tuesday at the regular meeting of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors, the board approved a resolution authorizing the appropriation of a portion of the aforementioned surplus – approximately $1.4 million to be exact. Supervisor Joe Brito (I-Hartwood) introduced a resolution that would have provided a 1.5% continuous pay rate increase to school employees.

A heated discussion ensued between board members. The result was a substitute motion put forth by the Republicans that nixed the 1.5% continuous pay rate increase for school employees, which would have brought pay in line with Spotsylvania County. The substitute motion, instead, proposed a one-time bonus be paid to certain categories of school employees and to sheriff deputies. This substitute motion eventually carried with all Republicans on board and Supervisor Crisp (D-George Washington) voting in favor of it. Supervisors Schwartz (D-Falmouth), Woodson (D-Griffis-Widewater) and Brito (I-Hartwood) voted against the resolution.

…Listen, ALL school employees (minus the overpaid administrators) deserve a continuous pay rate increase after two years of salaries remaining essentially stagnant while health care premiums have continued to soar, which has ultimately led to a decrease in employees net pay; however, is dipping into this surplus to pay for this increase advisable…The answer to me is NO…In November, State Sen. Ed Houck (D-Spotsylvania) warned the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors that (from the FLS):

The state’s biennial budget has already been cut by $7 billion, he said, and to finish out the current fiscal year, Houck said it is likely the state could have to make $200 million to $300 million more in cuts to make up for falling revenues.

Looking forward to the next two-year budget period, for which Gov. Tim Kaine will announce his plan next month, Houck said the state could be looking at another $3 billion in cuts.

That will be hard to do without cutting education funding again, and Houck said that at this point his goal is “to control permanent damage to our core services.”

…It is VERY likely that based on declining state revenues that education funding from the state will be cut…Not to mention that Gov.-elect McDonnell (R-Virginia) has proposed taking a significant amount of money ($5.4 billion) out of the general fund to pay for his transportation initiatives, which would undoubtedly lead to further reductions in education funding locally…

…I believe that if common sense prevailed on the board that our schools wouldn’t be getting short changed and school employees would be rewarded…Why is no one talking about the fact that the county has a large transportation department when they have no money or responsibility for transportation or why Supervisors Dudenhefer (R-Garrisonville) and Milde (R-Aquia) are so hell bent on spending $45 million on the $25 million radio communication system the county is buying…Why is Stafford County buying a $25 million radio communications system in the first place…This happens to be one of the most expensive systems around and it appears to me that Stafford County taxpayers would have be better served by a more appropriate choice in systems…It is clear to me that we need some major changes to the way procurements are conducted in this county…

…In the end certain categories of school employees and sheriff deputies will be getting bonuses, based on the aforementioned substitute resolution passing…I think that ALL school employees (minus the overpaid administrators) are deserving of this bonus, although I completely disagree with the fiscally irresponsible means by which this is being funded…While I have a great amount of respect for the job that sheriff deputies do, was it really necessary in these fiscal times to provide a second pay increase for deputies this year when many other county employees have received nothing….How about board members put aside their difference for a change and do right by Stafford County…

Supervisor Joe Brito (I-Hartwood) then proposed enacting a new ordinance that would allow Stafford County to return real property tax revenue to taxpayers in any fiscal year with a surplus. This proposal would have provided an equal payment amount to every taxpayer in Stafford County; however, an amendment was adopted to have the payments distributed on a pro-rata basis. The adoption of a county ordinance requires that a public hearing be held. On a 5-2 vote, with Brito (I-Hartwood), Schwartz (D-Falmouth), Crisp (D-George Washington), Woodson (D-Griffis-Widewater) and Sterling (R-Rock Hill) voting in the affirmative, a public hearing was scheduled on Dec. 15 to potentially adopt this ordinance.

…Consistent with my prior comments, I do not believe the surplus (now down to $4.8 million) should be touched, at this point, with expected state cuts coming down the pike…Providing rebates to taxpayers is not a bad thing; however, given our current economic fiscal condition it is fiscally irresponsible…

…The Republican outrage is also quite disingenuous (earth to Dudenheffer and Milde)…The only reason they are outraged is that they want to spend the surplus on repealing the business tax, which is also fiscally irresponsible at this point…Any decisions on spending this surplus should wait until there is a clearer picture from the state on the size of cuts to expect…

…If the same folks that are so against the business tax stopped wasting county money on overpriced consultants and procurements, the repeal of BPOL could be paid for several times over without cutting any services or dipping into any surpluses…

…Given where revenues are headed at the state level, if the surplus is spent there is a high likelihood that property taxes will have to be raised to offset this loss of revenue or there will be severe cuts to core services…Of course this might still happen if the downturn is severe enough, but why put the county in such a position…It’s time to put aside the partisan bickering and do what is right for Stafford County…

…I hear that Dudenheffer actually threatened Crisp with political retribution, after following him to his car to scold him for his support of the rebate ordinance…This sort of behavior is over-the-line, especially from someone who is rumored to be the next Chairman of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors…The “Dude” needs to get ahold of himself and his political ambitions, if this board has any chance of functioning in the near future…