Comments Off

By Marc, May 15, 2012 8:26 pm

Glad to see that SOMEONE is getting help from VDOT. Yes, that’s Mark Dudenhefer’s (R-VA-2nd) (a.k.a. Mudslide Mark) house on Legal Court in North Stafford (the one with the car backed into the driveway). And yes, he got VDOT to completely repave the area in front of it. As you can see, VDOT also paved a small portion in front of his next door neighbor’s property. But still…

Between having the 2^nd house district line drawn less than 30 feet from his property line—to getting VDOT to spend money it doesn’t have budgeted to completely repave the part of the street in front of his property—we know at least one person is benefiting from Mark Dudenhefer’s incumbency…MARK DUDENHEFER!

And OBTW, nice vote last night Delegate Dudliness.

Comments (3)

By Marc, October 17, 2011 4:30 pm

I think it’s fairly well documented on how Mudslide Mark Dudenhefer has voted to cut millions in funding for Stafford County Public Schools and in 2011 he voted against increasing funds to the school board by $1 million. We’ve previously talked about Mudslide’s chain-sawing of the school’s operating budget and the resulting effects on our school system.

What we haven’t discussed is the self-purported myth that Rock Hill Supervisor Cord “Not So” Sterling has fought to increase funding to our school system. Let me say this very clearly: Cord is no friend of our schools.

As the 7th richest county in America, Stafford County pays its teachers 13% below the national average – according to the U.S. Census Bureau and Stafford County Public Schools. Prince William County, our northern neighbors and the 9th richest county in America, pays its teachers 18% more and the City of Alexandria, the 39th richest county in America, pays its teachers 38% more – according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Virginia Department of Education. Our other neighbor Spotsylvania County, which isn’t even one of the richest counties in the nation, pays its teachers 4% more. According to Stafford County Public Schools, the average teacher salary is $50,692.

How are we supposed to keep our outstanding teachers, if we can’t even pay them competitive salaries? You know it isn’t cheap to live in the 7th richest county in America.

I’m sure that Sterling and Mudslide will try to further slice and dice the numbers and ask county staff to develop some sort of report to show just how supportive they are of our schools. Maybe they can claim a computer “glitch” like Sheriff Jett.

Just how bad have things gotten for Stafford County Public Schools? Sterling and Mudslide cut school funding back to 2006/7 levels as the percentage of schools making Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) fell from 95% to 33%. That’s what I call results?!

Worse yet, according to Independent Rock Hill Supervisor candidate Dean Fetterolf, the amount of funds transferred to schools as a percentage of total county spending has fallen more than 16% since 2006. Yet, in 4 of the last 6 years schools saved and returned nearly $8 million to the county general fund. During this recession our neighbors increased their funding above their existing required local effort levels by an average of 20%. Stafford cut its by 30%!

These draconian reductions in funding have had a direct impact on our classrooms. Stafford County now sports the 5th highest K-7 student ratio in Virginia.

Sterling and Mudslide are either in denial about our schools or intentionally trying to mislead voters on the state of our schools. It’s an election year and they really want your vote.

It isn’t only our teachers and students that Sterling and Mudslide have turned their backs on, but also critical school support staff that keep our schools running smoothly. Back in December of 2009, they voted to deny salary increases to certain categories of school employees (including bus drivers and cafeteria workers).

Stafford school cafeteria workers that have been on the job for 10 years are making 11% less per hour (18% for those on the job 20 years) than their counterparts in Spotsylvania County. School bus drivers that have been on the job 10 years are making 8% less per hour compared to their counterparts in Spotsylvania County too.

If I were Sterling and Mudslide, I wouldn’t be sitting down for a school lunch anytime soon.

We need representatives who show their support for our schools through actions and not empty rhetoric. We need representatives who understand that a top-notch education system is an economic incentive for attracting new businesses and families. We need representatives who understand offering competitive salaries to teachers (and those other support personnel) are essential in attracting and retaining them.

We need representatives like Dean Fetterolf (I-Rock Hill) and Esteban Garces (D-2nd VA House District).

Comments Off

By Marc, October 12, 2011 10:05 am

At a recent NAACP candidate forum, did Mudslide Mark Dudenhefer try to walk back his support for toll lanes by suggesting that he “had no vote on HOT lanes”? Was he now trying to suggest that he didn’t support them? Not quite. What he did was further reaffirm his strong support for them. He now claims that they will be a big boon for jobs.

The only big boon will be for the foreign entities that will now control our “public” roads. That’s right, we will now be paying foreign companies (i.e. Fluor-Transurban) for the privilege to use our “public” road system.

Worse yet, it’s taxpayers that may be left holding the bag. Assuming that the I-95 contract is similar to the Beltway one for HOT lanes, if not enough toll payers use the HOT lanes it will leave Virginia, and taxpayers, on the hook in providing financial compensation to these foreign entities. If carpooling increases, taxpayers will also be on the hook and have to pay.

If only Mudslide Mark afforded the same “safety net” to constituents in his Stafford County supervisory district, maybe those families affected by a recent landslide wouldn’t be left out in the cold. You see there are those who fund his political campaigns and those that do not.

You see Mudslide Mark has no interest in conducting a top-to-bottom investigation of the Stafford County permit office that can’t seem to find the inspection of a retaining wall for homes that have seen the ground below them steadily slide down a hill; or, in the developer who is avoiding answering questions on the construction of these homes.

This should come as no surprise, as Mudslide Mark wouldn’t want any sort of oversight to get in the way of business (or his campaign assets). “Oversight is just a buzzword for more government bureaucracy getting in the way of business,” said Dudenhefer.

Mudslide wouldn’t want oversight of a foreign company running our public road system getting in the way of there profits – would he? I’m sure that he wouldn’t be too concerned with making sure that traffic wasn’t being manipulated in any way to assure that a foreign company wasn’t squeezing every dime out of Virginia taxpayers.

Based on what has been purported, I have serious reservations about HOT lanes in Virginia. According to the Washington Times, “Virginia taxpayers are on the hook once again if, between now and 2087, improvements are made to free, non-tolled roads in the vicinity of the toll lanes. These ‘noncompete’ agreements ensure that the toll-road company will enjoy a monopoly at taxpayer expense because surrounding roads will grow increasingly congested in the ensuing eight decades. In other words, free roads will be neglected and not expanded to create congestion that will force motorists into tolled lanes.”

I suppose Mudslide Mark is ok with foreign companies enjoying a monopoly at taxpayer expense, so long as his campaign assets continue growing. It’s also no wonder why Mudslide has long opposed the indefinite postponement of toll lanes on I-95. Build, baby, build!

It’s bad enough that Stafford County raised the personal property tax on everyone’s vehicles by 25 percent, but now Mudslide is potentially asking a commuter who wants to avoid gridlocked roads to pay upwards of $33,280 each year. Not to mention that commuters who choose to use these lanes during off-peak times will now be charged a toll. Oy vey!

In the end, Mudslide is dead wrong when he categorizes HOT lanes as a “major part” of a solution to eliminate gridlock on our roads. A “major part” of a solution would be to extend rail within our area and bring more high-paying jobs locally. Simply increasing the volume that our roadways can handle will only increase traffic and not ease it.

As the famous line from the movie Field of Dreams explains, “if you build it they will come.”

Comments Off

By Marc, October 1, 2011 8:47 am

Stafford County Board of Supervisors Chairman Mark “Mudslide” Dudenhefer clearly doesn’t want to deal with the mudslides and sinkholes threatening his constituents’ homes. While these families are about to lose everything they own due to a catastrophe caused by a lack of county government oversight of developers and Stafford’s lax regulations over builders — Mudslide Mark is more focused on his political career advancement trying to grab the newly created 2nd Virginia House District seat.

Here’s a report from WJLA on a recent mudslide that destroyed several families homes in the Austin Ridge community of Stafford County:

At a recent town meeting with county officials, the affected families received few answers on the cause of the mudslide. The responses they received from Dudenhefer and other county officials were useless and the meeting seemed to resemble the late 70s game of Pass the Buck.

So the developer had a permit to build a retaining wall, providing support to what appears to have been a pretty steep slope, and county officials can’t confirm if it was ever inspected. If they can’t confirm it was ever inspected, can they confirm one was ever built?

As we recently tried to explain to Mudslide Mark, regarding our schools, accountability doesn’t come cheap.

As the ground steadily slides down the hill taking all the families assets with it, Mudslide Mark is more concerned with scrambling to cover his own ass(ets) then trying to help the families. Unfortunately for these devastated constituents, the best that Dudenhefer will offer is an anemic off-loading of responsibility. “The board will decide what can or can’t take place,” Dudenhefer said. He went on to say, “any perception that we’re ignoring or not dealing with it are not true. There’s meetings…ways to help.”

Meetings? That’s the best Dudenhefer can offer to these displaced families? How about a top-to-bottom investigation of the permit office that can’t seem to find the inspection of the retaining wall? How about rolling back the lax ordinances that allowed builders to construct homes on such risky sites? Oh right, Mudslide Mark is too busy gunning for a promotion and collecting big developer dollars for his delegate campaign to allow himself to be distracted with the real problems of his current constituents.

Let’s not forget, it was Mudslide Mark who was at the center of helping to overturn several county ordinances that dealt with maximum slope steepness and setback for resource protection areas (see Potomac Resource Protection District).

Mudslide Mark may not care about residents in his district, but he cares about his developer buddies. Someone’s got to fund his campaigns. After all, limiting what a lot yields (20 units vs. 100 units) would seriously dampen developer profits. Screw the homeowners who may one day see their piece of the American dream drift away into the mud.

In general, it is our understanding, that current county development ordinances prohibit building on slopes 35% or greater. As we just explained-due to the fact that most of the stable land in the county has already been developed-slope steepness is of great interest to developers trying to maximize profits in the county.

Other issues that arise from slope steepness are environmental (e.g. runoff) and safety concerns (e.g. mudslides).

In addition to the angle of the slope, ordinances must consider soil types when determining suitability for development. Ever try building a sand castle and then dumping water on it? Sandy soils are typically less stable then dense clay. Generally sandy soils on steep slopes require extensive engineering to assure stability of construction. Of course, this safety factor adds to the cost of construction and cuts into builder’s profits. When builders complained about this to Dudenhefer, his door and campaign war chest were wide open.

An issue of safety should never be subject to political back-scratching and pocket-filling. Common sense — and common decency — are needed. Mudslide Mark Dudenhefer is far too concerned with filling his campaign coffers versus finding a balanced approach that allows for future development, but also keeps residents safe and our environment clean.

It’s time to hold Mudslide Mark accountable!

Comments Off

By Marc, September 25, 2011 11:49 am

I don’t know about you, but here in the Fredericksburg area—during the early autumn months of odd-numbered years—I am struck by how state roads that for two years prior remained pockmarked with Buick-sized potholes suddenly are milled and expertly paved. All of this, courtesy of our munificent Speaker of the House of Delegates Bill Howell. Of course, Bill’s up for re-election…and he really wants your vote!

Nuthin’ happens around here for no reason.

In Stafford County, it is always about politics. And, the overly aggressive arrest and handcuffing of #BananaMan by Deputies of the Stafford County Sheriff’s Department was no accident. That is because this year, Sheriff Charlie Jett is up for re-election…and he really wants your vote!

If the Colonial Forge High School sophomore Bryan Thompson’s antics hadn’t been captured by a mobile device camera—and replayed on YouTube more than 66,000 times—the BananaMan episode would never have made national or international news.

And none of us would be asking the deep and troubling questions about how a funny, good-natured, high-functioning autistic kid could be punished so severely for a high school prank so benign.

But thanks to social media, Stafford County and the world have gotten a sobering view of how Sheriff Charlie Jett’s burning desire for re-election got in the way of common decency…and common sense.

A Colonial Forge parent working the food concessions told us that she wasn’t in the stands to see BananaMan’s on-the-field brouhaha. But, she witnessed—beforehand—sheriff’s deputies acting overly aggressive with some kids buying refreshments.

What is going on here? Are Sheriff Charlie’s recent visions of flash mobs looting Stafford County convenience stores affecting his policing strategy? Or, is it just politics as usual for Stafford County—where the winning strategy for re-election as sheriff is to show how tough you are on crime by having your deputies rough up a nice kid in a store-bought banana costume before a large crowd of onlookers?

Stafford Sheriff Candidate Chuck Feldbush (I) thinks it is all of these things and more. “This is the latest example of a department going bananas over harmless kid stuff while real crime – violent crime – is threatening the peace and safety of Stafford County,” said Mr. Feldbush.

“Slapping cuffs on a kid – who has a disability – for running down the sidelines at a high school football game in a banana suit is a complete overreach of the authority of the sheriff’s department.” Mr. Feldbush continued, “It’s a disturbing sign that Sheriff Jett has lost control of his deputies – and this is placing our kids at risk.”

According to the Virginia State Police, violent crime is up 66% in Stafford.

Where has the Free-Lance Star been on reporting about this brouhaha with law enforcement? The overlords of your hometown newspaper are probably too distracted by thoughts of cashing the $1.3M check they stand to collect for hosting Sheriff Charlie’s overpriced $40M public safety communication system on their broadcast towers.

After all, what are friends for?

And where does Stafford County Commonwealth’s Attorney candidate Eric Olsen figure in all of this? The overzealous “Law & Order” [intellectual property-stealing] prosecutor is probably fuming that BananaMan’s ten-day suspension has ended early and that he won’t be able to put the kid on the stand in a jury trial.

But Eric, have no fear. We hear that there was a Grape running amok around Stafford this week, too. (Times a waistin’ and you and the Man in the Yellow Hat need to go find him!)

What has BananaMan taught us all? It’s politics, stupid!

Comments (2)

By Marc, September 24, 2011 5:59 pm

Could a lack of accountability by the Stafford County School Board have led to the hiring of Dr. Karen Spillman, the Colonial Forge High School principal who we discovered—through publicly available sources—was convicted in 2007 in Prince William County, Virginia for public intoxication?

Dr. Spillman’s name is all over the internet and social media like Facebook for famously suspending Colonial Forge High School student Brian Thompson ten days following his benign Banana Man [high school football game half-time] prank.

Parents are asking administration officials and their school board members simple but serious questions, such as: what motivated Colonial Forge’s new principal and Sheriff’s Deputies to “go medieval” on the smart, funny, and high-functioning autistic kid running around the field in a store-bought banana costume? And, is [Principal Spillman] temperamentally well suited to lead Stafford County’s academics leading high school?

We believe Superintendent Randy Bridges acted properly in bringing an end to the BananaMan controversy. But does the school system Dr. Bridges runs have the necessary funding to run itself—and to assure proper administrative accountability? Budgets are stretched so far beyond tolerance—we know that because the Stafford County Board of Supervisors, led by its chair Mark Dudenhefer—took a chainsaw to the school system’s current operating budget.

Year-after-year, the chain-sawing of school operating budgets gets worse, thus year-after-year, staff members and administrators do even more with much less.

This year, Chairman Dudenhefer gleefully reduced the school system’s budgets to the point of utter absurdity. So, it is not outside the realm of possibility that decision-makers in Stafford Schools—who force themselves to do more work with less headcount—look over their shoulders and take time-saving shortcuts to complete critical hiring.

Did overwork and shortcuts [like not using Google or other search engines to query] lead Stafford Schools to avoid necessary due-diligence in regards to vetting candidates for its open assistant principal and principal assignments? Is it conceivable that an overworked senior administrator in Stafford Schools—under pressure from up on high to hire—have rushed the hiring of Dr. Karen Spillman?

We believe that it has.

Could a better-funded school board have identified the bright red flags in Dr. Spillman’s curriculum vitae?

Perhaps.

Comments Off

By Marc, September 21, 2011 6:07 pm

If I were Paul Milde (R-Aquia), I’d too want to forget all about the $40 Million public safety radio communication system. I recently wrote about how bad of a deal this was for Stafford taxpayers.

At last night’s Board of Supervisors meeting, the board was presented with an updated Telecommunication Plan – which was to be voted on as an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan.

Director of Planning and Zoning, Jeff Harvey, got things started by presenting the key points of the proposed Telecommunication Plan – which is meant to address broadband communication in its various forms and the guidelines for placement of towers throughout the county. Of particular note, the plan “encourages the placement of telecommunication towers on county owned properties.”

What ensued was an unexpected discussion on tower leases and the public safety radio communication system between Anthony Romanello and Paul Milde.

Milde wondered whether it was “legal” for the county to be in the business of building towers and leasing towers to individual users.

Romanello said, “We certainly could have as part of our public radio communication system. The direction from the board, which was probably six years ago now, was no new towers. So we made a conscious decision to work with the existing infrastructure that was in the county, which is why were in most cases we are leasing.”

Milde then realizing that he had stepped in it shot back to Romanello that he wasn’t talking about the public safety radio communication system. If I were Milde, I’d try to avoid talking about this at all costs. After all, he voted for Sheriff Jett’s outrageous deal in the first place.

Romanello responded by saying that “I understand that but that would have been an opportunity to go into that business and then to have leased out that space or the existing capacity to the private sector.”

As I’ve previously noted, Supervisors including Milde and Mark Dudenhefer (R-Garrisonville) had previously directed the consultant to “only consider the existing shorter towers [(existing infrastructure)] rather than a potentially less expensive option with fewer taller towers.” Cost containment was not a requirement.

I’m not suggesting that we should have built the towers on county-owned land, but no consideration was given to cheaper options. Romanello’s quote suggests that had we built the towers and leased out any remaining capacity to the private sector that we could have generated revenue for the county. Instead, we negotiated many “sweetheart” long-term leases with outrageous annual escalation rates. What an outstanding job by Sheriff Jett, Milde and Dudenhefer.

I had previously noted my opposition to the way that the radio system was financed – through more expensive Lease Revenue Bonds versus cheaper General Obligation Bonds. Lease Revenue Bonds guarantee repayment from the revenues generated by a specific revenue-generating entity associated with the purpose of the bonds. In Romanello’s example, leasing out excess capacity on the towers would have generated revenue; thus, a case could have been made for these more expensive bonds, if the revenue generated was enough to justify them. However, I still believe voters should have had a say on a procurement of this size.

Where was Milde’s curiosity when he was voting in favor of the public safety radio communication system in the first place? Milde “doesn’t know what the tower owners are charging per spot”? Obviously he has a short-term memory. Let’s review a few examples of what he voted for.

The Thorny Point tower site is costing us $57,000/year with a 15% escalation rate every five years and the Powell tower site is costing us $51,000/year with the same escalation rate as Thorny Point, as a few examples. Let’s not forget that the Free-Lane Star is earning $1.3M from us for one of the towers over the next 30 years (hmm, I wonder). I’ve also been told that the Free-Lance Star had been approached for many years by many parties to lease this tower and those parties were repeatedly turned aside. I guess Jett and company offered them a deal that they couldn’t refuse.

I never cease to be amazed. Thank goodness voters have other options this year: Chuck Feldbush (I-Stafford) for Sheriff, Tim Barbrow (I-Stafford) for Commonwealth’s Attorney and Dean Fetterolf (I-Rock Hill), Charles Latimer (D-George Washington) and Fred Sweat (D-Griffis-Widewater) for Supervisors.