In light of yesterday’s WaPo story by Caitlin Gibson, I think it’s safe to say that the lovefest between Scott York and Eugene Delgaudio has indeed run its course.
[Delgaudio attorney Charlie King] is probably just drinking the same clown juice that Delgaudio is, because I have no idea what the heck he’s talking about,
said York in response to King’s statement. In that statement, distributed to the media after the board unanimously stripped Delgaudio of his standing committee appointments at its first 2013 business meeting, King tries to suggest that this is all about York, that York has a “pattern” of alleging misconduct, ignoring the fact that Mr. Delgaudio is the subject of a criminal investigation.
A divorce settlement is pending, we hear.
As many have pointed out since the investigation began, and long before it was handed over to the special prosecutor, it is standard procedure to place an individual under investigation on suspension pending resolution of the matter. At the very least, Real Advocate and others argued, Mr. Delgaudio should be barred from shaping revisions to the county’s aide policies. Supervisor Williams attempted to call for stripping Mr. Delgaudio of these duties back in November, but was thwarted by York, allowing him to participate in the Finance, Government Services and Operations Committee making those revisions. Now it appears that York is the sole target of Mr. Delgaudio’s wrath, at least publicly.
Interestingly, local activists with their own agendas have theories to advance. Did you know that Mr. Delgaudio is “critical of development,” for instance, and that’s why he was “pushed off” the Transportation/Land Use Committee by “pro-developer” York? That’s certainly a new characterization of Mr. Delgaudio that we’ve never seen before – and of Janet Clarke, too. Ask the residents of Purcellville whether they think Supervisor Clarke is “critical of development.”
What these activists mean, of course, isn’t the unfettered residential development that has given us an out-of-whack tax base, dysfunctional road design, and threatened water quality – the kind of development of which Eugene Delgaudio has been the most enthusiastic booster and campaign beneficiary since he took office in 1999. No, no, what they mean by “pro-development” now is Metro. Transit-oriented development. Change your glossaries accordingly, people!
I must say, Mr. York does have a way with words here. Given Mr. Delgaudio’s intimate relationship with the local tea party and anti-Metro groups (so intimate that he forwards both his government business and campaign-related emails to them, complete with email headers from private citizens) I think that the creative redefinition of the term “pro-development” we see now in use came directly from him. It was the clown juice.