Not Bill Howell's Comment

Very interesting comment left on this blog tonight regarding the prosecutor in the Mark Tate case. I have also been hearing from people that Mr. Britton was close friends with Mr. Plowman when both were attorneys here in Fairfax County.  I'm smelling scandal here- and who leaked this indictment to VCAP????  If the comment below is true- this seems like it could be the real big story going on.

"Wake up people; precisely this sort of thing has been going on in the exurbs of Northern Virginia for 3-4 years. The local Republican establishments know "Bully" Britton is bucking for a judgeship and is collecting chits by doing their dirty work, shafting their opponents for them on trumped-up charges, abusing the legal system for political purposes.

First there was Mike Rothfeld, who dared take on the most powerful member of the state Senate in a primary. Sen. Chichester's brother -- the Stafford Commonwealth attorney -- called in Britton to take down Rothfeld for using an old-form disclaimer on his mailers: nine counts for nine mailers. (This sort of thing happens all the time because the SBE changes the wording for disclaimers every cycle.) Rothfeld plea-bargained rather than continue an expensive fight.

Then there was PW Sheriff Lee Stoffregen (D), who incurred the wrath of County Administrator Sean Connaughton (R) and the GOP supes when he vowed to work against their re-elections after they short-shrifted his budget. Connaughton's hand-picked candidate beat Stoffregen, and Bully was brought in to finish the job. The departing sheriff was indicted because petty cash funds had been used for his farewell party and he had taken home a rifle that had been given to him PERSONALLY by a gun dealer. Stoffregen also went the plea-bargain route to stop the ruinous attorney's fees.

Former Stafford Supe David Beiler -- the bete noire of the local GOP for engineering the defeats of six Republican supes in the past decade -- was next in line. Because he went to his neighborhood school on primary day and collected 10 signatures to put an independent supe challenger on the ballot, he was hit with two felony charges pushishable by up to 20 years in prison, plus fines. The prosecutor" Yup, Bully Britton. The petition form did not not follow state law and was unconstitutional on its face. The judge didn't want to face those issues and acquitted Beiler in nothing flat, just on the facts of the case.

Then Spotsy School Superintendant Jerry Hill ran afoul of the GOP-dominated Board of Supes when he (at the direction of the school board) helped put out a pro-school bond flier with PRIVATE donations. So once again, the local powers leaned on the Commonwealth Attorney to bring in Bully. One Hill indictment was dismissed by the judge early in the process; the other was dropped by Britton shortly before the trial was to begin.

The trail of Bully Britton -- professional political persecutor, hired legal hit man for corrupt local GOP kingpins -- is littered with miscarriages of justice. It ought to lead to impeachment and disbarment, and soon."

Comments

I think this "because the SBE changes the wording for disclaimers every cycle" should read General Assembly changes

Assistant Commonwealth attorneys are frequently used for these kinds of investigations - not elected prosecutors. There's only about 500 assistant commonwealth's attorneys in this state they could've brought in to handle this matter - instead they bring this guy?

It's not like perjury is not rocket science or that we're talking about the Enron prosecution here.

Why this guy?

The leaking of indictments seems very strange to me.

I think it might be worth noting that the Rothfeld prosecution was not for an "old" disclaimer, but for putting out mailings under the name of a group that was not filed with the SBE, lacked complete return addresses to find said organizations, oh and also happened to not follow the required disclaimer language. My guess is the first two points were far more important in determining whether or not to go after Rothfeld than any disclaimer error. Basically the mailers were meant to look like they came from someone other than Rothfeld and apparently Mr. Britton thought they came from Rothfeld and were disclaimed to other entities to hide their origin.

[Not Jack Herrity]

Last time I checked, misappropriating petty cash for a personal farewell party is a pretty serious matter. Sounds like Not Bill Howell also has a partisan axe to grind.

NJH

That was just the tip of the Stoffregen iceberg. To this day they're finding deputy badges that were sold to people in backrooms for $500 campaign contributions to Stoffregen. Just happened a few weeks ago at a traffic stop and it made the local papers.

Maybe this guy gets brought in because he is good at going after corrupt public officials.

[James Young]

This is an interesting, and disturbing, discussion. While each situation/case has to be judged on its own merits, it would be unfortunate if some Republicans or Republican faction were to be found to be resorting to the Democrat tactic of the last thirty years: criminalizing policy differences.

[Mike Rothfeld]

Well, let me assure you, I pleaded to 9 counts of a civil infraction for mis-worded disclaimers -- ALL were from my campaign, and embarassingly all were in some way incorrect. Paid $100 fine for each. Initially, I was charged with two 1st Class Misdemeanors allegedly for something else, but the 9 wrong disclaimers is all Britton had when he showed up at trial.

Interestingly, while I was served the 1st Class Misdemeanor warrants by two state troopers in my office, Tyler Whitley from the Richmond Times-Dispatch called to ask my reaction as he had it leaked by "folks who want to destroy me."

For whatever it is worth.

[NoVAConservative]

All this is nice, but isn't it rather premature to alledge some kind of massive conspiracy without actually knowing what Mark Tate has been charged with?

I believe that information is available--perhaps some of you should try seeing what the prosecution has before judging their case. Call me crazy.

[Phil Chroniger]

- 2 counts election fraud
- 9 counts perjury

That's what he is being charged with. They've leveled multiple charges against Tate, and since this was a Grand Jury indictment, the prosecution must've had SOMETHING that was notable enough in their case against Tate that warranted the indictment.

[Not Bill Howell]

NJH:

I believe the PWSD's petty cash is funded through donations (not public funds) and is controlled by the sheriff. Whether any rules were broken in this case seems to be a matter of contention.

As for partisan axes, not many partisan Dems would defend Mike Rothfeld and Mark Tate. If this sort of thing is going on in Democrat-controlled areas (which wouldn't surprise me a bit), those guys ought to be tossed as well.

[Doug in Mount Vernon]

James Young, you are pathetic.

[Doug in Mount Vernon]

Ok, pugs listen up. Say it with me now:

"DEM-O-CRAT-IC"

It's an adjective, and the only correct form of it.

Use it.

Yeah, this whole thing is strange. You Pugs who think it's some DemocratIC thing are cracking me up.

We settle our backroom arguments in the light--they're called open primaries. Or sometimes conventions.....yuck.

[AWCheney]

"Then there was PW Sheriff Lee Stoffregen (D), who incurred the wrath of County Administrator Sean Connaughton (R) and the GOP supes when he vowed to work against their re-elections after they short-shrifted his budget. Connaughton's hand-picked candidate beat Stoffregen, and Bully was brought in to finish the job."

Somebody better start getting their facts straight: The Stoffregen investigation went nowhere until the FBI was brought in and investigated. If he was prosecuted by Britton, he got a pass. Do you really think he would have taken a deal if he was innocent, and there weren't a whole lot of other charges possible if he didn't?

[James Young]

DiMV, it is even more pathetic that you spend so much time worrying about it.

And those are pretty bold words for a political party which uses the word "gender" when the correct word is "sex," which uses "fair share fees" for "forced union dues," and which endorses redefinition of the word "marriage" to mean something that is never has.

There's very little democratic about today's Democrat Party.