Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

mahatmakanejeeves

(57,446 posts)
Mon Feb 24, 2014, 05:45 PM Feb 2014

The Delgaudio loophole

The Delgaudio loophole

As we all know from faithfully reading the passionate defenses of Supervisor Eugene “The Best” Delgaudio (R-Sterling) offered by his faithful followers in the Loudoun County Republican Committee, Eugene did absolutely nothing whatsoever wrong when he (a) ordered his county-paid staff to spend most of their time soliciting political campaign contributions; (b) had his county-paid staff report to his outside wacko right wing homophobic million-dollar-a-year “educational” foundation; and (c) repeatedly lied about it to the public and his fellow supervisors, falsely claiming that he was only soliciting funds for a youth football league.

But just to make sure that no other elected officials ever gets away with doing these absolutely-nothing-wrong things, the Virginia House of Delegates voted 99–0 on February 11 to close what is now fondly known throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia as the “Delgaudio Loophole”: this was the provision in existing law that makes misuse of public assets a crime only if the misuser is a “full-time” official, which, as the special grand jury that investigated Eugene’s absolutely-nothing-wrong actions noted in its report last year, was the sole reason an indictment was not brought against Eugene for the things he did, since county supervisors are apparently considered only “part time” officials. One of the grand jury’s recommendations was to plug this glaring loophole.
....

Meanwhile, Eugene is due back in court on March 4, a special judge now having been appointed to hear the case for his removal for misuse of office. Presumably seeking to bolster his insanity defense, Eugene has been posting off-kilter comments on newspaper websites in response to articles about his little problems: Eugene’s comments consist entirely of his “news[sic]letters” announcing upcoming performances of middle school plays and when he will be picking up litter in the community.

Latest Discussions»Region Forums»Virginia»The Delgaudio loophole