It’s a bit unusual to have one-quarter of your county supervisors facing recall petitions from their constituents.  It’s also unusual that Prince William County has no Ombudsman or Ethics Office.  So, what other recourse do our citizens have?

In the Navy, when a commanding officer is relieved for cause, it is usually not for specific misdeeds but for leadership failures that adversely affected subordinates or enabled their substandard performance.  You’ll hear terms like “loss of trust and confidence in the ability to command” or “cultivating a poor command climate.”  There is a recognition that bad leadership is unacceptably corrosive to an organization.


It seems clear to us that, as a group, our local elected leaders in Prince William County appear to be struggling to make decisions regarding the long-term strategic use of a scarce resource — our land.

Such land use decisions are critical to ensuring our county will be one that continues to attract new residents and new businesses and retains the current attributes that attracted current residents to move here.


Citizens were recently treated to two more mind-numbing episodes in the surreal story of the Prince William Digital Gateway.

The July 13 Planning Commission meeting featured an exchange where Gainesville commissioner Rick Berry asked acting Planning Office Director Rebecca Horner why there was a work session scheduled to discuss the proposal when neither the Comprehensive Plan update nor the overlay district review was complete.


In March of 2020 the stock market plummeted nearly 8,000 points and by April unemployment hit 15%. That same month, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors responded by increasing the average residential tax bill by almost $200 per family.

In April of 2021, with the economy still on its back and inflation creeping in, Prince William County residents got socked by their elected body with another hit to their wallet of over $300 on average.


Dr. Lucretia Brown was the first high-profile hire by Dr. LaTanya McDade, who took over as Prince William schools superintendent after Dr. Stephen Walts retired a year ago. Before coming to our area, Brown was the Deputy Superintendent of Equity, Accountability, and School Improvement for Allentown School District in Pennsylvania.

Now at Virginia’s second-largest school district, she’s made few public appearances and has yet to address the county School Board. In light of the recent focus on critically responsive teaching, a statewide gubernatorial election that put Critical Race Theory under a microscope, and a string of School Board meetings with parents demanding a more significant role in their children’s public-school education, it’s fair to say many of us are curious about her, and what she plans to do in her new role.


A fellow commissioner asked me following the aborted March 31 meeting of the Racial and Social Justice Commission (RSJC) the following question: “What do you [Mac Haddow] want to allow the Commission to make progress?”

I understand the frustration because I share it – albeit for vastly different reasons.


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