Alborn: ‘Sheriff’ a Self-Proclaimed ‘Disruptive Influence’ on Local Politics

So, who is the Sheriff of Nottingham of Prince William County?

The elusive blogger that has captured the attention of county residents and government officials agreed, for the first time, to be interviewed. He sat down in a coffee shop and opened up about the state of local government, the problems it faces as he sees them, and shared his disdain for the way local government is run in Prince William County.

During the past few months, we had exchanged notes and he finally offered to meet under certain conditions, the foremost was to protect his anonymity. I was surprised when a man I have never seen before ordered a cup of coffee and then approached me and said “Hello Al”, and then sat next to me. 

A blogger myself, I simply didn’t recognize him (and I know quite a few people). This surprised me. The writer goes by the pseudonym “The Sheriff.” I asked how I should address him, and he suggested I call him William Brewer. Brewer recognized me from the picture on my blog. He looks nothing like the picture on his blog.

With diverse connections in the county and a child who is a schoolteacher, Brewer started his blog in an effort to call attention to the actions of local government while protecting the interests of his friends, family and associates.

He felt compelled to write about things that he witnessed occurring in local government – penning mostly about things he disagrees with. His rising property tax bill was the “tipping point,” he said.

Brewer started The Sheriff of Nottingham of Prince William County in May. This was his first attempt at blogging, and he quickly hit a tone that resonated with his readers. Brewer now has 2,000 hits per day on his blog – a good number for a website with such a local focus.

Brewer is known for taking an adversarial tone toward those in elected office, as well as Prince William County Government employees. It’s all an attempt “to be noticed,” he said. He’s intentionally loud, and Brewer wants to control the conversation to get both the public and government’s attention. It’s a bid for both awareness and reaction, he said.

Brewer has intentionally cast himself a disruptive influence in Prince William County. He considers a lot of things our local government does with our money abuses of power. His first blog post was about the abuse of Discretionary Funds – monies that elected officials could spend as they saw fit. The Board of Supervisors later did away with those funds after much public outcry. Bloggers like Brewer to credit for the funds’ demise.

Brewer is now paying particular attention to what he sees as continued abuses of public money and bad behavior on the part of those who serve in local government. Most recently, one of his writings focused on the FY2014 budget process, and what he sees as unreasonable resistance to the flat tax proposal of Chairman Corey A. Stewart (At-Large) and Gainesivlle Supervisor Peter Candland. He opined that Prince William County operates without much public oversight. Most folks are just too busy commuting, raising their families, or getting on with their lives to pay attention to local government, he said.

“Character is what you do when no one is watching,” he said.

Brewer also has opinions about the Prince William County Board of Supervisors.

“There is nothing better than a reformed sinner,” Brewer said regarding members of the Board. “Every sinner has a past, and ever saint has a future.”

“There is nothing the public would love better than for a Supervisor to simply admit he made a mistake, and move on,” he added.

Brewer is more interested using his blog to prompt a change in the actions of Prince William’s Supervisors as a whole.

County Executive Melissa Peacor has also been the focus of Brewer’s writings. Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland earlier this month voiced a no-confidence bid in Peacor following what he called a flawed review of his 2014 flat-tax budget proposal. Brewer, too, has called for Peacor’s ousting.

“The buck always stops with the chief executive, and they are well compensated to take the fall when the interests of the enterprise outweigh the interests of the individual,” said Brewer.

Following Candland’s statement, members of the Prince William Board of Supervisors said they supported Peacor, who serves at the direction of the Board. Overall, Peacor said, the rise in the popularity of bloggers in Prince William County has not prompted a change in the way her office conducts business.

“[County] staff serves the community by carrying out the direction of the majority position of the Board. We always communicate with the Board and serve them in the same capacity regardless of whether there are bloggers or not,” stated Peacor.

Although some have suspected he is, Brewer is not a member of Candland’s budget review committee that submitted a funding proposal for FY2014 to county staff.

Brewer is not alone in his quest to opine about local government. He has sources whom he refers to as “birdies” who sing to him, apparently, from inside the McCoart Government Center in Woodbridge. Many of them, Brewer said, are government employees that don’t like their jobs.

“My blog is the only place they may share their frustrations,” he said.

It’s not only Brewer who writes to get attention; so do those who comment on his work. Brewer’s readers only see only the “tame” comments on his blog because he filters out the really nasty stuff, and there is, according to Brewer, many nasty comments from Prince William County Government employees that he just chooses not to share.

While he doesn’t mind being a sounding board for those employees, Brewer said once the change that he feels is long overdue comes to the McCoart Building, he would be willing to hang up his hat. Until then, Brewer said he feeds the local government’s frenzy to respond to his posts, their paranoia about what he will say next, and the disdain that many county employees have for their employer.

“When they top obsessing and start correcting problems, I’ll go away,” said Brewer.

It’s a promise he offered to put in writing.