Press release: "Karla Justice ...[is] condemning the extremely racist remarks made by Supervisor Kenny Boddye. While being interviewed by the Prince William Times about the recent primary election results, Supervisor Boddye seemed to suggest that the Democrat nominee for Board Chair, Deshundra Jefferson, only won because she was black."

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My name is Verndell Robinson. I am an award-winning realtor of seven years who is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Maritime Law. I am running for Potomac District Supervisor because we deserve transparency and accountability from our elected officials.

For instance, most other major counties in our region maintain a lame-duck session policy. A lame duck session is the period between Election Day in November and December 31. Instituting a lame-duck session policy to prevent political games and contentious votes is routine during election years. In particular, focusing on avoiding contentious land use matters during the lame duck session. Instituting this policy gives the public confidence and ensures that Board members and elected officials do not engage in any political games or “pay to play” backroom deals.

But here in Prince William County, it’s clear that some of our current supervisors do not care to uphold that level of transparency and trust with voters. At the center of this issue is their continued push for rampant data center developments.

A lame-duck policy has been proposed in Prince William County to specifically prevent any major land use matters, including data center development applications. Supervisor Bailey remains silent on whether she’ll support the resolution to protect Potomac District residents from political games in the July 11th vote.

I question the motives of her silence. Is she indebted to the data center industry? Did she not hear the cries of the 254 registered constituents saying they do not want more data centers during a two-day Board of County Supervisors meeting?

Why hasn’t she shared the intended Potomac Tech Park on Rt 234 near Forest Park, even though there are already 11.7 million square feet of dedicated data center space elsewhere? Prince William County has a crescent that was not supposed to be touched, but now it seems that our pro-data-center supervisors want to turn it into a concrete jungle.

Maybe her political donations give us a better understanding of her motives. According to her reported donations to the Board of County Elections, most of her donations come directly from landowners who are selling to developers, unions that support data center developments, those who stand to profit from data centers, and the data center developers themselves.

Andrea Bailey has never voted against any data center project, and now she wants them right here in our district. As you know, data centers in residential areas bring with them a host of problems: noise, lower residential tax value, and electrical overload. With the approval of the master plan in December of 2022 for the rezoning of the Potomac Tech Park, data centers are now a Potomac District problem.

To compound the issue, initial applications only bring more applications in return. Now, there are proposals for the land directly across from the intended Potomac Tech Park. This is an area where developers have already shown interest in expanding their current proposal to neighboring residential subdivisions, namely Minnieville Manor, Mallard Overlook, and Ashland.

Potomac District residents: We must fight back now! We deserve a voice that will listen, and that will act in the best interest of the public and not themselves or the data centers. We must stop the political games of lame-duck sessions and prevent applications like Potomac Tech Park from being forced through.

I urge you to support candidates like me, Verndell Robinson, that will listen to the voices of the people. ACT NOW to help pass the lame-duck resolution. Demand Supervisor Bailey makes her position clearly known and demands that our Board fully supports this resolution by emailing [email protected].

Verndell Robinson
Candidate, Prince William Board of County Supervisors Potomac District

Editors note: Potomac Local News aims to share opinions on issues of local importance from a diverse range of residents across all our communities. If you’ve recently spoken at a Board of County Supervisors meeting, send us a typed copy of your remarks for publication to [email protected].

Prince William Times: “Deshundra Jefferson, whose upset win in the Democratic primary unseated incumbent Prince William County Board Chair Ann Wheeler, was propelled to victory by big leads in the western parts of the county most impacted by data center development. Wheeler, meanwhile, won by slimmer margins in eastern Prince William precincts.”

“The Gainesville and Brentsville districts both showed a higher turnout in the June 20 primary and voted for Jefferson, 47, by wider margins, according to updated county election results that track the more than 14,000 absentee ballots cast in the Democratic and Republican primaries back to the voters’ precincts.”

Members of the Prince William County Republican Committee marched in the annual Dale City Independence Day Parade on Tuesday, July 4, 2o23.

The committee submitted the photos in the slideshow.

The parade traveled down Dale Boulevard, from Mapledale Plaza to Center Plaza at Minnvieville Road. It’s the largest Independence Day Parade in Virginia.

Juke Box Diner in Manassas hosted the Fox News Channel's morning show "Fox and Friends," which did a series of live reports from the diner on Wednesday, July 5, 2023.

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Nikki Rattray Baldwin declared victory in the run for the Republican nomination in the June 20, 2023, Primary Election.

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Press release: “On Tuesday, [June 27, 2023] Brentsville Supervisor Jeanine Lawson introduced a resolution at the Board meeting. This will commit the Board to abstain from scheduling certain land use public hearings during the period from Election Day, November 7, 2023, through the conclusion of the current Board’s term on December 31, 2023.”

“In the recent primary, voters expressed their strong opposition to reckless data center development pushed by Chair Wheeler and her Democrat colleagues, Supervisor Angry, Bailey, Boddye, and Franklin. The message conveyed by voters was clear that expediting development approvals without transparency and disregarding citizen input will bear consequences at the voting booth. In response, Supervisor Lawson’s resolution seeks to address public anxiety about the conduct of a lame duck Board.”

“‘I strongly believe this resolution acknowledges that citizens are demanding transparent and accountable decision-making,’ said Supervisor Lawson. ‘By refraining from scheduling high-profile land use public hearings during this short designated period, I believe this reprieve could help rebuild trust with citizens to ensure a fair and inclusive decision-making process. If candidates feel so strongly about these cases, then they should run on them.”

“The resolution is scheduled for an afternoon vote at the July 11, 2023, Board of County Supervisors meeting. Residents are encouraged to attend and share their thoughts on the resolution.”

Rules already on the books in neighboring Stafford County prevent its Board of Supervisors from hearing land-use cases during lame-duck sessions.

Lawson won the Republican nomination to run for the Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chair At-large seat. She’ll face Democrat Deshundra Jefferson, who won her party’s Primary Election on June 20, beating incumbent At-large Chair Ann Wheeler.

Republican Tom Gordy and Democrat Jim Gehlsen is running to replace Lawson in the Brentsville seat.

Voters will decide the next At-large Chair on Tuesday, November 7, 2023.

Insidenova.com: "Down just two votes, Maria Martin announced Tuesday she intends to request a recount in the Republican primary for the District 29 State Senate seat, even as opponent Nikki Rattray Baldwin declared victory in the contest."

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These days, it's rare to see someone who was elected as a Democrat give their endorsement to someone who is running as a Republican.

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