INSIDE:
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OFFICE IN STAFFORD
13 Giants are Blue and Gray champions
National Night Out draws record crowd
About that $8.3 million surplus
PEDIATRIC DENTIST
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NORTHERN VIRGINIA MEDIA SERVICES
AUGUST 7, 2015
VOLUME 27, NUMBER 21
INSIDENOVA.COM
VIEWPOINTS, PAGE 4 | SPORTS, PAGE 6 | CLASSIFIEDS, PAGES 10, 11
75¢
Who pays for Speaker William Howell to attend ALEC meetings $30000 ,
$7,624*
25000
$20,387
TRACY BELL
Stafford County Sun
20000 Taxpayers paid*
15000 Taxpayers*
ALEC paid
10000
Since 2005, Virginia taxpayers spent at least $7,624 to send House Speaker Bill Howell to ALEC meetings across the country. During the same time, Howell accepted more than $20,000 in travel gifts from ALEC.
Total
5000 0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 TOTAL
ALEC
$8.3 million surplus at schools leads to changes
Money spent to send William Howell to ALEC meetings
*Taxpayer expenditures from 2005 and 2006 were not available. Source: Virginia Public Access Project.
Howell talks legislation at ALEC JILL PALERMO
North Virginia Media Services
Virginia House Speaker William Howell recently returned from a trip to San Diego for an annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a rightleaning group that critics say fosters toocozy relationships between state lawmakers and wealthy corporate interests. ALEC, as it’s more commonly known, is officially nonpartisan and bills itself, on its website, as a forum for state lawmakers, think-tank experts and business leaders “to exchange ideas and develop real, statebased solutions that encourage growth, preserve economic security and protect hardworking taxpayers.” But to its mostly left-leaning critics, ALEC is better known for churning out form-letter type legislation that advances conservative, free-market-based policies to limit government regulation or steer tax dollars to private industries. Common Cause, a longtime critic, calls ALEC a “corporate bill mill.” In Virginia, recent ALEC-inspired measures include laws that require voters
to show a photo ID at the polls and school districts to offer “virtual high school” programs, some of which funnel state money to private education companies. Howell, a Republican who represents Stafford County’s 28th District, has been a longtime member of ALEC’s board of directors and was the organization’s chairman in 2009. He has attended annual conferences several times over the years and listed gifts from ALEC, in the form of hotels, meals and transportation, of more than $2,100 in 2014 and more than $21,000 since 2005, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Virginia taxpayers will foot at least part of Howell’s bill for this year’s trip, as they have in years past, since the state pays travel costs and a per diem rate for senators and delegates to attend legislative conferences. But Howell spokesman Matt Moran, who accompanied Howell to the conference, said his office doesn’t yet know the cost of the San Diego trip. Three other Republican state delegates also attended: Kathy Byron (Lynchburg), Riley Ingram (Hopewell) and
Terry Kilgore (Gate City), Moran said. Howell was also accompanied by his wife, Cessie, but the couple paid her way, Moran said. No Democratic state lawmakers, nor any senators from either party, attended the ALEC conference. Morgan Finkelstein, spokeswoman for Virginia Democrats, said Democrats generally disagree with ALEC’s right-wing approach to issues. “And [we] don’t think Virginia should be paying for legislators to go to something that’s so clearly ideological,” she added. Although ALEC has made news repeatedly in recent months because several high-profile corporations — including Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Yelp — pulled out in response to public pressure and concerns, voiced by Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, that ALEC is “lying” about climate change, Moran compared ALEC to other, less controversial organizations such as the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Southern LegislaALEC tive Conference. PAGE 10 “Like NCSL or any of these
The superintendent of Stafford County Public Schools said Monday at a specially called meeting that changes are in order following the discovery of $8.3 million in funds. Superintendent Bruce Benson and his staff indicated that the surplus resulted largely from salary lapses when turnover of employees occurs. For instance, one of the school’s principals who had 38 years of experience retired, according to Valerie Cottongim, public information officer for Stafford County Public Schools. That principal was replaced by an employee with much less experience, she said, resulting in a difference in salaries. However, the new budget during planning still reflected the salary of the previous principal. There were numerous similar examples of items being in the wrong categories, she said, with respect to adopted numbers within the budget versus actual expenditures. About 75 employees retired in June, Cottongim said, and the schools system has more than 4,000 employees. “The superintendent wants to be very transparent and has worked hard to develop a good relationship with the school board and county administration,” Cottongim said. The school board began a discussion about what the savings should be used for, ultimately deciding to discuss the matter before the supervisors’ next meeting on Aug. 18. Two of the recommendations discussed were to use the savings on buses and on a new financial services enterprise SURPLUS resource planning system. PAGE 10 Cottongim explained that
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