Senator's taped call raises eyebrows
By TIM DAVIS
Star-Tribune Editor | Posted: Wednesday, September 19, 2012 11:35 am
A taped telephone call between state Sen. Bill Stanley and Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors member Jerry Hagerman over a county uranium mining resolution put both elected officials in the hot seat this week.
Hagerman, who represents the Callands-Gretna District, recorded the Aug. 31 telephone call from Stanley and released it to the public.
Hagerman said he made the tape available because he felt like people needed to know why the uranium resolution was pulled from the board’s Sept. 4 meeting.
“This has been a struggle to try and let the citizens know how dangerous uranium mining could be,” said the supervisor.
Hagerman, a retired sheriff’s investigator who was elected last November and took office in January, said he recently bought a tape recorder to avoid missing calls and messages from constituents and to keep notes.
He said the machine records calls automatically.
According to Hagerman, Stanley called him at home on Friday night around 10:30 p.m. after the board’s agenda and resolution were posted on the county’s website.
“I thought it was strange,” Hagerman said of the late-night call. “It’s never happened to me like that before.”
During the conversation, which lasted about 20 minutes, Stanley says Gov. Bob McDonnell had called and asked him to ask supervisors to table, or delay, the uranium resolution.
The governor’s office denied contacting the senator and said it did not ask him to intervene.
Stanley said Monday he “misspoke” when he referred to the governor.
http://www.wpcva.com/news/article_a396d446-026f-11e2-8e3e-0019bb2963f4.html
King McDonnell attempts to subvert the democratic process in Pittsylvania County…again
by: Progressive86 ,
Tue Sep 18, 2012 at 09:34:05 AM EDT
Uranium mining in Southside Virginia abruptly became headline news again when it was discovered that Virginia Sen. Bill Stanley had been recorded telling Pittsylvania County Supervisor, Jerry A. Hagerman, that Gov. Bob McDonnell had requested the former to lobby the Pittsylvania Board of Supervisors to table a resolution on uranium mining at its September 4th meeting. Consequently, the proposed resolution on uranium mining was taken off of the board's Sept. 4 meeting agenda. Coincidence? In effect, what Bob McDonnell and his crony surrogates attempted to do was bypass the democratic process in Pittsylvania County and for now, they appear to have succeeded. It's the latest move in Gov. McDonnell's bag of get-around-the-voter tricks that began with his move to form the "Uranium Working Group" to "be certain that uranium mining can be conducted safely and responsibly." But if McDonnell's goal, or that of the Republicans in the General Assembly, was to determine if uranium mining could be conducted "safely and responsibly," one would have assumed that the National Academy of Sciences uranium mining study group would have been allowed to make recommendations on whether or not to lift the ban, given their findings
http://www.bluevirginia.us/diary/7659/king-mcdonnell-attempts-to-subvert-the-democratic-process-in-pittsylvania-countyagain
09/17/12
Pittsylvania County Superstars Versus Scumbag Bill Stanley
By Loudoun Insider You absolutely must read this great series of posts by Peter Galuszka at Bacon’s Rebellion – there are three posts here, here and here. Good wrap up with more infuriating details in this local newspaper account – the other state level papers better step up to the plate on this scandal. Pittsylvania County is the location of the proposed uranium mine that is throwing around thousands upon thousands of dollars in Richmond, and unfortunately for them, they are in Bill Stanley’s State Senate district. Jerry Hagerman and Marshall Ecker are the two main heroes on the Pittsylvania Board, and they are the kind of people we need more of in public office.
Before the Pittsylvania County Supervisors took up a resolution about the uranium mining (which of course is fraught with massive danger) Stanley took to the phone lines to call and attempt to intimidate the supervisors, all on the orders of Bob McDonnell, according to Stanley, and as verified by a taped phone call by one of the supervisors, who was a long time law enforcement officer. Now Stanley is saying he “misspoke” about McDonnell asking him to make the calls. What a lame attempt at taking the fall, but he is a pathetic bag man nevertheless.
This just shows once again how politics is played in Virginia by what Bacon’s Rebellion so often calls The Clown Show in Richmond. It’s vile and disgusting, and these fine Pittsylvania supervisors deserve medals for standing up to this BS that is playing around with the long term health of their constituents.
Close Ally of Bob McDonnell, Robert Hurt Caught in Radioactive Scandal
by: lowkell
Mon Sep 17, 2012 at 21:08:56 PM EDT
First, let me just give huge props to Peter Galuszka of Bacon's Rebellion, who continues to be one of the best writers, reporters, and bloggers on Virginia politics. Galuszka's been doing great work for years, but he's really outdone himself the past few days, breaking an important story involving State Senator Bill Stanley (R- a large chunk of Southside Virginia), Stanley's "close political ally" Bob McDonnell (T-Bob "helped raise $83,000 for a recent Stanley political campaign"), Virginia Uranium, and god knows who or what else. Here's the gist of what happened, per Peter Galuszka: *"Jerry A. Hagerman, a supervisor in Pittsylvania County which is at the center of a battle over proposed uranium mining, says that State Sen. Bill Stanley..told him that Gov. Robert F. McDonnell asked Stanley to lobby the county Board of Supervisors to shelve a resolution regarding uranium at its Sept. 4 meeting. Hagerman says he has a taped telephone call from Stanley to prove it."
*"Virginia Uranium plans to develop a 119 million-pound deposit of uranium near Chatham. The controversial proposal has attracted national media attention."
*This whole incident "raises questions about the integrity of Stanley, who is one of the state Republican party's fastest-rising young stars. It tends to implicate the McDonnell Administration in influence peddling. It shows how the democratic process can be throttled in intrigues involving a proposal to mine a 119 million pound uranium deposit near Chatham that could make billions for its owners."
*"Stanley has close ties to McDonnell," "in [sync] with McDonnell on just about every issue."
*Stanley is now furiously backpedaling, claiming (lamely) that "he 'misspoke' when he brought up the name of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell during his Aug. 31 telephone call..." Yeah, right.
*Finally, I'd add that Stanley also has close ties to Rep. Robert Hurt (as you can see from the above video, Stanley and Hurt considered each other to be long-time friends), who is highly "radioactive" himself on this one, given his own "shocking conflict of interest" on the uranium mining issue. In sum, a close political ally of Gov. McDonnell and Rep. Hurt was caught, on tape, in a radioactive (figuratively and maybe literally as well) scandal over uranium mining in Southside, Virginia. The question is, what did McDonnell and Hurt know about this, and when did they know it? And no, it's simply not plausible that the either the Governor, or the U.S. Representative from the 5th CD, a longtime friend of Sen. Stanley's (who succeeded Hurt in office), knew nothing about any of this.
http://www.bluevirginia.us/diary/7654/close-ally-of-bob-mcdonnell-robert-hurt-caught-in-radioactive-scandal
Pittsylvania County Superstars Versus Scumbag Bill Stanley
Before the Pittsylvania County Supervisors took up a resolution about the uranium mining (which of course is fraught with massive danger) Stanley took to the phone lines to call and attempt to intimidate the supervisors, all on the orders of Bob McDonnell, according to Stanley, and as verified by a taped phone call by one of the supervisors, who was a long time law enforcement officer. Now Stanley is saying he “misspoke” about McDonnell asking him to make the calls. What a lame attempt at taking the fall, but he is a pathetic bag man nevertheless.
This just shows once again how politics is played in Virginia by what Bacon’s Rebellion so often calls The Clown Show in Richmond. It’s vile and disgusting, and these fine Pittsylvania supervisors deserve medals for standing up to this BS that is playing around with the long term health of their constituents.
Close Ally of Bob McDonnell, Robert Hurt Caught in Radioactive Scandalby: lowkellMon Sep 17, 2012 at 21:08:56 PM EDT |
| First, let me just give huge props to Peter Galuszka of Bacon's Rebellion, who continues to be one of the best writers, reporters, and bloggers on Virginia politics. Galuszka's been doing great work for years, but he's really outdone himself the past few days, breaking an important story involving State Senator Bill Stanley (R- a large chunk of Southside Virginia), Stanley's "close political ally" Bob McDonnell (T-Bob "helped raise $83,000 for a recent Stanley political campaign"), Virginia Uranium, and god knows who or what else. Here's the gist of what happened, per Peter Galuszka: *"Jerry A. Hagerman, a supervisor in Pittsylvania County which is at the center of a battle over proposed uranium mining, says that State Sen. Bill Stanley..told him that Gov. Robert F. McDonnell asked Stanley to lobby the county Board of Supervisors to shelve a resolution regarding uranium at its Sept. 4 meeting. Hagerman says he has a taped telephone call from Stanley to prove it." *"Virginia Uranium plans to develop a 119 million-pound deposit of uranium near Chatham. The controversial proposal has attracted national media attention." *This whole incident "raises questions about the integrity of Stanley, who is one of the state Republican party's fastest-rising young stars. It tends to implicate the McDonnell Administration in influence peddling. It shows how the democratic process can be throttled in intrigues involving a proposal to mine a 119 million pound uranium deposit near Chatham that could make billions for its owners." *"Stanley has close ties to McDonnell," "in [sync] with McDonnell on just about every issue." *Stanley is now furiously backpedaling, claiming (lamely) that "he 'misspoke' when he brought up the name of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell during his Aug. 31 telephone call..." Yeah, right. *Finally, I'd add that Stanley also has close ties to Rep. Robert Hurt (as you can see from the above video, Stanley and Hurt considered each other to be long-time friends), who is highly "radioactive" himself on this one, given his own "shocking conflict of interest" on the uranium mining issue. In sum, a close political ally of Gov. McDonnell and Rep. Hurt was caught, on tape, in a radioactive (figuratively and maybe literally as well) scandal over uranium mining in Southside, Virginia. The question is, what did McDonnell and Hurt know about this, and when did they know it? And no, it's simply not plausible that the either the Governor, or the U.S. Representative from the 5th CD, a longtime friend of Sen. Stanley's (who succeeded Hurt in office), knew nothing about any of this. http://www.bluevirginia.us/diary/7654/close-ally-of-bob-mcdonnell-robert-hurt-caught-in-radioactive-scandal |
Intrigue in the fight over Va. uranium mining
For months, Pittsylvania County near the North Carolina border has been embroiled in controversy over a proposal by Virginia Uranium, backed by local and Canadian investors, to develop a 119-million pound deposit of uranium near the small town of Chatham.
The battle has taken a new turn. It involves a late-evening telephone call by Virginia Sen. Bill Stanley, a fast-rising Republican politician and ally of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, to a county supervisor — who happened to tape-record the call.
The taped call is an embarrassment for Stanley and McDonnell, whose press secretary has denied that McDonnell ever asked Stanley to lobby the board to shelve the resolution. The board did remove the resolution from its agenda without explanation on Sept. 4. The mildly worded resolution asked that proper regulations be in place if mining proceeds and that a public fund be established to pay damages from any accident.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/all-opinions-are-local/post/intrigue-in-the-fight-over-va-uranium-mining/2012/09/18/4176df8e-019f-11e2-9367-4e1bafb958db_blog.html
Intrigue in the fight over Va. uranium mining
For months, Pittsylvania County near the North Carolina border has been embroiled in controversy over a proposal by Virginia Uranium, backed by local and Canadian investors, to develop a 119-million pound deposit of uranium near the small town of Chatham.
The battle has taken a new turn. It involves a late-evening telephone call by Virginia Sen. Bill Stanley, a fast-rising Republican politician and ally of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, to a county supervisor — who happened to tape-record the call.
The taped call is an embarrassment for Stanley and McDonnell, whose press secretary has denied that McDonnell ever asked Stanley to lobby the board to shelve the resolution. The board did remove the resolution from its agenda without explanation on Sept. 4. The mildly worded resolution asked that proper regulations be in place if mining proceeds and that a public fund be established to pay damages from any accident.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/all-opinions-are-local/post/intrigue-in-the-fight-over-va-uranium-mining/2012/09/18/4176df8e-019f-11e2-9367-4e1bafb958db_blog.html
Recorded Call Between Sen. Stanley & Supervisor Causes Controversy
Posted: Sep 17, 2012 6:32 PM EDT , By Whitney Delbridge ,
Pittsylvania Co., VA
A recorded phone call between Senator Bill Stanley and a Pittsylvania County supervisor is raising some eyebrows. Stanley called to encourage the supervisor to table a uranium mining resolution. Now the senator is coming under fire for claims he made in that call that have turned out to be false.
In a private conversation on August 31, Senator Stanley asked Supervisor Jerry Hagerman to influence the Pittsylvania County Board to table a resolution that would protect residents near the mining site if the ban is lifted.
"It was asking for an increase in monetary funds for any accidents that may occur from uranium mining," said Hagerman.
In a phone interview Monday, the Senator says he wanted to table the issue because he felt it was too soon.
"We may be premature in considering this issue because it may not even come before the general assembly or even if it does, it may not pass," said Stanley.
The senator also told Hagerman that the Governor had encouraged his call, but that wasn't true.
Hagerman came forward with the recording because he believes discussions about issues that affect the community should be had in a public forum.
"I am extremely disappointed in Mr. Hagerman but I love Pittsylvania County as if I live there and I will continue to fight for Pittsylvania County everyday that I'm elected for them," said Stanley.
A spokesperson at Governor McDonnell's office could not be reached for comment.
http://www.wset.com/story/19567060/recorded-call-between-sen-stanley-supervisor-causes-controversy
Sen. Stanley Now Says Uranium “Call” Was His Idea Alone, By Peter Galuszka
State Sen. Bill Stanley has told a Southside newspaper that he “misspoke” when he brought up the name of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell during his Aug. 31 telephone call that was taped recorded by Pittsylvania County Supervisor Jerry A. Hagerman.
Stanley admitted that he “misspoke” when he told Hagerman that McDonnell had called Stanley and had asked him to “reach out” to supervisors to convince them to shelve a proposed resolution that would ask for regulation of proposed uranium mining in their area and that a fund be established to reimburse resident harmed by a mining accident.
Bacons Rebellion broke the story about the taped telephone call on Sept. 14 that although both Stanley and the McDonnell Administration had earlier denied emphatically that McDonnell had called Stanley to urge him to lobby the board on the resolution, Hagerman’s tape of the call clearly has him stating that McDonnell did call.
On Sunday, Sept. 16, Stanley changed his story and told a reporter from the South Boston News, “Look, I overpushed there. I got very frustrated with (Hagerman) for not seeing the forest for the trees… It didn’t come from the governor, it came from me.” McDonnell’s office insists that the governor did not call Stanley about the uranium resolution.
The telephone-call issue will further incite mistrust over the uranium issue. Virginia Uranium, a firm made up of local and Canadian investors, wants to develop a 119 million pound deposit of the element near Chatham. To do so, it must help overturn a 30-year-old moratorium on mining in the state, which has no regulations for mining or refining uranium. The company has pushed aggressively to remove the ban by bankrolling a state-wide advertising campaign and by funding state legislators to “study” trips to places such as Paris.
Taped Senator’s Call Links McDonnell to Uranium Mining Controversy
Jerry A. Hagerman, a supervisor in Pittsylvania County which is at the center of a battle over proposed uranium mining, says that State Sen. Bill Stanley (pictured) told him that Gov. Robert F. McDonnell asked Stanley to lobby the county Board of Supervisors to shelve a resolution regarding uranium at its Sept. 4 meeting. Hagerman says he has a taped telephone call from Stanley to prove it.
Both Stanley and Jeff Caldwell, McDonnell’s press secretary, told me emphatically on Sept. 13 that no one in the governor’s office had spoken with Stanley about asking the board to drop the resolution from their agenda.
Among other things, the resolution would have asked the state to set up a fund to reimburse local residents impacted by any future uranium mining accident and that appropriate state or federal mining regulations be in place.
“Bill Stanley called me at 10:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 31 to ask me to go along with shelving the resolution. I was surprised and upset by his call,” Hagerman told me. The resolution had been placed on the county’s Website on that day as part of the upcoming meeting agenda.
Hagerman tape recorded the Stanley call and played it for me. In the call, Stanley is heard to say distinctly that he did speak with McDonnell regarding the county uranium resolution.
At one point, Stanley can be heard saying, “I just got a call from the Governor.” At another time, he can be heard saying, “The Governor called and said it is very important to reach out.”
Asked about the taped call, press secretary Caldwell emailed me on Sept. 14 that “neither the governor not any member of his administration has made any calls, directly or indirectly, in an effort to influence the actions of the board of supervisors. Any claims to the contrary are simply untrue.” Stanley did not respond to a request for comment about the taped call with Hagerman.
“You guys don’t need to vote now. It can save you big personally and politically and you have control of your conscience,” Stanley can be heard saying. “You guys are the super stars right now,” he added. During the tape-recorded conversation, Hagerman tried to beg off, asking Stanley to call him the next day. Stanley did not know he was being taped and Hagerman often tapes calls from constituents to help him remember facts.
Stanley is a close political ally of McDonnell, who helped raise $83,000 for a recent Stanley political campaign. He is a lawyer who lives in Franklin County and represents the 20th senatorial district. Hagerman lives in Gretna and opposes the uranium mining project.
Marshall Ecker, another Pittsylvania County supervisor, told me Sept. 13 that he understood that either McDonnell or his staff had asked Stanley to lobby the board to shelve the resolution.
In a previous interview, Stanley told me that he did call some supervisors to delay the resolution vote, that McDonnell had no involvement and that Stanley did so because he believed the current resolution was flawed and it was not the time to consider it. Stanley says he agrees that effective mining regulation need ot be n place but says that taxpayers should not be stuck with the bill for any mining accident.
http://www.baconsrebellion.
The telephone conversation — which took place Aug. 31 between Callands supervisor Jerry Hagerman and Stanley — included several statements by Stanley that indicated the governor wanted the resolution nixed. The resolution cited a National Academy of Sciences study on the risks of uranium mining and called for, among other things, the creation of a fund to compensate anyone within a five-mile radius who might suffer its effects.
McDonnell previously has said he would not seek to influence local debate in the mining issue.
Stanley, reached late Sunday for comment, admitted that he “misspoke” in the conversation with Hagerman, but added that he had his reasons for not wanting the resolution to go forward.
He said the resolution is unlikely to satisfy either opponents or advocates of uranium mining, and meantime, he is talking with Tidewater officials about the possibility of establishing an inland port facility in Danville that could lead to the creation of thousands of new jobs. He said he is attempting to create an economic alternative to uranium mining, and perceived the Pittsylvania board resolution as unhelpful.
“Look, I overpushed there,” said Stanley. “I got very frustrated with him [Hagerman] for not seeing the forest for the trees … It didn’t come from the governor. It was me.”
“I have never talked to the governor or anybody connected to the governor’s office prior to the conversation with Mr. Hagerman,” he said.
Ecker said after that report was published on-line at Bacon’s Rebellion, he received a call from Martin Kent, chief of staff for the governor, requesting that he retract his assertion that the governor’s office had inserted itself into the debate. Kent, according to Ecker, “said there was no truth to the story and I had to go back to the reporter and deny everything about the governor’s involvement. I told him either he was not telling the truth or Mr. Stanley was not telling to truth.”
Ecker said Kent further mentioned he had family living in Ecker’s Staunton River district, a piece of information he said has stuck in his mind. “Why would they go find someone in the governor’s office who has family in the Staunton River district when they could have had a press secretary call me?
“If there wasn’t anything there, why would they even bother?” said Ecker. “All of a sudden Martin Kent, who is explaining to me that he had family in my district, is saying I should call Mr. Galaszka [the reporter] to say the Governor’s Office doesn’t have anything to do with this.”
“I believe the Governor’s Office is involved in this,” he said.
Ecker said yesterday that he plans to reintroduce a new mining resolution that he vowed would be “stronger than the one we wrote before,” and Hagerman said he would support a resolution putting Pittsylvania on record against mining. Both men said they had heard of no talks to establish an inland port in Danville.
Hagerman, who said he had been surprised by Stanley’s Aug. 31 call, which came at 10:30 p.m., said he “has his opinions” about the motivations behind it, but said he was unswayed in wanting to make his opposition to uranium mining known.
“I can’t stand the thought of any type of incident that could destroy people’s homes and property and lives for many years into the future. I think that’s why all politicians are elected — to serve and take care of their people.”
Stanley, a Republican with close ties to McDonnell, represents the western half of Halifax County and portions of Pittsylvania County in the Virginia State Senate.
http://www.sovanow.com/index.php?/news/article/stanleys_phone_call_on_uranium_stirs_suspicions
http://www.baconsrebellion.
Both Stanley and Jeff Caldwell, McDonnell’s press secretary, told me emphatically on Sept. 13 that no one in the governor’s office had spoken with Stanley about asking the board to drop the resolution from their agenda.
Among other things, the resolution would have asked the state to set up a fund to reimburse local residents impacted by any future uranium mining accident and that appropriate state or federal mining regulations be in place.
“Bill Stanley called me at 10:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 31 to ask me to go along with shelving the resolution. I was surprised and upset by his call,” Hagerman told me. The resolution had been placed on the county’s Website on that day as part of the upcoming meeting agenda.
Hagerman tape recorded the Stanley call and played it for me. In the call, Stanley is heard to say distinctly that he did speak with McDonnell regarding the county uranium resolution.
At one point, Stanley can be heard saying, “I just got a call from the Governor.” At another time, he can be heard saying, “The Governor called and said it is very important to reach out.”
Asked about the taped call, press secretary Caldwell emailed me on Sept. 14 that “neither the governor not any member of his administration has made any calls, directly or indirectly, in an effort to influence the actions of the board of supervisors. Any claims to the contrary are simply untrue.” Stanley did not respond to a request for comment about the taped call with Hagerman.
“You guys don’t need to vote now. It can save you big personally and politically and you have control of your conscience,” Stanley can be heard saying. “You guys are the super stars right now,” he added. During the tape-recorded conversation, Hagerman tried to beg off, asking Stanley to call him the next day. Stanley did not know he was being taped and Hagerman often tapes calls from constituents to help him remember facts.
Stanley is a close political ally of McDonnell, who helped raise $83,000 for a recent Stanley political campaign. He is a lawyer who lives in Franklin County and represents the 20th senatorial district. Hagerman lives in Gretna and opposes the uranium mining project.
Marshall Ecker, another Pittsylvania County supervisor, told me Sept. 13 that he understood that either McDonnell or his staff had asked Stanley to lobby the board to shelve the resolution.
In a previous interview, Stanley told me that he did call some supervisors to delay the resolution vote, that McDonnell had no involvement and that Stanley did so because he believed the current resolution was flawed and it was not the time to consider it. Stanley says he agrees that effective mining regulation need ot be n place but says that taxpayers should not be stuck with the bill for any mining accident.
http://www.baconsrebellion.
Questions Surround Bizarre Telephone Call on Uranium Mining Resolution
Posted on September 15, 2012 By Peter Galuszka
Many questions surround the bizarre situation in which a Pittsylvania County supervisor taped and caught in an apparent lie prominent Republican State Sen. Bill Stanley who made a late night call to urge that a resolution involving uranium mining be shelved.
It raises questions about the integrity of Stanley, who is one of the state Republican. It tends to implicate the McDonnell Administration in influence peddling. It shows how the democratic process can be throttled in intrigues involving a proposal to mine a 119 million pound uranium deposit near Chatham that could make billions for its owners.
Supervisor Jerry A. Hagerman’s taped conversation which I heard from the Aug. 31 phone call from Stanley also shows how politics is really played at the granular and perhaps most important level in Virginia. uranium resolution.
Marshall Ecker, a Pittsylvania supervisor who opposes uranium mining like Hagerman, said he got a call from McDonnell staffer Martin Kent after I had asked McDonnell press secretary Jeff Cardwell whether McDonnell or his staff had asked Stanley to lobby the board against the resolution. Ecker told me that while he never got a call from Stanley, he did get a call from Kent, who started his conversation by stating that Kent had family members who lived in Ecker’s district. “Why didn’t the press secretary call me,” asks Ecker.
http://www.baconsrebellion.com/2012/09/sen-stanley-now-says-uranium-call-was-his-idea-alone.htmlIt raises questions about the integrity of Stanley, who is one of the state Republican. It tends to implicate the McDonnell Administration in influence peddling. It shows how the democratic process can be throttled in intrigues involving a proposal to mine a 119 million pound uranium deposit near Chatham that could make billions for its owners.
Supervisor Jerry A. Hagerman’s taped conversation which I heard from the Aug. 31 phone call from Stanley also shows how politics is really played at the granular and perhaps most important level in Virginia. uranium resolution.
Marshall Ecker, a Pittsylvania supervisor who opposes uranium mining like Hagerman, said he got a call from McDonnell staffer Martin Kent after I had asked McDonnell press secretary Jeff Cardwell whether McDonnell or his staff had asked Stanley to lobby the board against the resolution. Ecker told me that while he never got a call from Stanley, he did get a call from Kent, who started his conversation by stating that Kent had family members who lived in Ecker’s district. “Why didn’t the press secretary call me,” asks Ecker.
Stanley’s phone call on uranium stirs suspicions
SoVaNow.com / September 16, 2012
A taped phone call by state Sen. Bill Stanley to a Pittsylvania County supervisor — pressing him to support the tabling of a resolution on uranium mining, allegedly at the behest of Gov. Bob McDonnell — has prompted denials from the Governor’s Office and aroused suspicions by members of the Pittsylvania board that state officials may be working behind the scenes to undermine opposition to the proposed Coles Hill mine site.The telephone conversation — which took place Aug. 31 between Callands supervisor Jerry Hagerman and Stanley — included several statements by Stanley that indicated the governor wanted the resolution nixed. The resolution cited a National Academy of Sciences study on the risks of uranium mining and called for, among other things, the creation of a fund to compensate anyone within a five-mile radius who might suffer its effects.
McDonnell previously has said he would not seek to influence local debate in the mining issue.
Stanley, reached late Sunday for comment, admitted that he “misspoke” in the conversation with Hagerman, but added that he had his reasons for not wanting the resolution to go forward.
He said the resolution is unlikely to satisfy either opponents or advocates of uranium mining, and meantime, he is talking with Tidewater officials about the possibility of establishing an inland port facility in Danville that could lead to the creation of thousands of new jobs. He said he is attempting to create an economic alternative to uranium mining, and perceived the Pittsylvania board resolution as unhelpful.
“Look, I overpushed there,” said Stanley. “I got very frustrated with him [Hagerman] for not seeing the forest for the trees … It didn’t come from the governor. It was me.”
“I have never talked to the governor or anybody connected to the governor’s office prior to the conversation with Mr. Hagerman,” he said.
Ecker said after that report was published on-line at Bacon’s Rebellion, he received a call from Martin Kent, chief of staff for the governor, requesting that he retract his assertion that the governor’s office had inserted itself into the debate. Kent, according to Ecker, “said there was no truth to the story and I had to go back to the reporter and deny everything about the governor’s involvement. I told him either he was not telling the truth or Mr. Stanley was not telling to truth.”
Ecker said Kent further mentioned he had family living in Ecker’s Staunton River district, a piece of information he said has stuck in his mind. “Why would they go find someone in the governor’s office who has family in the Staunton River district when they could have had a press secretary call me?
“If there wasn’t anything there, why would they even bother?” said Ecker. “All of a sudden Martin Kent, who is explaining to me that he had family in my district, is saying I should call Mr. Galaszka [the reporter] to say the Governor’s Office doesn’t have anything to do with this.”
“I believe the Governor’s Office is involved in this,” he said.
Ecker said yesterday that he plans to reintroduce a new mining resolution that he vowed would be “stronger than the one we wrote before,” and Hagerman said he would support a resolution putting Pittsylvania on record against mining. Both men said they had heard of no talks to establish an inland port in Danville.
Hagerman, who said he had been surprised by Stanley’s Aug. 31 call, which came at 10:30 p.m., said he “has his opinions” about the motivations behind it, but said he was unswayed in wanting to make his opposition to uranium mining known.
“I can’t stand the thought of any type of incident that could destroy people’s homes and property and lives for many years into the future. I think that’s why all politicians are elected — to serve and take care of their people.”
Stanley, a Republican with close ties to McDonnell, represents the western half of Halifax County and portions of Pittsylvania County in the Virginia State Senate.
http://www.sovanow.com/index.php?/news/article/stanleys_phone_call_on_uranium_stirs_suspicions
Did McDonnell Help Quash Pittsylvania Uranium Mining Resolution?
For months, Pittsylvania County has been a hotbed of controversy as Virginia Uranium tries to get a decades-old moratorium on uranium mining lifted so it can mine and refine a rich, 119-million pound deposit of the radioactive material near Chatham.
The latest intrigue involves a Board of Supervisors meeting in early September where members were going to consider a resolution asking that mining regulations be in place and that a fund be established to help residents whose properties might be damaged by a uranium accident. Mysteriously, the resolution was removed from the board’s agenda just before the meeting.
Supervisor Marshall Ecker claims that aides to Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, whose public stance has been to not pick sides on the uranium fight, called State Sen. Bill Stanley from the area and asked him to lobby supervisors to sidetrack the resolution.
Ecker also said that Stanley’s gubernatorial message was for the board to delay considering the resolution until next February or March. By that time, a governor-appointed study commission will have recommended whether to keep the uranium mining band or not and the General Assembly will probably have acted. Ecker wants to keep the ban.
“I know the governor’s people called Stanley and he started calling supervisors to tell them to get the item off the agenda,” Ecker told me.
When I called and emailed Jeff Caldwell, McDonnell’s press secretary, Caldwell got back to me very quickly. “This statement is not true,” he emailed. “No call was made to influence the BOS.” To underline the point, Caldwell then telephoned me to make sure I understood and said that the governor’s office had been in touch with Supervisor Ecker to set him straight and that I should call Ecker. I did. Ecker stood by his story.
I also called State Sen. Stanley, a Republican who is a political ally of McDonnell. “The governor did not call me about this at all. Nor did anyone from his office,” Stanley told me.
He added, however, that he had read the proposed resolution that had been drafted by Ecker. Stanley said the resolution was “badly written” and would do little other than annoy people from both the pro and con sides and “hurt economic development in our area.”
Stanley admits that he did telephone some of the supervisors to urge them to squash the resolution before the Board of Supervisors meeting but it had nothing to do with any calls from McDonnell or his people.
The senator said he doesn’t want to get the cart before the horse. He says the county should not take a stand until the study commission has made its recommendations and the General assembly has acted. He opposes the spiked resolution calls to set up “a monetary fund. . . which would be administered by a third party, to compensate County citizens adversely affected by uranium mining.” The fund could be tapped by residents living with five miles of the mine site.
The dead resolution also called that “appropriate regulations be in place either by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and or by the State of Virginia for the most comprehensive protection of out citizens.” Stanley says he will insist on the best regulatory protection for local residents when and if the mine is in operation.
The resolution battle is another in a series of controversies surrounding Virginia Uranium. The firm has taken state legislators on expense-paid trips to France, including stopovers in Paris, to tour shut-down uranium mines that the company claims are no environmental hazard. The firm has also engaged in a well-funded marketing campaign to convince the public that mining is safe despite considerable doubt.
Their first hurdle is to have the General Assembly lift the 23-year-old uranium moratorium. Virginia also has no regulations on uranium mining or refining. A National Academy of Sciences report recently stated that there is considerable risk in proceeding with the project in Southside Virginia because of the lack of rules and experience. Cities such as Virginia Beach get their drinking water from lakes nearby and have voiced opposition to mining.
http://www.baconsrebellion.The latest intrigue involves a Board of Supervisors meeting in early September where members were going to consider a resolution asking that mining regulations be in place and that a fund be established to help residents whose properties might be damaged by a uranium accident. Mysteriously, the resolution was removed from the board’s agenda just before the meeting.
Supervisor Marshall Ecker claims that aides to Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, whose public stance has been to not pick sides on the uranium fight, called State Sen. Bill Stanley from the area and asked him to lobby supervisors to sidetrack the resolution.
Ecker also said that Stanley’s gubernatorial message was for the board to delay considering the resolution until next February or March. By that time, a governor-appointed study commission will have recommended whether to keep the uranium mining band or not and the General Assembly will probably have acted. Ecker wants to keep the ban.
“I know the governor’s people called Stanley and he started calling supervisors to tell them to get the item off the agenda,” Ecker told me.
When I called and emailed Jeff Caldwell, McDonnell’s press secretary, Caldwell got back to me very quickly. “This statement is not true,” he emailed. “No call was made to influence the BOS.” To underline the point, Caldwell then telephoned me to make sure I understood and said that the governor’s office had been in touch with Supervisor Ecker to set him straight and that I should call Ecker. I did. Ecker stood by his story.
I also called State Sen. Stanley, a Republican who is a political ally of McDonnell. “The governor did not call me about this at all. Nor did anyone from his office,” Stanley told me.
He added, however, that he had read the proposed resolution that had been drafted by Ecker. Stanley said the resolution was “badly written” and would do little other than annoy people from both the pro and con sides and “hurt economic development in our area.”
Stanley admits that he did telephone some of the supervisors to urge them to squash the resolution before the Board of Supervisors meeting but it had nothing to do with any calls from McDonnell or his people.
The senator said he doesn’t want to get the cart before the horse. He says the county should not take a stand until the study commission has made its recommendations and the General assembly has acted. He opposes the spiked resolution calls to set up “a monetary fund. . . which would be administered by a third party, to compensate County citizens adversely affected by uranium mining.” The fund could be tapped by residents living with five miles of the mine site.
The dead resolution also called that “appropriate regulations be in place either by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and or by the State of Virginia for the most comprehensive protection of out citizens.” Stanley says he will insist on the best regulatory protection for local residents when and if the mine is in operation.
The resolution battle is another in a series of controversies surrounding Virginia Uranium. The firm has taken state legislators on expense-paid trips to France, including stopovers in Paris, to tour shut-down uranium mines that the company claims are no environmental hazard. The firm has also engaged in a well-funded marketing campaign to convince the public that mining is safe despite considerable doubt.
Their first hurdle is to have the General Assembly lift the 23-year-old uranium moratorium. Virginia also has no regulations on uranium mining or refining. A National Academy of Sciences report recently stated that there is considerable risk in proceeding with the project in Southside Virginia because of the lack of rules and experience. Cities such as Virginia Beach get their drinking water from lakes nearby and have voiced opposition to mining.
