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.
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 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.
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. The phone call sounds like something from a movie, with a smooth, hot shot politician coming off patronizingly as he tries to pump up an older, rural official to get what he wants.
In the call, Stanley can be heard saying that he had been called and asked to “reach out” by McDonnell to persuade the board to shelve the uranium resolution. He tells Hagerman, who has come out openly against ended the state-wide moratorium against uranium mining, that going along with dumping the resolution could be good for him “personally and politically.”
Stanley has not responded to requests for comment about the taped telephone call. He did tell me before I learned of the taped call that McDonnell had not called him to ask him to lobby the board. A McDonnell spokesman has emphatically denied twice that the governor had anything to do with calling Stanley to ask him for help in shelving the resolution.
But if Stanley thought he was going to snow Jerry Hagerman, as it sounds on the taped phone call, he miscalculated badly. Soft-spoken Hagerman, 67, is a West Virginia native and former coal miner. He has an extensive background in law enforcement, having served as a sheriff’s deputy in McDowell County, W.Va., a Rocky Mount police officer and a deputy and investigator for the Pittsylvania Sheriff’s Office before retiring in 2006. Today, he runs a gunsmithing shop.
“I felt very uncomfortable talking with Stanley,” says Hagerman who says he routinely tapes his calls so he can remember facts
http://www.baconsrebellion.It 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.
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. The phone call sounds like something from a movie, with a smooth, hot shot politician coming off patronizingly as he tries to pump up an older, rural official to get what he wants.
In the call, Stanley can be heard saying that he had been called and asked to “reach out” by McDonnell to persuade the board to shelve the uranium resolution. He tells Hagerman, who has come out openly against ended the state-wide moratorium against uranium mining, that going along with dumping the resolution could be good for him “personally and politically.”
Stanley has not responded to requests for comment about the taped telephone call. He did tell me before I learned of the taped call that McDonnell had not called him to ask him to lobby the board. A McDonnell spokesman has emphatically denied twice that the governor had anything to do with calling Stanley to ask him for help in shelving the resolution.
But if Stanley thought he was going to snow Jerry Hagerman, as it sounds on the taped phone call, he miscalculated badly. Soft-spoken Hagerman, 67, is a West Virginia native and former coal miner. He has an extensive background in law enforcement, having served as a sheriff’s deputy in McDowell County, W.Va., a Rocky Mount police officer and a deputy and investigator for the Pittsylvania Sheriff’s Office before retiring in 2006. Today, he runs a gunsmithing shop.
“I felt very uncomfortable talking with Stanley,” says Hagerman who says he routinely tapes his calls so he can remember facts
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.
