Gloucester County VA - Petition the Government and you WILL pay - This could cause serious issues!

Hey all. A friend of mine who lives in Virgina told me about something that occured in 2008, been dragged out to 2009, and is still under review as we start 2010.

I found it to be very interesting and wanted to share it with the ATS community and get your thoughts on the case. Here is the issue at hand.

Gloucester County Virginia residents apparently had enough of the backdoor and dirty politics being done by their supervisors that were voted into office and decided that as the residents of the county, they were going to unseat these individuals by signing a petition for their removal. Now in my experiance the Bill of Rights ALLOWS us as citizens to petition those in office and demand their removal if we have reason to do so. Anyway, he stated to me that the actual petition was signed by thousands of residence, but 40 were represented to make the approach and be the "voice" of the people.

Well apparently this did not sit well with the elected supervisors when this petition was handed over and charges were filed on the supervisors the fight was on. According to him the supervisors hired a private attorney to represent them and NOT use the county attorney. The residence also hired an attorney incase they needed one.

Well, they needed one. After all this went down this petition and the charges went before the local judge who not only threw out the petition and charges but is now forcing the 40 represenatives of the petition to pay $2000 each, totaling $80,000 in fines for: ABUSING THE COURT SYSTEM FOR POLITICAL GAIN...haha, get that one!!!!

Anyway, they appealed it and it is at the Supreme Court of VA level and apparently after this POOR decision by the judge to fine people for using their rights, the state represenatives have put a bill on the docket (HB2465) that would not allow people who petition their government officials (like the Bill of Rights allows) to be fined for such action.

Apparently in late 2009, the supervisors not only voted to use tax payers money to pay their PRIVATE attorney fees, but are not seeking the petitioners pay ALL the court costs, AND they are seeking $1 million dollars each in a civil suit for "slander" by the 40 people who represented the people.

Anyway, this is a quick over view and below I attached all the articles and video he sent me to share. I hope you guys read through some of it and watch the video and share your thoughts. I just figured this may be something worth discussing. I thought to myself, depending on the final ruling, this COULD set a standard nationwide. Sorry if its spuratic, this is all relayed info....

Youtube video giving a brief idea of what is going on.


News Article on Petition and Judge ruling of $80,000 worth of fines.
www.virginia-appeals.com...

An article apparently from the Supervisors attorneys website.
www.sandsanderson.com...

The House Bill in VA to stop this from happening again.
hamptonroads.com...

The first strike back from the supervisors.
www.dailypress.com...

The second strike back from the supervisors.
www2.timesdispatch.com...



It sounds like it is a complete mess up there and I hope all the right desicions are made. Either way, I am pretty sure these guys WON'T be re-elected...

[edit on 2/19/2010 by rcwj1975]

Wanted to Update to the original post. According to Gloucaster County, this case HAS been looked at by SCOTUS and they will be waiting to see what the VA Supreme Court Rules sometime this year. Could be interesting....

If I miss this U2U me please. (updates)

S&F 'ed and subscribed.

Now if the F.B.I. agents you mentioned in your other site would only look into this color of law violation.

Sounds like they would have a very easy win.

I know criminals will have also committed other acts. Means if they look into it they should be able to get an easy slam dunk.

The judge, the prosecutor, the clerk , ect.

A pure field day.... All they have to do is sit back. Each had to make statements to file the countersuits. They are greedy but not smart. They had to have left a hole wide open. I love stupid Good ole boys.....

reply to post by rcwj1975


Sounds like someone did not get the right lawyer, those who got fined.

It is our Constitutional right to petition and any Government official in their right mind not deciding for the citizens is acting in the interest of those people in office.

This is a clear cut violation of our Constitution and I hope the Supreme Court fries those politician's who have abused the system, and stand up for American citizens.

However, having said that, we will see if those nine Judges, the same ones who recently, and ignorantly allowed businesses to contribute unlimited campaign contributions actually stand on a more moral ground, or immoral ground.

Originally posted by SpartanKingLeonidas

Sounds like someone did not get the right lawyer, those who got fined.

Well he did appeal it and apparently it is going up to be heard...as it should. I just hope their lawyer doesn't fold the higher this goes.

This is a clear cut violation of our Constitution and I hope the Supreme Court fries those politician's who have abused the system, and stand up for American citizens.

I agree 100%....I love how the media let this go to the way side. Only covered by local small media outlets...go figure.

Originally posted by ripcontrol
If I miss this U2U me please. (updates)

Definitly will

Now if the F.B.I. agents you mentioned in your other site would only look into this color of law violation.

Yeah i know right...someone needs to be looking into this. I am just glad the appeals went through and will be heard this year.