Grand Jury’s Delgaudio Report: A Summary

After a months-long investigation, the grand jury assembled to consider accusations made against Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling) is over, leaving many to wonder what exactly the panel considered in the case.

Below is a summary of the information provided in the grand jury’s report, as well as the response by Delgaudio’s attorney, Charles King. The full report is attached to this story. The topics are the specific issues considered. All the information comes from the two reports by direct citation or by paraphrase.

At the bottom of the story is a summary of the grand jury recommendations.

Atmosphere of Office

Grand Jury: “Multiple witnesses testified that there was behavior within Supervisor Delgaudio’s Loudoun county office, particularly between Fall 2011 and Spring 2012, that resulted in a hostile work environment … However, the Jury found no criminal acts related to this behavior.”

King: Delgaudio is seldom in the office, conducting business primarily by phone and email. One of the aides worked for Delgaudio for seven years before leaving.

Potential Misuse of County Resources

Grand Jury:  A volunteer created a list of campaign donors using the Virginia Public Access Project; it became known as the Igor list. Mateer was asked to make calls from the list. “According to testimony, Delgaudio told Mateer she would get five percent of any large donations he received as a result of the meetings or calls. She was also promised a bonus for expanding the list or collecting additional donors. However, while she did receive her regular Loudoun County salary for her efforts, she never actually received any of the aforementioned bonus compensation.”

Delgaudio has asserted the donations were for the Lower Loudoun Boys Football League, but Mateer learned that the league had not fundraising activities at the time. However meetings were set up with members of the list that spoke with the grand jury. Near the end of one such meeting, Delgaudio turned over a pamphlet, “where there was an envelope and card soliciting money to ‘Retire Delgaudio Campaign Debt’ and said that no amount is too small. Another such witness testified that after meeting with Delgaudio this individual believed the only purpose for the meeting ws for Supervisor Delgaudio to solicit a campaign contribution.”

State law, however, only applies misuse of public assets to full-time employees only. A supervisor’s job is not considered a full-time job because board members are generally expected to have another job. “… The jury strongly urges a change to this statute.”

King: “It was impossible for events to happen in the manner described by Donna Mateer.” Outgoing phone records were checked. “Ms. Mateer made only three or four appointments and none of the people contacted gave Supervisor Delgaudio any money … If you believe Donna Mateer, you must believe a professional fundraiser let Donna Mateer make phone calls for months without actually raising any money.”

Potential Unreported Campaign Funds

Grand Jury: Reports that a retired pastor and family members made unreported contributions to Delgaudio’s campaign could not be confirmed; however, when confronted with evidence that he made incorrect statements, the pastor could not recall the details of the donations. At one point, he denied ever giving contributions to politicians, but was shown contributions made to multiple elected officials in his name. In addition, circumstantial evidence showed that Delgaudio changed his vote on a land use decision, which came before the Loudoun board twice, and that he received a $5,000 donation from the applicant around the time of the second vote. “In the end, while there is some circumstantial evidence that Supervisor Delgaudio collected money for his campaign (or other private use), there is no solid evidence that would be required to pursue criminal charges.”

King: “There was no $5,000 contribution … If the summary of the witnesses’ testimony is hard to follow, it is because, and I submit the Special Grand Jury should have mentioned this in their report, the witness is an older gentleman with cognitive health issues.”

Lack of Focus on Constituent Services

Grand Jury: Witnesses testified that aides were asked to devote more time to making calls and creating mailings from the Igor list. “The Supervisor in at least one instance reprimanded one of his aides for trying to resolve a constituent issue instead of concentrating on the Igor list. On multiple occasions, the lack of attention to constituent concerns resulted in the Chairman of the Board as well as another supervisor to take action to address these constituent concerns, even though the constituents did not live in their district. Although such testimony may be compelling to the constituents of the Loudoun County Sterling District, the Jury does not find that such action amounts to any criminal act.”

King: “The quality of Supervisor Delgaudio’s constituent services is not an appropriate topic for the Special Grand Jury’s report.” However, King responded, “The main reason one of the nation’s most conservative public officials continues to win re-election in a district where demographically he should not is because Supervisor Delgaudio makes constituent services priority one.”

Indistinct Association Between Public Advocate of the United States & Loudoun BoS

Grand Jury: Delgaudio is the founder and president of Public Advocate of the United States, a 501 (C)(4) organization. Some aides for Delgaudio also worked for Public Advocate. Some meetings dealt with county issues as well as Public Advocate issues, “blurring the lines between the two, especially when Supervisor Delgaudio was the one responsible for certifying time and attendance records for his BoS aides.”

Aides were also involved in making videos for Public Advocate, but the grand jury could not determine when the videos were made; therefore, it could not be determined whether they were made on county time.

“While some individuals may be concerned about the degree to which Supervisor Delgaudio permitted these two diverse entities to intermingle, the Jury did not find sufficient evidence that would support criminal charges.”

King: With regard to the videos, “No request was made on this issue.” Delgaudio could have provided information to clarify when the videos were made.

Distinguished between work for Public Advocate, “a pro-family, pro-traditional marriage grassroots lobbying organization, rather than for a commercial company.” And Public Advocate “takes stands on controversial issues – pro-family issues which offend some of the folks who live in Loudoun County.”

Recommendations from the Grand Jury

“The Special Grand Jury believes all these recommendations are important and worthy of discussion and action where appropriate.

1. To Virginia General Assembly – Amend “misuse of public assets” statute (Virginia Code 18.2-112.1) so that it applies to anyone that works for or is elected to any government body in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
2. To Loudoun County Administration staff – Create a written process by which aides to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors can inquire as to the legality of any tasks assigned to them or report potential illegal activities; educate every new aide on this process.
3. To Virginia General Assembly – Amend “disclosure of land use proceedings” statute (Virginia Code 15.2-2287.1) to apply to all Virginia Counties and to simplify the enforcement of the statute.
4. To Virginia General Assembly – Form a committee to research and amend the Virginia Campaign Finance Disclosure Act of 2006.
5. To Loudoun County Board of Supervisors/Administration Staff – Modify policies for Loudoun BoS staff aides to ensure an unbiased third-party review occurs of any outside employment or political activities.
6. To the Voting Public – Individual voters need to increase their awarness of and involvement in local politics and elections.

Additional Comments from King

King: “So far nobody has acknowledged the kindness Supervisor Delgaudio showed Donna Mateer. In a bad economy, Supervisor Delgaudio knowingly gave a woman with children and without great financial means a full-time government job. When he hired her, he knew she badly needed a job.”