OPINION: Fear and loathing in Prince William County
Published: June 4, 2009
The shadow of scandal has fallen over Prince William County, and officials have work to do if they want to come back out into the sun anytime soon.
Indictments were handed down Monday against four men. One man was a high-ranking employee in the Office of Information Technology and two of the others formerly worked there. Charges against the
four are varied — from racketeering to money laundering — and numerous; together, the men accrued 153 charges.
Evidently, their scheme involved fake companies created to monopolize the bidding process for county work and ensure that no matter who won the bid, the same people (the indicted men and maybe
others) were paid. This went on for five years and involved more than $8 million.
Other people have been fired, but not indicted, in connection with this situation, and more dismissals could be coming.
It’s upsetting that such corruption could go on for so long without anybody finding out. It undermines our trust in the processes of government. Unfortunately, we must ask: “If this could happen in the OIT,
why couldn’t it be happening in other departments?”
Hopefully, in light of this scandal, new scrutiny will spread throughout the county government.
County Executive Craig Gerhart — who, in an unrelated announcement, said yesterday that he is retiring to take a job with Amtrak — has established an Internal Control Council to look for ways to
prevent this kind of thing. That is a good step, but the county also needs to protect against scams that no one expects.
Given the nature of the bid-rigging scheme, the trail of this scandal migrates to virtually anything to which the OIT or its leaders were connected. County government leaders and their constituents need a
thorough, honest, open and clear explanation of what happened in OIT and how it can be prevented, in addition to a description of how the government will anticipate and prevent other unforeseen
situations that could arise.
Furthermore, all segments of county government must now take steps to convince the taxpayers that this is an isolated incident and that the rest of county government is not as poorly run.
Trust is difficult to earn and easy to lose. The hard work must begin now.
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Reader Reactions
When exactly were they aware of this problem? Certainly it did not take 5 years to make a case.
The shadow of the ‘good old boy network’ will be on the county unless they have independent auditors come in and investigate.
Without external auditors, oversight is at the very least a perceived sham. Yet, the county has not budgeted for external auditors, saying it is too expensive to contract them.
I would say this scandal is far more expensive than any auditor—in terms of losses, damages and reputation.
This county continues to give itself a bad reputation which is unfortunate.
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