ATP’s Letter to the Editor

Earlier this week, Donny Ferguson American Tradition Partnership wrote a letter to the editor to the Leesburg Today newspaper regarding the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Ordinance, or as Donny describes it: the Tax and Control plan.

Although the delayed vote might give us the opportunity to kill it with a more sane Board, ATP believes that it’s just a way to avoid citizen input.

As much as I admire what ATP has done, they admittedly might be overestimating their importance in the world.  Even though they have called 100,000 people (kudos for that), from everything I’ve seen over the last year or so, the CBPO is one of those rare and precious pieces of legislation that has united:

• Business leaders
• Republicans
• Conservatives
• Property rights activists
• Taxpayer activists
• TeaPartiers
• Redskins season-ticketholders
• Soccer moms
• Hippies

We’ve all been “on the ground” for a year, and the only people left who are for this thing are a few PEC folks passing out ice-cream.  The people have spoken, and Burton (et al.) knows it.  That’s why he’s delaying it.

One thing is for certain; it still needs to die a permanent death, so on that count Donny is right, but there has been PLENTY public outcry.  Followed by an “education tour” followed by more public outcry.  We must remain vigilant, but it’s on the rocks because of a LOT of hard work publicly and behind the scenes by a lot of dedicated people here in Loudoun.  People who care about clean water and know shady science and draconian control when they see it.