Bonnie Gabbert responds to Tony Carter on Recall Petition

I would like to address the August 8, 2020, BOS meeting in which Tony Carter brought up the Removal Petition. Mr. Carter asked Mr. Ham the status of the Removal Petition (as if he didn’t already know).  Mr. Ham said the Petition had been dropped on the previous Board Members but the Petition had been non-suited for Mr. Carter and Mr. Fox which means that the Petition can be brought up again within 6 months.  Mr. Carter was probably relieved to hear that because now he does not have to worry about the embarrassment of being removed from office; however, according to the Commonwealth Attorney’s office that is not exactly true.

Here is the answer I received from Michael Parker, Assistant Commonwealth Attorney, when I asked question about re-filing the petition. Mr. Parker stated in an email to me: “There is no specific statute for elected official removal that I can find. When there is no specific statute, the fallback is Va. Code Section 8.01-248: “Personal actions for which no other limitation is specified: Every personal action accruing on or after July 1, 1995, for which no limitation is otherwise prescribed, shall be brought within two years after the right to bring such action has accrued.”

I think there’s an argument to be made that the removal action is unique and may not even qualify as a “personal action,” and that the only limitation would be while the people remain in office. But at worst I think 2 years is the limitation.

SO Mr. Carter, it looks like you are not quite off the hook yet. And then in response to your ridiculous comment about the petitioners paying the legal fees:

“Code of Virginia “Under the amended law, which took effect on July 1, 2009, removal petitions may not be thrown out of court because of technical flaws, and persons who sign or circulate petitions cannot be liable for any costs associated with removal proceedings, including attorney fees and court costs, and may not have sanctions imposed against them (See § 24.2-235 and § 24.2-238).

I would have thought your attorney would have told you this. However many people on social media said they would GLADLY give their $50 to have you removed from office.  And just to make sure you are properly informed, your district was the FIRST one to receive all of the necessary signatures on the petition. We had 5 people collecting signatures and two weeks in which to get them in. Once we got all of the signatures needed for one district we then concentrated on a different district.  We could have gotten three times the signatures needed if we had more time in which to collect them. We had many citizens calling us and asking to sign the petition after the cutoff date and we had to decline them.

Let me be quite clear Mr. Carter, the charges were non suited for various reasons none of which were that you should not have been removed from office. Again this from the Commonwealth Attorney’s office:

Mr. Parker’s motion to nonsuit, which states in part, “…there is an inherent conflict in a scenario where the evidence for the civil removal action is at minimum related to, and almost certainly would be derived from, an ongoing criminal investigation. Further, the proceedings of that investigation and the evidence it is producing have been ordered secret by this very Court. Using evidence derived from the grand jury investigation to prove a civil action runs the dual risks of damaging any criminal action to follow and violating an order of this Court.”

In short, the civil action depends on evidence derived from a secret grand jury investigation. The civil action requires proof of misconduct by Ms. McDonald, or would be sure to fail without such proof. I recognize this is another frustration for the citizens of Warren County, but obviously Ms. McDonald has not yet been found guilty in trial. The civil action would “jump the gun” on an eventual criminal trial.

So you see Mr. Carter you and Mr. Fox can STILL be petitioned for removal from office and the only thing that is saving you from this right now is the fact that the suit against Jennifer McDonald has not been brought to trial.

Have you ever thought that maybe you should not act quite so superior to the citizens you were elected to serve and remember that these same people and more will be voting in the next election? You have made many enemies in this county with your arrogant and dismissive attitude and your lack of oversight and leadership skills have cost the citizens of this county thousands of dollars. Mr. Carter I hope you will remember this – you may have escaped the Removal Petition but you did not escape the name or reputation you have made for yourself in this County.

Bonnie Gabbert
Front Royal, Virginia