Mayor Rogers Makes Ridiculous Allegations

My first clue that Manassas is a far cry from Mayberry was when our old school complex was burglarized back in January of 2015 over a multi-day period, and not one city official admitted to seeing a thing (this factoid will become really interesting when we publish a map). My second clue was when Mayor Rogers, within minutes of being sworn-in back in January, 2016, held a special city council meeting in her office, and took votes, while the public was gathered in the meeting room down the hall. Our regular readers may compare this shady behavior against the provisions of the Georgia Open Meetings Act.

In the face of hostility over my questioning about the propriety of that meeting, the votes held there, and other issues where the city appeared to diligently avoid responsibility, on the 29th of March, 2016, I presented the mayor with a demand letter, listing my expectations that the city change its behavior to align itself with state law. These reasonable demands included that the city adopt a formal budget (which it had lacked for years), require that the council members attend the state-mandated elected officials training, and release records about the business conducted during that shady, backroom meeting. Mayor Rogers, and her daughter, Tracie Durrence, the clerk, refused to sign for receipt of this document, a normal and rational action for any responsible government office. In response to this stonewalling, I sent the letter by certified mail, forcing the city to sign for receipt. Mayor Rogers signed for this letter on the 5th of April, 2016.

My third and conclusive clue about the true nature of Manassas officials came when, rather than address those concerns in a rational and open manner, Mayor Rogers went to Quinton Rush’s sheriff’s office the next day, the 6th of April, 2016, to complain about “harassment”. What emerged from that trip to the sheriff’s office is the following ridiculous statement, entered by Deputy J. Thompson, and approved by then-Chief Deputy J. Smiley, under a report heading alleging a misdemeanor offense of disorderly conduct:

Not only are many claims in that statement false, it is a ridiculous allegation against the right of any citizen to petition his government (i.e., our public servants) to correct itself. And just what does “speaking in such a way as to defamate (sic) the government” mean? Have these officials lost their minds? Have they not heard of the First Amendment? I suppose that, in the world of Quinton Rush and Wanda Rogers, this ridiculous allegation is an acceptable response to citizen inquiry. Later that month, I asked the assigned investigator to follow-up on this allegation and obtain a sworn statement from Mayor Rogers, or any other statements he might wish to collect, which could substantiate Mayor Rogers’ ridiculous claims. The result of that request was the following addition to the record, made on the 21st of April, 2016:

There are two interesting things about this followup. The first is that the mayor claims to want to document the incident, without being willing to make a sworn statement about what exactly that “incident” was. In other words, there was no incident. The second interesting thing is that the mayor wished for there to be no subsequent investigation. This one we can believe; I am quite certain that the mayor wished the investigation would stop. Too late.

Rather than stop my own investigation, this ham-handed allegation convinced me that there is indeed fire below the smoke of Manassas’ government. Innocent, well-meaning people don’t behave this way. If Mayor Rogers had just been an excited, crazy lady down the street making wild claims, even that would have been understandable. On the other hand, Quinton Rush’s sheriff’s office took her allegations as a mayor seriously, allowing this wild claim, which some have described as “insane”, to place his office into an embarrassing situation. Fortunately for her and her collaborators, a wiser head must have intervened to prevent an actual arrest: this would have escalated the entire situation into false arrest, which would have carried much steeper penalties for everyone involved.

Through my attorney, I made two attempts (one attempt with each city attorney during his tenure) to allow the city government to walk back from this allegation and characterize it, instead, as a misunderstanding. Anyone, even public officials, can make a mistake. Yet, the city has refused to cooperate in this regard; apparently doubling-down on their efforts at evasion and deception instead.

This ridiculous allegation, and the city’s subsequent refusal to address it as a misunderstanding or mistake, added new energy to my investigation. After months of probing and investigating, we have uncovered numerous examples of evasion and deception by the city government, and will begin releasing this information on these pages over the next several weeks. You will see a pattern emerge, and see that Mayor Rogers’ allegation against me is only one small part of that pattern.

As a native Southerner, I am particularly offended by the degenerate (as opposed to responsible and responsive) behavior of Mayor Roger’s city government, Quinton Rush’s sheriff’s office, and other officials in the area who have collaborated with them. My entire life, I have had to put up with the stereotype of corrupt Southern officials and, worse, Southern citizens who tolerate and even promote this behavior. Rather than see our innate nobility and culture, the world sees us as backwards and oppressive. Rather than hide our degenerates away and cover-up their misconduct to avoid embarrassment, we have a duty to our culture to police our own, no matter how many they may be or what offices they hold.

This is exactly what I intend to do: expose this degenerate city government for what it is, and to correct their misdeeds, and those of their collaborators, using all legal means at my disposal.

In this, I am thankful for the 2015 burglary: it forced me to realize that something was wrong in the area. I am thankful for the 2016 shady backroom meeting: it forced me to realize that something was wrong with the Manassas government. Finally, I am thankful for the attempt to impugn my good name: knowing that these allegations were false, this attempt convinced me that there was something that the Manassas government, and its collaborators, was desperately trying to hide.

There is always something to be thankful for, even in the face of degeneracy.