Soon after the election I approached the ethics board and requested an opinion as to whether or not it would be a conflict if I were to bid taxpayer funded capital improvement projects. I did this since in other jurisdictions elected officials are allowed to participate in the bid process. The board met and not only did they state I couldn't bid public CIP projects, but I could do no work in the county for anyone, public or private. Needless to say, I retained an Attorney and filed an appeal since this ruling left me two choices, leave public office and ignore the will of the voters who put me there, or sell my business that has been in our family since 1955.

We had our appeal hearing and the ethics board admitted that their ruling was far reaching and would eliminate anyone with a job from running for County Commissioner. The ruling was so broad that anyone that is inspected by county personnel could not run for office. This would include business owners of any type, farmers, anyone that adopted a pet, anyone that wanted to do a home improvement to their home, it negated just about anyone from office. They realized this and aptly changed their ruling back to the original opinion that stated I could do all work except county funded CIP work.

Now, this is the interesting part, a few weeks later I received an email stating that I was to cease and desist from all work with my construction company in Frederick County. I approached the County Attorney and asked him what was going on? He stated that the Ethics Board had had a secret / private meeting and that former County Commissioner Jan Gardner was in that meeting stating she had new evidence that would make them change their ruling back for a third time to not allow my company to do any work in Frederick County. I asked the County Attorney how they could do this without notification to me or my Attorney. Since there was apparently "new evidence" shouldn't my Attorney and I be able to see it? The County Attorney stated that the Ethics Board was advised by the County Attorney's office to not hold a private meeting or any meeting that I was not privy to attend. They did it anyway against the advice of the County Attorney. A private meeting that holds my livelihood in their hands and I cannot participate. In essence they were judge, jury and executioner. Apparently that is how Jan Gardner likes things, all her way with no competition. Under the advisement of my Attorney we ignored the ruling and kept doing privately funded work.

Enter John Helms and Friends of Frederick County, or Friends of Frivolous lawsuits as they have come to be known. They are 0 for 9 in lawsuits against this board (including my last ethics ruling ). I have to give liberals one thing, they are tenacious. John Helms filed a fourth (4th) ethics complaint in reference to the same subject, WF Delauter doing any work in Frederick County and / or having influence over County inspectors for being a businessman and a Commissioner. John Helms has never met me, has never done business with me and likely wouldn't know me if I were standing beside him in the store. My Attorney and I entered our third time in front of the ethics board (we were not present for the top secret private meeting with Jan Gardner) so this was our third hearing again, on the same issue. Mr. Helms couldn't bring himself to look me in the eye during the entire meeting. I was always taught that when you accuse someone of wrongdoing you should at least be man enough to look them in the eye. Apparently John Helms was taught differently than I was.

John Helms and his Friends of Frederick Attorney put a nice spin on a lot of truth that night. They were caught in outright lies that appeared to not sit well with members of the Ethics Board. The Board was there to hear both sides, not to hear a professional spin doctor make a poor attempt to deceive them. They brought up a contract that President Blaine Young signed that was with my company. On the surface that sounds like some good ol' boys making a back room deal, but the truth is just the opposite. This contract sat on Commissioner President Jan Gardner's desk for several months prior to the election. Her apparent goal was to hold my company hostage until the election knowing that if her group were to be elected, the contract could be held up indefinitely and if our slate were elected (and we were, overwhelmingly) then they could use the ethics board to hold up the contract as well. This was a private contract with no county funds involved and it was held hostage as a political move by Jan Gardner using her office of President of the BoCC for political gain.

As anyone can see, politics in Frederick County when dealing with leftist liberals can get very interesting as I have found out after spending close to $15,000 of my own funds to defend myself from frivolous claims brought on by the poster children for unethical behavior, Friends of Frederick and Jan Gardner. I want to thank those people that stood beside me including my wife Tina, my children, my other immediate family and three other Commissioners Blaine Young, Billy Shreve and Paul Smith. I was asked if I was upset to have been dragged through this for 2 1/2 years. My answer is no, I'm not upset at all, justice usually prevails and in the way I typically view things, God has a funny way of sorting things out and righting wrongs. I'll be interested to see how he handles this one.

Kirby Delauter - President WF Delauter & Son, Inc.

Frederick County Commissioner