Citizen power on display

The Charlottesville Daily Progress
Published: June 23, 2008

They say you can’t fight City Hall.

They say one person can’t make a difference.

They are wrong.

On the same day in The Daily Progress (June 20) are two stories proving that the conventional wisdom — don’t rock the boat; you can’t change things anyway — may not be so wise after all.

By now, many local folks, not to mention state officials, are familiar with the story of Paulette and Lee Albright.

A few years ago, this Nelson County couple grew curious about why the state game department was shutting down activities at the Montebello Fish Hatchery, a tourist attraction and de facto park for local residents.

Curiosity soon escalated to suspicion.

The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries stonewalled their requests for information, made them pay unreasonable sums for information, and then blacked out information in documents that eventually were turned over — items that turned out to be as simple as film developing costs at Wal-Mart.

The Albrights kept pushing.

Eventually, the citizen investigators uncovered a scandal that brought down some of the department’s top leaders.

They discovered that some officials had been using state money for African safaris, high-end electronics equipment and other questionable uses.

Those chiefly involved resigned or retired; several were indicted. The final case growing out of the investigation, that against the department’s former director, was dismissed this month because it could not be proved that he intentionally misused state funds.

Although no criminal wrongdoing was proved against anyone, the Al-brights’ efforts resulted in a major house-cleaning at the state agency. The couple praises new officials for reforming policies and seeking to improve transparency in government, but remain concerned that some holdovers from the old regime remain in place.

On a local level, a Fluvanna County developer challenged the Board of Supervisors — and won, at least for now.

Mike Clark decided last year to file suit after the board failed to approve, on a tie vote, his proposal for a sewer system for a subdivision he was planning. A court now has ruled that the system did not even meet the county’s definition for requiring a use permit — in other words, that the board had no authority to regulate it.

There is no word as yet on whether the board will appeal.

The ruling does not address the merits of the system — which proponents say will provide an ecologically superior method of handling waste, and opponents say will do no such thing because the technology may not be fully reliable.

However, Mr. Clark’s efforts show that the power of the citizen is still alive and well.

“A lot of people think that you can’t beat City Hall… ,” Mr. Clark said. But, “If I didn’t at least try, I would have went the rest of my life wondering… .”

Their stories are totally different, but a common thread runs through the two accounts:

Government is not infallible or invincible.

And citizen engagement, even at times opposition, is all part of what makes democratic government work.