By Nolan Stout Jan 12, 2022 Updated March 1, 2022
Pete Candland, Gainesville District supervisor.
PAUL LARA/FILE PHOTO
Gainesville District Supervisor Pete Candland has come under attack from opponents of the PW Digital Gateway who are accusing him of publicly opposing the plan while privately urging neighbors to support it.
Heritage Hunt resident Bill Wright published a letter on the Bristow Beat website last week citing two applications to join the proposal. In those applications, the landowners wrote that Candland was advising constituents to join the application. Wright’s letter accused Candland of deception.
One of the applicants, John-Paul Raflo, told InsideNoVa that he should have worded his application more clearly. He said Candland spoke to a handful of homeowners in April and, in response to one homeowner, provided a myriad of paths for residents to take related to the proposal.
Raflo said his application “required no arm-twisting from anyone, least of all Mr. Candland.” After Wright’s letter was published, Candland sent a letter to constituents with a similar description of events.
Candland joined the application in October and said at that point he had no choice but to sign to avoid his home being surrounded by data centers. Candland, whose district includes the Pageland Lane area, is now barred from participating in Board of County Supervisors discussions or votes on the proposal.
Candland said his “political opponents” and potential candidates for his seat in 2023 were trying to use his new conflict of interests to “score political points.”
“These opportunists haven’t been able to attack me on my extensive voting record, so they think that because I have a conflict of interest on an issue, they can sprinkle in some misinformation and hurt me politically,” he said in a letter to constituents.
Candland said Wright’s accusation of duplicity was “absolutely false.” He also said calls for his resignation because of the conflict are unjustified.
“To say that an elected official needs to resign anytime they have a personal conflict on a specific vote or handful of votes is unworkable and would require mass resignations across the country,” he said. “I live, work and operate a business with my wife in Prince William County – there are going to be times I must recuse myself because of conflicts.”
In response to Candland’s letter, Wright said he has no interest in running for the Board of Supervisors and only wants Candland “to get out of the way so someone actually interested in representing the Gainesville District can do so.”
“What is truly outrageous is that Supervisor Candland continues to justify his suitability to serve even though his inability to do so effectively is due to a selfish personal choice that directly contradicted his public position,” he said. “If he chooses to prioritize his personal interests over his public responsibility, then he has the option to resign and return to private life.”
Nolan Stout covers Prince William County. Reach him at nstout@insidenova.com or @TheNolanStout on Facebook and Twitter.