Gary,

I am reviewing my email now and I cannot say that I am surprised by this at all. Over the past two years you have continually violated the oath you took to support Democratic candidates in this county. As an Eagle Scout I was always taught to be true to any oath I took and anytime I give my word to do something to take it seriously. To do anything less is unethical in my own opinion. You are doing this as well because you realized that there have been a number of individuals calling for your removal from the Democratic Committee for violating your oath and because your employer, Mr. Stewart told you to do so.

Mr. Friedman, you have openly supported Republican candidates and are a paid aide to Corey Stewart. Republicans now say that you are his gatekeeper and the individual who helps him on all of his policies and activities. You should be ashamed of yourself.

You also have many facts wrong in your letter to me that should be addressed.

• First it is your employer, Mr. Stewart who has skirted the law and played fast to the truth over the years he has been in office.
• You should also know that to my knowledge it was not an individual associated with any political party that contacted Mr. Ebert’s office on this matter first. This was done even before the individuals you have mentioned were even aware of Mr. Stewart’s political advertisement paid for with county taxpayer’s money.
• Mr. Stewart took $30,000 from his discretionary fund to send out a postcard to residents. This is money that in the past has been used to help local charities in noteworthy causes. What is this saying to those in need in our community? I firmly believe that the only person Mr. Stewart cares about is himself and his own political future. This makes him unfit to continue to serve has our county’s Chairman of the Board of Supervisors.
• The wording on the letter is far from neutral. Did Mr. Stewart ask the County Attorney for guidance in his language on the mailer?
• For your information, Tuesday’s meeting is not a public hearing. It is a normal Board of Supervisors meeting. If it is to be a public hearing, it calls into question whether the county guidelines are being followed and whether it is even legal to have a vote on Tuesday.
• Your employer’s office did not use the Prince William County Government’s print shop to produce this clearly political mailing. I wonder why this is. Instead Mr. Stewart asked for three bids from outsides vendors. I would like to know who the three bids were and if this actually happened. Also what was the additional cost to taxpayers by not using the County’s print shop? This is clearly a breach of public trust and misuse of taxpayer funds. Was this done so no one in the county government outside of Mr. Stewart’s circle of aides, including yourself, Mr. Friedman knew about this? This clearly looks to any unbiased observer to be unethical behavior.
• Also the bulk mailing permit number on the mail piece happens to be the same one used on some of Corey’s and the Prince William County Republican Committee’s political advertisements in the past. This mailing permit belongs to Executive Press.
• Who is Executive Press? Well, it happens to be owned by Rebecca A. Stoeckel who also happens to be the Chairman of the 11th District Republican Committee. Executive Press is located in Fairfax County, why didn’t Mr. Stewart help a small business in Prince William County with $30,000 of taxpayer’s money? This is the company that printed all of Mr. Stewart’s campaign materials in 2003 and quite a number of his materials in 2006. In 2003, Mr. Stewart racked up high bill with Executive Press that went unpaid. There is some debate now whether this debt has been repaid. There is also some question as to whether or not the unpaid balance was properly declared on his campaign finance forms. Could it be that the reason this company was chosen was to continue to make up for the unpaid debt and to smooth over that relationship? Couldn’t be could it, because that clearly would be unethical and a violation of the public’s trust and a gross misuse of taxpayer funds.

Any Commonwealth’s Attorney should investigate this because it looks unethical at its core. To do anything less would be irresponsible regardless of what political party they belong to. The number of phone calls and emails in opposition to Mr. Stewart’s political mailing with taxpayer money have been overwhelming. I hope that federal prosecutors look into this because I strongly believe that they will side with Mr. Ebert and look into all of Mr. Stewart activities over the past year.

There are a number of distributing instances of Mr. Stewart openly threatening to remove business licenses of small business owners with his own hand, who place Democratic signs on their property. This sir is nothing less than intimidation by a public official and is illegal. I hope that the Justice Department looks into this as well.

Also you recently worked with two Republican operatives to form an organization called the Prince William Citizens for Balanced Growth. This is nothing more than a front group created to provide local Republicans, particularly Corey Stewart, cover for their utter failure to address the important issues facing our County

Even a quick google search of this group would reveal the following facts:

• That this group is absolutely NOT non-partisan.
• That this group consists of two individuals and only two individuals.
• That one of these individuals, Bob Pugh, is a long-time Republican Party operative.
• That this group refused to notify several possible Democratic participants until less than 24 hours before their scheduled press conference.
• That this group was created only after extensive discussions with Corey Stewart on how he can best use the organization to help him win this fall.
• That this group grossly misrepresented the facts throughout their presentation
• That this group has failed to register as a political action committee as required by law.
• That this bogus press conference was only attended by four individuals. Three of these four individuals were either reporters or bloggers. The only other individual in attendance was a member of the Prince William County Democratic Committee who was only there to try (in vain) to keep them honest.
• That Mr. Stewart and yourself have a long history of creating and using political action committees and front organizations like this group and Voters to Stop Sprawl. They use these groups to further their own agenda and to dupe voters into believing that they have wide-spread support for their positions.

You also notified me that your letter is a public letter well after the initial email you sent me so you can make all of the publishing deadlines for tomorrow’s papers. Yet again another questionable and highly unethical move on your part. Another one in a series of unethical activities by yourself, Mr. Friedman. I hope that the media takes you for what you are- nothing more than a paid spokesperson for Mr. Stewart.

In conclusion I wouldn’t be surprised that you didn’t even write this letter, in fact I believe that Mr. Stewart’s campaign manager wrote this for you. Mr. Stewart has been called out on his unethical mailing and is looking for ways to limit his political damage. So he picks the closest targets, Mr.Ebert and the Democratic Party. Mr. Friedman, you are nothing less than Corey’s puppet and I wish you the best with your employer, Mr. Stewart.

It may pain you in a few weeks that you have left the Democratic Party now, when we have our most successful election in many years. Voters throughout Prince William County are tired after 15 years of Republican dominated governance in our county and in our state legislative delegation. Our county’s residents’ quality of life has diminished during these years as elected Republicans cared only for themselves and those of their closest supporters. It is high time we bring back integrity and responsibility to our elected leadership, here in Prince William County.