Breaking News: Stafford Board of Supervisors Censures Monica Gary
Board Chair Meg Bohmke claims Gary contacted Stafford Democratic Committee chair prior to July 10 Board meeting seeking a new appointee recommendation; Dem's chair offers different timeline.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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The Stafford Board of Supervisors this evening voted to censure Aquia representative Monica Gary for actions related to the removal of Mary Becelia from the Central Rappahannock Regional Library Board of Trustees.
Before the vote, Chair Meg Bohmke read a statement in which she described Gary’s motivations as being “political in nature and related to her upcoming reelection.”
She said Gary reached out to the chair of the Stafford Democratic Committee and asked for a new appointee recommendation to the library board “before the Board of Supervisors took any action on the removal of Ms. Becelia in July.”
However, Howard Rudat, the chair of the Stafford County Democratic Committee, provided the Advance with a call log and screenshot showing that Gary reached out to him by text message and phone call on July 11, the day after the meeting at which Becelia was removed from the library board.
Bohmke continued to say that Gary asked the Board to reinstate Becelia after learning that Becelia was a member of the Stafford County Democratic Committee.
“The Democratic Chair notified supervisor Gary that the library board member removed was in fact a Stafford Democrat Committee member,” Bohmke said. “This notification to supervisor Gary is essentially what led her to changing her mind and requesting the board to reappoint Ms. Becelia.”
The meeting at which Gary asked for Becelia’s reinstatement took place in September.
Rudat told the Advance that he informed Gary that Becelia was a member of the Stafford County Democrats on July 11.
In her own statement issued Tuesday night, Gary said she has “always sought to work well with both the Republican and Democratic parties.”
“The actions the Stafford County Board of Supervisors took this evening [were] further retaliation politically motivated before my re-election and resulting from concern for their own public image after being called to account for illegal actions,” Gary said in her statement.
Stay with the Advance as we pursue this story.
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So incompetent and paranoid? Or lying? Not sure which is worse.