Split decisions: democratic division on the board
How voting blocs formed among Supervisors
Over the past several years, many decisions among the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors have broken down along clear voting blocs. While some officials and residents say these split decisions are healthy for a functioning democracy, others say it's a result of divisiveness that began in 2016 following changes in county leadership.
Some decisions that ended in a split vote became hot-button cultural topics across the county, like a resolution to make Rappahannock County a Second Amendment sanctuary, a proposal for a trail to connect both of the public schools, and most recently, a decision to expand broadband in the county.
There are other issues that have resulted in split de-
cisions and spirited debates that don’t receive the same buzz on social media and email listservs, like numerous planning and zoning applications, appointments and nominations to public bodies and other procedural votes.
Since 2017, there have been 63 split votes taken on the ve-member Board of Supervisors, with the most 3-2 decisions happening in 2018, tallying 22, according to a Rappahannock News analysis of meeting minutes. In 2017 there was one split vote, 15 in 2019, nine in 2020, 14 in 2021, and two so far in 2022.
Frazier, who has been on the body for more than 20 years, the longest of any sitting member, said split votes taken in line with voting blocs have occurred more in recent years than prior to 2016, when he said discourse became more uncivil. Most o en, these voting blocs align on issues of great consequence or public interest in the county.
Recently, Frazier and Piedmont Supervisor Christine Smith o en vote together in the minority against Chair and Wake eld Supervisor Debbie Donehey, Stonewall-Hawthorne Supervisor Van Carney and Hampton Supervisor Keir Whitson. Since 2021, those votes have included appointments, planning and zoning issues and other county matters. Some notable examples above.
Smith was elected to the body in 2018, and since then, numerous other votes have taken place where Smith and Frazier have voted together.
“It's not necessarily a bad thing,” Frazier said about the uptick in split decisions. “I mean, a 3-2 vote sends a signal to somebody like All Points that you're one vote away from not getting this,” he said in reference to his opposition to broadband expansion. Frazier added that some majority votes are already negotiated and decided by Supervisors prior to public meetings, which he said leaves himself and members of the public out of important conversations.
“While I am open to speak with people before a vote, I don’t consult any political alliances prior to a vote,” Frazier said.
Whitson denied Frazier’s claims that decisions are made by o cials before public meetings, and said he disagrees that voting blocs exist on the
Board. Whitson said there have been times when he’s voted with Frazier on issues like personal property taxes.
“How I vote is very simple,” Whitson said. “What is the majority view of my constituents? And I come in and I vote on that basis, because it's a little county and I'm a local representative. How else would I vote?”
There are times when o cials vote outside of the typical 3-2 dynamic on high-pro le matters — at the July Board of Supervisors meeting, Frazier joined the majority to approve a dra document outlining terms for a potential boundary line adjustment in the Town of Washington.
In a statement to the Rappahannock News, Smith said: “From my perspective, I was elected to do a job and promote accountability, safeguard tax dollars and act with respect for our rural, agricultural character, so that’s what I do. I vote accordingly, and if my peers see things di erent
ly, then I leave it in the Board room.” Smith declined to answer questions about divisiveness on the body and voting blocs that have formed.
Donehey did not return a request for comment and Carney declined to speak on the record for this report.
A microcosm of national politics
About half a dozen current and former o cials and residents
interviewed by the Rappahannock News identi ed 2016 as being the year when discourse among the Board of Supervisors started to become more uncivil, and when a lot of split decisions on consequential issues began.
“Rappahannock is really just a re ection on what's going on in the rest of the country,” said Former Hampton Supervisor John Lesinksi. “Why are we so polarized? You know, is it red, blue? Is it come here, been here? … Is it elites versus the rest? There are so many divides right now that you could just pick one.”
People interviewed have said the body now in 2022 is able to have more productive debate than the bodies from 2016 to 2020, where heated arguments sometimes turned into shouting. During that time period, the county went through four county administrators, which Lesinski said allowed some people to introduce “chaos” to the governing body.
“In the past, if elected o cials didn't didn't get what they necessarily advocated for, they would understand that the majority was for something else” Lesinski said. “That’s what changed, I think. Those who didn't carry the vote pursued other ways of making their opinions known and actively went about creating chaos and throwing sand into the gears to express their disappointment in whatever vote they may have lost.”
Lesinksi, who was a member of the board from 2016 to 2020, said during his term, incivility took the form of “nasty” social media posts and personal attacks and lawsuits from members of the body. He also pointed to a 2019 debate, when the supervisors couldn’t agree on “a simple code of conduct” for how elected o cials should behave.
In August 2019, Frazier asked the circuit court to reverse a decision by the Board of Supervisors refusing to pay the $19,365 in legal fees that Frazier incurred during the case of Marian Bragg v. Board of Supervisors of Rappahannock County.
Bragg sued the board in 2016 for violating Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), alleging that the Supervisors discussed items pertaining to the hiring of a county attorney in a closed meeting that were not exempt from FOIA laws. (The Bragg case was settled in 2021, with no admission of guilt from the Board of Supervisors.)
While the lawsuit was pending, members of the body o en had split votes on approving accounts payable to the county during public meetings, igniting sometimes ery discussions on Frazier’s attempts to get the county to pay for his legal fees.
Lesinksi also said that what was happening in Rappahannock during that time period was a microcosm of national politics when Republican former President Donald Trump was i n o ce.
He said this was seen most clearly in December 2019 during the vote on a resolution to make Rappahannock a “second amendment sanctuary,” a mostly symbolic vow to protect gun ownership rights. This meeting drew a crowd large enough to have to move the public hearing from the Rappahannock County Courthouse to the high school auditorium where public comment became raucous.
In Lesinksi’s very last vote as a supervisor, he was the only o cial to vote against the measure, with Frazier, Smith and former Wake eld Supervisor Roger Welch voting in favor, and former Stonewall-Hawthorne Supervisor Chris Parrish abstaining.
Parrish, who retired from the Board of Supervisors at the end of 2021, has said before that national politics, along with an uptick in social media use, has caused the body to become more divisive in how it handles issues.
“Well, rst of all, [divisiveness on the Board of Supervisors] directly lines up with the resignation of John McCarthy,” Parrish said of the former county administrator, who retired in 2016. McCarthy declined to comment for this report. “He had the capacity to ward o controversy at the inception of the controversy. So basically, and as you know, the one that would throw the most darts is Ron Frazier.”
Frazier acknowledged that he’s been “party” to divisive issues on the body, but said he does not think he bears responsibility for it.
“I was basically reacting to it in the only way that I could — somebody had to try and bring this information to the public,” Frazier said, referring to the lawsuit on FOIA concerns in 2019. “And they tried to shut
FORMER SUPERVISOR CHRIS PARRISH:
“ e last thing we want is for somebody to make a motion, and somebody to second it, and they all automatically agree just so they all feel good... And we certainly do not have that situation here.”
me down, tried to cut me o . And it's very unfortunate, but I don't bare any responsibility, but I did bare my part in it. I mean, what do you do? You just gonna sit back and let them ruin the county?”
Buildings Committee member Page Glennie, an Amissville resident who has regularly attended meetings since 2015, said he has noticed an increase in division on the body that lines up with not only a change in county administration, but also when Board of Supervisor meetings began getting recorded by the Rappahannock News in 2017.
“It has gotten to the point that … that some of these politicians now are only listening to their little group, and so it's like being on Facebook with your friends, you're hearing exactly what it is you want,” Glennie said.
A functional Board of Supervisors
Those interviewed said it’s important to note that the Board of Supervisors now in 2022 is far more functional and productive than the shouting matches that were seen in previous years. And, while split votes do exist on critical issues, it can be a sign of functioning democracy.
“The last thing we want is for somebody to make a motion, and somebody to second it, and they all automatically agree just so they all feel good,” Parrish said. “And that is the most dangerous government that we could possibly have. And we certainly do not have that situation here.”
Whitson, who replaced Lesinski in 2020, said he ran his campaign on bringing civility to the Board of Supervisors and that he’s comfortable with the discourse and professionalism of the current body.
“Restoring civility to the Board of Supervisors is easy, because I am a civil person, and since the beginning of 2020, I think that the board compared to the four years prior has actually been quite calm, and fairly productive,” Whitson said. “And I think we've managed to get along despite di erent opinions on things like broadband and other important issues.”