Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert, a Democrat, is kicking off his re-election campaign Friday at 6 p.m. at the Inn at Vint Hill, 4200 Aiken Drive, in Warrenton.

For the record, Warrenton is in Fauquier County, NOT Prince William County.  (The Inn at Vint Hill is just across the border from PWC in Fauquier County and has that county’s 540 area code, not PWC’s 703.)  In a county with over 400,000 people that measures 348 square miles, Paul Ebert couldn’t find a suitable place to hold his reelection kick-off?  That is pretty hard to believe considering he has been the CA for 43 years now.  Way to go in supporting hometown businesses!

Four years ago, we garnered nearly 700 write-in votes from almost every precinct in the county for an inanimate deli product — Hamilton “Ham” Sandwich, Esq. — against Ebert.  This time, we hope to have a candidate with a pulse, but if we don’t, you can expect Ham’s kick-off to actually be in the county he hopes to represent!

Dear Sirs:

Effective immediately, I am herewith resigning my membership in and all support for your committees, for reasons made clear below.

Prince William Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert’s decision to announce today, three weeks before an election, his plans to appoint a special prosecutor (Potomac News online 10/12/07: “Legality of Stewart mailer questioned”) to look into a mailer sent to county citizens by Chairman Corey A. Stewart is – there is no other way to say it – political thuggery at the worst level I have ever seen in our county .

I have lived in this county for nearly three decades. During all that time I have watched Mr. Ebert time and again construct and maintain a firewall between the political arena and our judicial system. During those many years, Mr. Ebert has protected our judicial system when clearly politically motivated “campaign complaints” have come to his office by competing campaigns. I have always agreed with him, and sometimes it has not been easy to do so, that no matter how outrageous the alledged campaign offense may be, he could not and would not allow the judicial system to be compromised by political motivations, especially in close proximity to an election. If he has erred in the past, it has always been on the side of keeping politics out of the judicial system. Until now. His announced decision represents a 180 degree reversal of his long standing practice. As such it is a dark and ugly stain on an otherwise distinguished career in public service.

Why would Mr. Ebert violate his own decades old policy? The only possible explanation is political motivation. Mr. Ebert is a long standing, senior member of the Democratic Party. He has been a major campaign contributor to Corey Stewart’s opponent, Sharon Pandak, in both last year’s special election and in this year’s general election. It is these reasons, no doubt Mr. Ebert will assert, prompted him to appoint an outside investigator rather than have his own office do the work, and he is right to remove himself and his office from the complaint. But, Mr. Ebert also knows that the mere announcement of an official investigation, three weeks before an election, is designed to have, and may have the effect of politically damaging the object of the investigation. This is clear and obvious abuse of process for political purposes. Every arm of the The Democratic Party should be outraged by Mr. Ebert’s conduct.

If Mr. Ebert were to serve justice, he would have accepted the complaint, had it sealed immediately, and he would have waited until after the election to make any public statement whatsoever regarding the complaint. That is what consistency with his long standing practices would have demanded. But, it seems clear Mr. Ebert’s interests were somewhere other than in serving justice.

Mr. Stewart has said that he will ask federal prosecutors to look into whether Mr. Ebert’s actions are lawful. He should. He should also ask the Virginia Attorney General to do the same. There needs to be an examination for possible violation of laws or rules preventing this sort of conduct from public prosecutors. Further, Mr. Ebert should be brought before the Virginia Bar Association to have his conduct examined, to determine which rules of professional conduct he may have violated, and to determine if he should be allowed to continue to keep his license to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Mr. Ebert has said he made the decision because “It doesn’t smell good”, (of Mr. Stewart’s mailer). If that is true then the timing of Mr. Ebert’s public announcement reeks most foul. I cannot see how his announcement can be viewed as anything other than an improper, intentional abuse of our judicial process motivated to improperly influence the outcome of a lawful election.

Nor, it must be said, are Sharon Pandak’s hands clean on this matter. During a candidates forum, on the day of the mailer complaint, it was obvious to me that Sharon Pandak and Woodbridge Supervisor Hilda Barg, were acting in concert. (Apparently Ms. Barg was the complaintant.) If Ms. Pandak is so desparate to win an election that she will collude with Ms. Barg in getting her good friend and supporter Paul Ebert to overturn his own policy in the Commonwealth’s Attorney office, to make a carefully timed announcement intended to damage her political opponent, then none of them are fit for public service of any sort. How can anyone trust such a candidate?

As to my continued membership in the Prince William County Democratic committee structure, I cannot allow my name to be associated with any organization that either condones or promulgates such fundamentally unethical and, at its core, unAmerican conduct, or whose most senior representatives or candidates engage in such activities. Unfortunately, the conduct of these three individuals all too accurately reflects the prevailing culture inside the Prince William County Democratic committee structure these days, and I will not be a part of it. Shame on Paul Ebert, Sharon Pandak, and Hilda Barg for compromising the integrity of our judicial system and for fouling the honor of our political arena in Prince William County.

Gary C. Friedman
Gainesville
October 12, 2007

I have it on very good authority that complaints will be lodged against Paul Ebert later this week with the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, the Virginia Attorney General’s Office and possibly with the Virginia Bar.

Your reign of intimidation and cronyism is about to finally get its comeuppance, Ebert. In the meanwhile, citizens of PWC who care about integrity would do well to dump the ethically-challenged Paul Ebert on Election Day by writing in Ham Sandwich for the job.

Once again, Paul Ebert has delved into using his prosecutor’s office for political purposes and the threat of investigation and prosecution as a weapon of intimidation.

The latest brewhaha is over a mailing that PWC Chairman Corey Stewart sent out to every home in PWC announcing the vote by the BOCS this coming Tuesday on measures cracking down on illegal immigration.

Let me repeat that.  This mailing went to EVERY home in PWC (not targeted to registered voters or voters who have participated in particular elections or primaries.)  This mailing ANNOUNCED the scheduled vote.  It did NOT advocate a position on it.  Any prosecutor worth his salt who did not have a political agenda would look at those factors and know immediately that he had no case.  Then again, Ebert isn’t worth his salt and DOES have a political agenda.  This mailing, while politically beneficial to Corey, did not cross the lines either in terms of electioneering nor in lobbying.  And I say that as an attorney more than well-versed in both areas.

This is perhaps the biggest issue to come down the pike in this county in years.  Now some elected officials are complaining that – GASP – the public are actually being informed about what their government is doing.  Compared to some of the wasteful things other supervisor’s discretionary funds have been spent on over the years (yes, Hilda Barg, I’m looking at you as a prime example), this may actually have been the most useful thing done with those boondoggle of funds in years.  And don’t tell me that other supervisors have not received indirect political benefits from some of those expenditures, either.

While some have pointed to this being covered in the newspapers and on TV, that does not mean people are necessarily aware that the vote on this will take place this coming Tuesday.  I’d guess that most people are generally aware that the county is doing something, but that a majority of people are not tuned in to the timing of this vote.

Furthermore, the local newspaper, the Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger only penetrates approximately 10 percent of the county according to recent circulation figures.  Not exactly the authoritative voice of the county.

Finally, there is the question of Paul Ebert’s contributions to Sharon Pandak, Corey’s opponent on Election Day.  This is a huge conflict of interest and not the first time that Ebert has given such an appearance of impropriety (Steve Chapman anyone?)  Corey is right to say that there are questions here for the U.S. Justice Dept. — and they should be asked of Ebert.

So, on Election Day, be sure to reelect Corey Stewart and, while you’re at it, WRITE IN HAM SANDWICH FOR PWC COMMONWEALTH’S ATTORNEY.  He can do the job just as well as the current one, but without the political agenda.

Donate now.

Judge William D. Hamblen dropped the charge against Ray Von Scott, 60, at the prosecution’s request.

Scott was accused of embezzling a five-figure sum of money from the Dale City Youth Athletic Club.

Prosecutors asked that the charge be dropped Tuesday because the Commonwealth was not prepared to proceed with the case.

Police believe that from May 2004 to June 2005 Scott used fees paid by the parents of children playing in the organization’s football league and donations for players’ insurance, uniforms and equipment for personal uses, Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul B. Ebert said.

When it comes to protecting children, Ham Sandwich could have done a better job of finding the time to prosecute this case, no matter what it took.  This is an outrage.

And how much national media attention is being given to his opponent Paul Ebert? None. Nada. Zip. The only media coverage Ebert can seem to summon is from the Manassas Journal-Messenger. That has got to have Paul Ebert concerned.

From Kansascity.com:

Some conservative bloggers are touting the candidacy of a ham sandwich to take the place of Paul Ebert, the Prince William County commonwealth attorney. The Web site www.votehamsandwich.com promises that the ham sandwich “possesses every bit the same skills and qualities as” Democrat Ebert, who has held the post almost 40 years.

Now that the filing deadline for candidates has closed, and there don’t appear to be any other contenders, this straight-up contest between Ham Sandwich and Paul Ebert has all the momentum going in Ham Sandwich’s direction.

The Ham Sandwich for Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney campaign got a demo track back today from Nashville with a melody to the song lyrics that the Ham Sandwich campaign came up with.  It’s a great little tune that tells the story of how a family has passed on their tradition through the generations of showing how much they love each other by making great ham sandwiches for each other’s lunch.  It’s going to make a great soundtrack for a campaign video, and will probably be performed locally for campaign events.

Let’s see Paul Ebert top that.  He doesn’t even have a campaign website yet.  All Ebert does have right now is the Manassas Journal-Messenger wishing him “luck” in his campaign.

From today’s editorial page:

This year, he has a little competition from a tasty afternoon meal. A ham sandwich wants to unseat the incumbent.

Hamilton “Ham” Sandwich, Esq. is hoping his write-in campaign will successfully install him as purveyor of justice in the county.

As we said, we don’t normally endorse anybody for Commonwealth’s Attorney, but seeing as there is actually some competition, we thought we would weigh in.

Mr. Ebert, you have our support — not only because you have been a successful Commonwealth’s Attorney, but also because you have a good sense of humor in the face of a challenge from a lunch meat and two slices of bread.

Paul Ebert hasn’t had an opponent in 12 years. The minute a candidate pops up that cannot be threatened, out comes the Journal-Messenger to backfill Ebert’s moribund campaign. If they can’t even wait until the filing deadline for candidates has passed, you know someone out there is panicking.

As well they should. Ham is getting a lot of attention from across the country, and people are contacting the campaign to find out how they can support Ham Sandwich. Ham’s website continues to see explosive traffic growth, and recording artists in Nashville completed writing the music for Ham’s campaign theme song yesterday. Not only does Ham have the only campaign website in this race so far, but he has a theme song that will set this election on fire.

Ham is going to win this election, and change Prince William County politics forever.

NOVA TownHall’s Joe Budzinski said:

While the opponent offers interesting credentials, we strongly believe Ham Sandwich – particularly with a little spicy mustard – presents an overwhelmingly superior alternative.

You can go to the Raising Ham site for more info on this Ham-tastic political movement.

The momentum continues to build…

Tomorrow we may find out.

As the national buzz grows, other websites have started to weigh in. Ticking The Ivories writes ” This is the only moment I have ever wanted to live in the Washington, DC area—just so I could cast a vote for change.” BQB blog weighs in with this:

A candidate we all can only hope for – vote ham sandwich!

If you live in Virginia, please do the right thing!

http://www.votehamsandwich.com/

Over the next few weeks this momentum will only continue to grow. Ham is on a roll!

UPDATE: The buzz grows over at shrimplate, and a Wikipedia article has been established for Ham.