Influence of Developers, Allies Runs Deep

Behind the scenes, some supervisors kept in close contact with Myers. Cellphone records obtained under public records laws showed more than 150 calls between her and Tulloch or Snow from September 2005 through mid-January 2006.

Snow shared e-mails with Myers that he received from constituents on matters before the board. In October 2005, Supervisor Sarah R. "Sally" Kurtz (D-Catoctin) sent an e-mail to the rest of the board and other county officials asking for an investigation into possible favoritism by the Board of Equalization, on which Myers sat. About an hour later, Snow forwarded the e-mail to Myers, records show.

Tom Jewell, Myers's boss at Carter Braxton, said Myers has been unfairly "vilified" over political issues. Jewell, a prominent county Democrat and the firm's owner, described Myers as a hardworking person of integrity who devotes her free time to charity, including fundraising for Inova Loudoun Hospital.

"I just see the amount of good that she has done for this community. She loves this place," Jewell said, adding that her expertise in government land-use policies is invaluable. "Where Dale truly makes her money and gets her clients is her knowledge. . . . She has a mind like a steel trap."

The July '04 Meeting

At a pivotal meeting in July 2004, the board approved the two proposals that were lucrative for Myers. In both cases, Myers's name went unmentioned in the public debate.

The vote rezoning her family's farm gave U.S. Home Corp. permission to build 500 homes on the property near Ashburn, beside a meandering waterway called Goose Creek. That was three times the 163 homes that could have been built with no board action, although within the limits of what was allowed under the county's plans.

Myers's second victory at that meeting came when Tulloch urged the county to purchase a parcel of land from the Islamic Saudi Academy Inc., a company affiliated with a conservative religious school in Fairfax County funded by the Saudi government. The school had intended to relocate to Loudoun but changed its plans.

Tulloch brought the deal to the board and urged supervisors to buy the land to build schools. Such an acquisition normally would take months as the county hashed out budget and planning issues, according to county officials. But Tulloch insisted that the supervisors move quickly, saying at the board meeting that he knew "for a fact" that the school had buyers willing to pay more than the county would pay. When asked later, Tulloch said developer Robert Buchanan was planning to pay more than the $13.5 million the county paid.

Buchanan said in a recent interview that he was going to pay considerably less -- "in the range" of $11 million. Buchanan had a contract to buy the land, records show, but agreed to step aside so the county could purchase it.

After the county completed its purchase, Myers and Carter Braxton received the sales commission, Jewell said. The Saudis had asked Myers to list the property, Jewell said, because as a supervisor in the late 1990s she had supported their plan to build the school in the face of virulent opposition ."They knew what she had gone through."

Tulloch said in an interview that he did not learn that Myers was the agent until "well, well, well after the vote," saying, "in fact, a month probably went by" between the vote and his learning of Myers's role.

Two Loudoun officials, however, recalled Tulloch telling county staff in discussions days before that vote that Myers was handling the sale. "We clearly learned at that time that Dale was the broker for the transaction," said County Administrator Kirby M. Bowers, who was briefed by his staff.