Official Backed Plans Of Business Connections

George Mason had a preexisting relationship as a "preferred lender" with Greenvest's home-building arm, Cambridge, according to records and interviews. That meant customers in Maryland and West Virginia who purchased homes from Cambridge were promised discounts of $4,000 to $10,000 if they used a mortgage company from the list of two or three preferred lenders.

Beerman was a point of contact at George Mason for these loans and received commissions on the mortgages he handled, records show. While Beerman benefited, other Greenvest companies had proposals pending before the Planning Commission for billions of dollars in new homes. Greenvest companies make up the county's largest private landowner.

At some point, Merrill said, Greenvest executives became concerned about a potential conflict and canceled the arrangement until it was cleared by the commonwealth's attorney in October 2004.

In a four-page advisory opinion written at Beerman's request, Loudoun Commonwealth's Attorney James E. Plowman concluded that because Beerman's work was with Cambridge, he did not have a "personal interest" in Greenvest matters before the Planning Commission. In Virginia, conflict-of-interest laws generally prohibit officials from voting on matters if they have a personal interest in the outcome.

"One thing I tell people is just because something might smell bad, it doesn't mean it's a statutory violation," Plowman said in an interview, noting that home buyers were not forced to use George Mason.

But Plowman also encouraged Beerman to be mindful of potential conflicts -- if, for example, Beerman knew the Planning Commission was taking up a Greenvest project in which Cambridge would be one of the builders. In that case, Plowman said Beerman would be required to disqualify himself.

Beerman had told Plowman that from 10 to 25 percent of his loan business was from Cambridge. "His annual compensation from this would be expected to exceed $10,000 annually," according to the opinion.

Two other commonwealth's attorneys, when asked about Plowman's opinion, said they would have advised Beerman not to vote on any Greenvest matters, either because his actions could be a conflict or appear to be a conflict.

"It's easy to use your imagination and come up with all sorts of scenarios where Beerman, through his company, has a stake in Greenvest's overall success, which would have to be affected by getting the green light for new development," noted one commonwealth's attorney, who spoke on condition that he not be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Three weeks after Plowman's ruling, Beerman began casting a string of votes favorable to Greenvest, including four that sharply increased the value of the company's land by allowing more than 1,800 additional homes to be built on almost 1,000 acres. That gave Greenvest companies the right to build seven times the number of homes allowed before Beerman's commission and the Board of Supervisors acted.

In a written response on behalf of Greenvest, attorney Francis A. McDermott said the company had no financial relationship with Beerman and had never paid him. There was, McDermott said, no "attempt to link" the preferred-lender arrangement "to favorable results" before county officials. "In short, Greenvest has never done anything improper, or attempted in any way to exercise improper influence" over Beerman's votes or opinions, McDermott said.

Beerman said in an interview this summer that he saw nothing improper about his work as both public official and mortgage lender.