Letters To the Editor

Jon Moseley

Alexandria

No Pendulum Here

Your otherwise excellent story on the Loudoun Board of Supervisors election ("Once Again, the Winds of Change," Loudoun Extra, Nov. 11) contains a regrettable error. It says that the defeated incumbents "won office in 2003 on a pledge to loosen controls on growth." Not so!

They ran an elaborate, expensive campaign featuring attack ads that accused previous board members of failing to control development, a campaign designed to make voters think they would keep controls on growth. Only after they were elected did they push their real agenda -- fast growth at taxpayer expense. We are living with the consequences -- destruction of the environment, rising taxes and traffic gridlock.

The swings in board policy were not due to swings in voter sentiment. In 2003, as in 1999 and 2007, the great majority voted for slower growth. The real story of this election is that the voters did not get fooled again.

Ed Jahn

Leesburg