Peter Farrell Must Have Something Really Juicy
By Greg L | 8 July 2009 | Manassas Park, Crime | 15 Comments
I wonder what Manassas Park Councilman Peter Farrell (D) did to upset Mayor Frank Jones, given the surprising announcement of Farrell being indicted for election fraud, which is a Class 5 felony offense. Farrell is among those with the least amount of time to rack up felony offenses, and probably among the least guilty of unlawful behavior on the Council. He is too junior to be involved in shady dealings on public construction projects in the park, he wasn’t on the Council when it decided to invest municipal bond proceeds in a “low risk, high return” fund managed by AIG, and he hasn’t directed zoning enforcement officials to harass local businesses out of Manassas Park (like Artisan Auto Body) when they happened to be situated on property the Manassas Park Cabal wanted to redevelop.
Farrell didn’t even have undisclosed financial relationships with Colonial Downs when off-track betting was up for referendum in the park. If you’re going to pick someone to tag with a felony indictment in Manassas Park government, Peter Farrell (and his peer Suhas Naddoni) are absolutely the last people Paul Ebert should be putting under a microscope. He simply hasn’t had the time to become nearly as corrupt as the rest. The guy’s obviously very industrious, but it’s just humanly impossible to rise to the level of graft that is the standard on the Manassas Park Governing Board in such a short time.
He must have really upset the Mayor, and he really, really must have done a hell of a job of it for Paul Ebert to come swooping down with such an uncharacteristic enforcement of elections law. Steve Chapman clearly was running for office in a jurisdiction he didn’t live in, and Ebert nolle prossed that one just as quick as he could. A candidate for Sheriff stands up in front of more than one hundred people and offers a bribe if he’s elected, and Paul Ebert doesn’t even acknowledge the complaint. Paul Ebert, as far as I can tell, throughout his record-length career has yet to prosecute anyone for a violation of elections law. That is, until now.
Man, I hope Peter Farrell blows the lid off this. If the powers that be want to take him down, he darned well knows something the rest of the world definitely needs to know.
Peter, if you need to contact the FBI so you can turn the tables here, you let me know. I can get you right in touch with the right folks, and if you’ve got something really good, they’ll get that hampster of a Commonwealth’s Attorney off your butt faster than you can say “kickbacks”.
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15 Comments
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I don’t think Farrell is the one who altered council meeting minutes after the fact. He’s not the one who pulled public documents from the library, or even the one who tried to keep secret a redevelopment plan for the Manassas Park Shopping Center so insiders could use non-public information in order to line their pockets. Farrell is the little fish in this pond.
The big fish want him gone. I got to wonder why.
There’s an update to the story on the MJM:
” The indictment, handed up by a grand jury in Prince William Circuit Court, charges that Farrell lied about being a resident of Manassas Park.
…
“The basis of the charge is that he is not a resident of the city of Manassas Park and he said that he was,” Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert said Wednesday. “
Farrell must have been close to finding out about the kickbacks from the construction projects the city is doing, and they preemptively nailed him. Farrell has been scared to death about what’s happening - he sunk over 3 million into an office building and figured the only way to protect himself was to join the cabal. Since he’s a pretty stand up guy, he was a threat. Instead of letting him find out about what’s going on, it was easier to get the wife of kiddie porn producer Kevin Brendel - she counts to votes behind closed doors in the Park as registrar - to come up with trumped up charges and cut him off at th knees.
If Farrell knew anything, the cabal would be protecting him out of fear he could turn on them. They’re nailing him before he knows anything because they can’t risk an honest man finding out what is really going on there.
Funny how being trustworthy gets you kneecapped in the Park like this.
This is what I feared during the Rack’n'Roll scandal. The Manassas Park City government will find a way to destroy anyone who doesn’t play ball in the corruption….or rather their ongoing criminal enterprise.
We have yet another local businessman who dared to shake things up and will pay the price if the public doesn’t unite behind him.
Ebert is pulling a Plowman!
Farrell owns three residential properties in the Park, and lists as his address for those properties an office building on Manassas Drive. A search of the property assessments don’t seem to show a residential address for Farrell in the Park, and an office building can’t be used to establish residency. Campaign finance disclosures list the same office building address for his donations to Rishell.
Interesting how, according to the MJM, when asked if he was in fact a resident of MP Farrell said, “It’s inappropriate at this time to answer that question.”
Huh?
The rules for establishing residency may change in the near future — here’s a quote from proposed regulations from SBE up for public comments. This would be too late to help Farrell though.
“4) A residence can be established in a commercial, industrial or other building that is not normally used for residential purposes if the building serves as the applicant’s primary nighttime residence.”
No surprise here. I heard during the election that he and his wife lived in Fairfax.
You are right there is a lot bad in MP and with council.
Lots of problems here, but bottom line. You can not break the law and say you live in a district to run for election and not really do so.
That is the one unescapable fact, and I actually thought Peter was well spoken but now has proven to be self serving as any other politician, he only now has the clout of a used tissue due to this revelation and appears to have hurt the people who live here by only caring really about his business.
That is the truth.
Great job Pete…..
Maybe Rishell should try and take his spot on the City Council. The cabal seems to love her over there. Then she might actually get some real experience before trying to run for a higher office.
I have become somewhat numb to the gaul and arrogance of many electeds who feel that by virtue of their offices, they are the “pigs” Orwell wrote of. We have Obama trampling the constitution, Tim Kaine drawing a full taxpayer funded paycheck while serving part time, refusing to answer FOIA requests, and then the goat-rope that is Manassas Park Council.
Let’s see how Ebert prosecutes this one.
I agree. Assuming this is true then he should be held to the letter of the law. If I have to live in this wrecked and ruined town then so should the people who are supposed to govern it and who ultimately through their reckless decisions and incompetence caused all of the problems that we the citizens have to deal with on a daily basis around here.
So what has happened to Peter Farrell? He wasn’t in his seat at the last council meeting?
While Peter Farrell may not have risen to whatever the appropriate level of wrong-doings were yet, one should be reminded of his earlier conviction for fraud and consumer deception in Federal court earlier in this decade. I know. I brought the suit after he deceived and defrauded me. But, hey, that was just business. This is after all, government…
Gordon