The Northern Virginia Daily
April 22, 2010
Evaluation for town attorney on agenda
Council members probe handling
of bids for solar farm
By Ben
Orcutt
FRONT ROYAL
- Town Attorney Thomas R. Robinett appears to be on the hot seat
for his handling of a possible bribe regarding town bids for the
construction of a solar energy farm. Vice Mayor Bret W. Hrbek said Wednesday that he and Councilman N. Shae Parker have asked that an evaluation of Robinett be placed on Monday's Town Council agenda for a closed session discussion. Parker did not return any of the three telephone messages left for him on Wednesday. One of the
items that Hrbek wants to discuss behind closed doors is
Robinett seeking an opinion from a Graham did not return any of three telephone messages left for him on Wednesday, but has denied any secret meetings with representative of the solar firm and has said he is unaware of any bribe being offered. Robinett sent out a confidential memo to Mayor Eugene R. Tewalt and the six members of the Town Council on April 8 outlining his concerns about the possible bribe, as well as documents from the Troutman Sanders law firm. Last week, one of the recipients of Robinett's memo leaked the documents. Hrbek questions Robinett's actions in seeking the legal opinion. "I know Tom's tradition is that as the chief legal officer of the town, if he feels it's important, that's what he needs to do, but did the Town Council ever give him authority to contact Troutman Sanders on this particular issue?" Hrbek questioned. "Not that I'm aware of." Asked if an effort is being made to have Robinett fired, Hrbek said, "We just need to talk about some things that have happened in the town attorney's office. It's personnel issues." Hrbek said since the documents were released, he has spoken with Carter Glass IV, an attorney with Troutman Sanders, about the issue, adding that he did not think he had to get authority to contact Glass, even if it costs the town money. "Why would I have to get the authority to call a lawyer?" Hrbek asked. "If it comes down to the point where folks are upset I called Carter Glass, cost the town money, send the bill to me. I talked to Carter Glass after the memo was released to the press. I also want to point out I don't ever recall getting a bill from Carter when I ran into him at the Logan Airport in Boston [in August] and had a chat up there about town business [U.S. 340-522 corridor lawsuit] either." Robinett, who has been the town attorney for a little more than three years, said Wednesday that he could not discuss the documents that have been leaked because he is still bound by attorney-client privilege. He did say that as he understands his role as town attorney, he does have the authority to seek an outside legal opinion if he feels it's necessary. "Council has the right to review me at any time for any reason or no reason at all," Robinett said of the Monday closed session. Councilman
Carson C. Lauder Jr. defended Robinett's actions, and was
somewhat surprised that Hrbek is calling for a review of the
town attorney's performance. "I think Mr. Robinett was doing his job to protect the town, which includes all of the councilmen," Lauder said. "We dumped the RFPs [solar bids] because the cost of the solar was much greater than the coal-fired kilowatt hour and it didn't make business sense to pursue it. I thought that was over and we'd get back to business." Without elaborating, Councilman Chris W. Holloway said he agreed with Lauder. Last week, Holloway suggested that a criminal investigation be pursued to resolve questions of secret meetings and the possible offer of a bribe. "To be clear, I did not participate in any alleged secret or illegal discussions outside of the request for proposals," Councilman Thomas H. Sayre weighed in. "So the bribery memo does not pertain to me, however, it is a mistake to place this on the closed agenda at this time because the public might not have the benefit of knowing the true facts." Councilman Thomas E. Conkey sees it differently. "Since the Troutman Sanders memo was released, there's been a lot of negative publicity, negative things that have been happening in the town and we need to discuss with Mr. Robinett the letter and that's it," Conkey said. Tewalt said he does not know exactly what Hrbek wants to discuss about Robinett. "The only thing I can say is Bret called yesterday and we put it on the agenda, and I have no clue about what Bret wants to talk about for sure," Tewalt said. "[Robinett] may have handled it a little different, but again, like I told you before, he was probably looking out for the best interests of the town." In the
confidential documents, Megan C. Rahman, an attorney with
Troutman Sanders who specializes in white-collar crime, provides
an analysis of information provided by Town Attorney Thomas R.
Robinett. Based on Robinett's report, she states that while no bribe was accepted, it appears that incentives were secretly offered by one of the top three companies that responded to the town's request for bids on the solar project, and if that is the case, they constitute a bribe being offered. |