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Jennifer Wexton Calls on Jim Plowman to Investigate Sheriff Allegations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jennifer Wexton
(703) 779-4896 - office

votewexton@gmail.com

Leesburg, VA (August 4, 2011) – Jennifer Wexton, candidate for Loudoun Commonwealth’s Attorney, called on Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Plowman today to investigate allegations of “pay to play” campaign donations to Loudoun Sheriff Steve Simpson.

On August 3, 2011, the Washington Post published an article exposing questionable campaign donations to Simpson from organizations with contracts up for renewal the Sheriff’s Department, and from a local nonprofit agency. The article also cited an instance where a major Simpson campaign donor, convicted felon Osama El Atari, served less than 1½ hours of a four-day sentence at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center.

“Either all of these events have been taking place under Jim Plowman’s watch, and he knew nothing about them, or he knew what was going on and did nothing. Either way, it’s unacceptable for Loudoun’s top prosecutor not to act.” said Wexton. “That is why I delivered a letter to Mr. Plowman’s office today, officially requesting that he investigate the allegations in the Post article, to determine what, if any, violations of criminal or campaign finance laws have taken place. These are allegations where the taxpayers of Loudoun County deserve answers.”

Mr. Plowman has shown a pattern of launching politically motivated investigations and has not hesitated to pursue his chosen political targets in the past, notably his Susan Van Wagoner conflict of interest opinion, which was ultimately reversed by two courts, and his prosecution of Virginia State Senate candidate Mark Tate for campaign finance violations during the 2007 election cycle.