Eugene Delgaudio

Eugene Delgaudio is an American politician. In 1981, he started Public Advocate of the United States, a conservative activist group known for its street theater, tax protests, and anti-LGBTQ+ efforts. He represented the Sterling District on the Board of Supervisors of Loudoun County, Virginia, from January 2000 to January 2016.

Eugene A. Delgaudio
Member of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors from the Sterling District
In office
November 6, 1999 – November 3, 2015
Succeeded byKoran Saines
Personal details
Born1955
age (66)
NationalityAmerican
Political partyRepublican
ResidenceSterling, Virginia
Websitejoineugene.com

In 2002, The Washington Post said, "Delgaudio has become a leader in the nation's anti-gay rights movement".[1] A 2003 book called him "one of the key leaders" in the conservative view of "moral health".[2]

Anti-gay and other political actions

Delgaudio was a board member of the youth group Young Americans for Freedom. His group, Public Advocate of the United States, which he has lead since its founding, was designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center in March 2012.[3]

In addition to his activities through the Public Advocate group, Delgaudio has a history of individual public actions, against gay rights, against immigrants, and for other conservative causes. His protests outside the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Capitol included a "Perverts for Cellucci" rally opposing the nomination of Paul Celucci as ambassador to Canada, a man-donkey wedding to support the Federal Marriage Amendment, and a "Kennedy Sobriety Checkpoint" to draw attention to Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy's (D-RI) car accident.[4]

In October 2005, Delgaudio appeared on Fox News, opposing the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers, suggesting Ann Coulter instead.[5] In 2007, Delgaudio asked Muslims if they "come in peace" and whether they pledge allegiance to the United States.[6]

Delgaudio attracted media attention in February 2010 when he claimed that the Gasparilla Pirate Festival in Tampa, Florida, was being infiltrated by "radical homosexuals" seeking to exploit unsuspecting college students.[7]

Delgaudio has made numerous public claims regarding the policy of Transportation Security Administration full-body airport security scans. In November 2010 he wrote, "It's the federal employee's version of the Gay Bill of Special Rights ... That means the next TSA official that gives you an 'enhanced pat down' could be a practicing homosexual secretly getting pleasure from your submission."[8]

Loudoun Board of Supervisors

Delgaudio was first elected to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in 1999, running unopposed, and was re-elected in 2003, 2007, and 2011.[9] In his November 2015 re-election bid, he was defeated by Koran Saines.[10][11]

Positions on county issues

Delgaudio was an outspoken critic on the board of anti-growth groups (consisting mostly of large estate owners in the western half of the county) and an advocate of homebuilders in Loudoun. Delgaudio also has been opposed to expanding government services to undocumented immigrants[12] as well as the school budget on nonessential programs. With regard to social justice issues, he has repeatedly expressed vehement opposition toward expanding marital rights to include same-sex partnerships.[13]

In August 2007, Delgaudio introduced a resolution asking the county administrator to determine which county services could be denied to undocumented immigrants. He has proposed that alternatives to anti-bullying programs be used in Loudoun County schools.

Investigation

In September 2012, a former county aide to Delgaudio, Donna Mateer, accused him of instructing her to fund raise for Public Advocate while on company time.[14] When asked about the allegations, Delgaudio said that while it was true that his employees were asked to spend up to 60 percent of their time on fundraising, the fundraising activities were to benefit a local boys' football league.

On October 3, 2012, the Board of Supervisors voted to begin an independent investigation of the allegations made against Delgaudio in the Post article.[15] Delgaudio spoke before the board prior to the vote, saying, "The suicide bombers of the political left pull their own rings on their detonation devices as they advance on me, and Sterling, and all honest-to-God conservatives... I stand as a small David against the foul-smelling, decaying corpse of the Washington Post."[16]

On November 8, 2012, at the request of Loudoun Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Plowman, a special prosecutor was appointed by the Loudoun County Circuit Court to investigate Mateer's complaint.[17][18] On June 24, 2013, a grand jury declined to support an indictment,[19] noting that the alleged behavior occurred outside the one-year statute of limitations. They recommended changes to County laws.[20]

On July 17, 2013, the all-Republican Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted 8-1 to censure Delgaudio[21][22] and make permanent earlier committee assignment removals. The Board also voted 6-3 to take away Delgaudio's staff aides and defund the Sterling District office. Earlier that day, Delgaudio had unsuccessfully petitioned the Loudoun County Circuit Court to prevent the Board from taking action.[23]

Post-Board of Supervisors politics

After losing his bid for re-election in November 2015, Delgaudio began campaigning to become a delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention, supporting Donald Trump for President of the United States. He was instead selected as an alternate.[24] At the convention, he grabbed the spotlight when he "clucked like a chicken" referring to the unwillingness of losing candidate Ted Cruz, to endorse nominee Donald Trump. "He needed to toughen up like every other Republican loser of any nomination battle in the last 100 (sic) years since Abraham Lincoln and just suck it up, be a man and back the nominee that he was beaten by, fair and square."[25]

In early 2017, under Delgaudio's leadership, Public Advocate ran ads against, and Delgaudio complained that, a potential Supreme Court appointee under consideration by Donald Trump was insufficiently conservative: in his opinion, Judge Bill Pryor had not opposed the removal of Chief Justice Roy Moore from the bench. Delgaudio repeatedly stated, "No other judge has removed an elected official, like Roy Moore, for believing in God and the Ten Commandments in the history of our country,".[26]

Sources
  1. Laris, Michael (April 8, 2002). "Anti-Tax in Loudoun, Anti-Gay Everywhere". The Washington Post. p. B01. Retrieved June 24, 2012.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. Stuart, Alex J. (2003). Moral Health. Elderberry Press. ISBN 1-930859-78-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  3. Gibson, Caitlin (March 26, 2012). "Loudoun Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio's advocacy organization designated a 'hate group'". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 24, 2012.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  4. Milbank, Dana (August 11, 2005). "Antagonist of the Left Expresses Righteous Indignation About Roberts". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
  5. Your World. October 3, 2005. Fox News.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  6. Salmon, Jacqueline L. (August 26, 2007). "Candidates Reach Out to Muslims". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
  7. Gibson, Caitlin (February 11, 2011). "Loudoun supervisor's comments on "Radical Homosexual" agenda go viral ... again". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
  8. Mastis, Lindsey (November 29, 2010). "Elected Official Says TSA Pat Downs Promote 'Homosexual Agenda'". WUSA.
  9. "Supervisor Eugene A. Delgaudio". Loudoun County website. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
  10. "Loudoun Election Results: Randall Takes Chairman Seat, Saines Unseats Delgaudio". Leesburg Today. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  11. Laris, Michael (November 4, 2015). "Defeat of anti-gay Loudoun politician comes with Democratic board victories". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  12. Somashekhar, Sandhya (July 18, 2007). "Loudoun Approves Measure Targeting Illegal Immigrants". Washington Post. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  13. Laris, Michael (April 8, 2002). "Anti-Tax In Loudoun, Anti-Gay Everywhere". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
  14. Gibson, Caitlin (September 25, 2012). "For Loudoun Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio, blurred lines on fundraising". Washington Post. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
  15. Jacobson Moore, Erika (October 3, 2012). "County To Investigate Delgaudio Allegations, Review Aides Polices". Leesburg Today. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  16. Baratko, Trevor (October 3, 2012). "Delgaudio: 'Liberals blow themselves up' with 'fantastic lies'". The Loudoun Times. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
  17. Gibson, Caitlin (November 9, 2012). "Arlington prosecutor to review allegations against Loudoun Supervisor Delgaudio". The Washington Post. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
  18. Jacobson Moore, Erika (November 9, 2012). "Special Prosecutor Appointed In Delgaudio Investigation". Leesburg Today. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
  19. Gibson, Caitlin (24 June 2013). "No indictment for Loudoun supervisor Eugene Delgaudio". The Washington Post. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  20. "Delgaudio Grand Jury Issues Recommendations, Not Indictment". Leesburg Today. 24 June 2013.
  21. "Delgaudio censured, punished by colleagues on all-Republican board". Loudoun Times-Mirror. July 18, 2013. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
  22. "Grand Jury Report: Follow-up on Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio Investigation" (PDF). Leesburg Today. July 17, 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 4, 2013. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
  23. "'Enough Is Enough': Delgaudio Censured". Leesburg Today. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  24. 10th District selects Cruz delegates for GOP convention, Loudoun Now, April 18, 2016. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
  25. Why Ted Cruz was booed at the Republican convention, Christian Science Monitor, Thomas Beaumont and Steve Peoples (AP), July 21, 2016. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
  26. Conservative groups trying to derail two potential Supreme Court picks, Washington Times, Alex Swoyer, January 24, 2017. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
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