October 29, 2001

Page landfill a rallying cry in Pollack's bid for seat

By James Heffernan

What a difference a month can make.

On July 25, Woodstock attorney Bradley G. Pollack penned a letter to Del. Allen L. Louderback, thanking the Republican incumbent for acknowledging his modest campaign contribution and offering him assistance in the future.

"I believe my support is well placed, as from my limited observations, it appears you are doing a fine job," the letter states.

Indeed it looked as if Louderback would run [unopposed for in the newly reconfigured 15th District of the Virginia House of Delegates.  However, on Aug. 20, just one day before the filing deadline for the Fall general election, Pollack, a reservist in the U.S. Marine Corps, did a political about-face, announcing he would challenge Louderback as an independent.

Pollack is no stranger to the political arena, though his party affiliation has been openly questioned.  He served three years on former Democratic Governor L. Douglas Wilder's staff reviewing legislation and regulations.  In 1999, as an independent, he gained 44 percent of the vote in a losing bid for commonwealth attorney's office in Shenandoah County.  This year, he "considered" seeking GOP support in a run for the open 2002 board of supervisors seat, occupied by Republican Andy Dawson.

"I'm no partisan," Pollack said.  "I'm truly independent minded ... Some have labeled me a 'turncoat' because of the fact that I have attended functions of both parties and have welcomed the support of one who sees the issues as I do.  But the issues of the 15th District are far too important to be subjected to partisan rhetoric."

Pollack is adamant in his desire to hold Louderback --- a former Page County supervisor whom he has pinned as the principal author of deal that has left the county to import large amounts of out-of-state garbage to keep it financially solvent --- accountable for his role in the landfill mess and the county's ensuing losses, which have surpassed $2 million since January 1999.  The issue has become a rallying cry in his campaign, reinforced by current supervisors' leanings toward signing a new deal that would bring in up to 1,200 tons of trash a day through New Market en route to Page County.

"It's a disaster," he said.  "That is exactly what New Market residents are so fearful of."

He has also used the landfill issue to attack Louderback's character, accusing him of "deception" and "misleading the voters of the district" as to his role in orchestrating the deal with Tellurian Inc. of Blacksburg.

"The first thing that needs to be done to redress this debacle is to remove Mr. Louderback from power," he said.

If elected as delegate, Pollack said he wants to use his position to shed light on the rights of the mentally handicapped stemming from a court battle in Shenandoah County involving two Quicksburg brothers he claims were "swindled out of their valuable farm."  The case also involves then-Shenandoah County Commonwealth's Attorney William H. Logan  now a circuit court judge - and David and Maycel Hovatter, who Pollack said cheated Lonnie and Thomas Lloyd, paying them about $724 per acre for a 116-acre farm eight years ago.  After the judge dismissed the case in November 2000, it reappeared in court July 30, but was again dismissed because the statute of limitations had expired.

"The judge walked in and rendered a decision that was politically motivate, summarily thrown out of court and improperly filled," Pollack said.

Though Pollack has based his campaign primarily on those two issues -- the landfill and the Lloyd case -- he also is outspoken on the state's current budget impasse, again pointing a finger at Louderback and his fellow Republicans in the state legislature.  He believes in "standing up for what's right" - something he says lawmakers have lost sight of.

"There is a grave financial crisis facing Virginia," he said, "involving the desperate needs of education, law enforcement, transportation and natural resources."

While maintaining his stance as an independent, Pollack admits his political philosophies are "to the right of most Republicans."  He lists the breakdown of the American family as one of the most important issues facing modern society, and believes that the issue can - and should - be enforced through new state legislation modeled after military law.

"The Marine Corps has been well ahead of the rest of society in many areas," he said, citing aggressive drunk-driving and adultery laws for which a convicted offender can face prison time.

"It's so important that we send a message about the importance of family values in this day and age," he said.

However, it is the image of a "mega dump" in his home district that has defined Pollack's campaign for delegate.

"I went to the Page County Fair this year, and started to talking to the residents there," he said.  "I was amazed at how fed up they were with the landfill situation and its future ... It has become the poster child for issues I believe in, like protecting the environment and keeping this area beautiful.