The Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star used to be top notch about stories like this in the Bill Akers era. Today? Not so much… and whether due to fear of reprisal (?) or simply a lack of interest, this story seems to have slipped through… and it deserves to be told.
Since Roger Harris became Sheriff four years ago, his Office has purchased 17 used cars with a value of $307,000. Every single purchase order was awarded to Cambridge Auto Sales, an independent used car dealership located in Spotsylvania County in the Courtland Commons area. The level of specificity, describing exactly what year, make and model car the Sheriff’s Office wanted, just so happened to be available at Cambridge Auto Sales. This was not a coincidence.
Now for those who know, over a certain amount, purchases made in a Virginia locality have to go out to bid — a competitive process that eliminates (or is supposed to eliminate) favoritism.
Gary Fredo, the owner of Cambridge Auto Sales, is a business partner of Major Carter Wells, the Sheriff’s right hand man. We learned this from Carter Wells’ divorce decree and have independently confirmed this information. Cambridge Auto Sales is also a frequent financial donor to Sheriff Roger Harris’ political campaign dating back to 2011.
The business entity that Fredo and Wells share is 2215 Partnership. The address for this business is the same address as Cambridge Auto Sales. Major Carter Wells’ signature has been the authorizing signature on the majority of the used cars that have been purchased from Fredo’s company and Wells was personally responsible for the procurements. What has happened in the Sheriff’s Office is a major violation of state law and county procurement policy.
That is a serious accusation, one that unfortunately appears to pan out:
Spotsylvania Sheriff Roger Harris appears to be at the very core of this controversy, if the question “who benefits?” ever comes to the fore.
More from the Gill campaign (and here’s where it gets worse):
In the first place, the Sheriff’s Office should not be purchasing used cars from any used car dealership, let alone a fleet of 17 vehicles. Brand new cars with factory warranties and no miles should have been purchased from vendors on the “state contract” as is standard for most law enforcement agencies instead of purchasing used, with higher miles and typically no warranty from Cambridge Auto Sales. Furthermore, in the public procurement world, nobody wins seventeen out of seventeen bids on anything without having inside help. That is exactly what happened here.
This information was given to The Free Lance Star in May of 2015, has been followed up on numerous times, and they have done nothing to investigate it. I am sharing this information with members of the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors. It is worth noting that since I submitted a FOIA request for the information on the used car purchases in January 2015, to date, there have been no more used car purchases from Cambridge Auto Sales.
As the head law enforcement officer of this county, Sheriff Harris knew about the business relationship between Major Carter Wells and his political donor, Gary Fredo. Remarkably, the Sheriff has a campaign vehicle parked in front of Cambridge Auto Sales on Route 208 with his picture on it.
If all of this pans out, what we have here is a cozy relationship between a department of local government and a single-sourced dealership — one where the competitive procurement process has been wholesaled ignored.
Now one might be able to counter that this is a marriage of convenience. Harris’ right hand man simply knows precisely what the department needs, and they are stretching every dime to make it work for Spotsylvania deputies. Fair enough… but then new questions arise: do Wells and Fredo profit from this arrangement? Is the bidding competitive if we are streamlining the process? How does another dealership include themselves in this contest fairly? Furthermore, are Fredo’s donations to the Harris campaign “pay to play” reciprocation? Or is all of this just local good-ol’-boy politics being recast in a modern “gotcha” politics atmosphere?
Frankly, there are too many questions. They deserve clear and unambiguous answers.
Good government requires a certain amount of transparency. The quid pro quo arrangement in contracts for cash is unseemly at best, and possibly corrupt at worse. Even if in the rosiest of rose colored glasses this is an attempt to simply streamline a process, the very nature of the streamlining violates the very spirit of competitive bidding — with taxpayers unfortunately put in the dark about whether or not the best deal is being procured.
The donations back to the Harris campaign? That’s the rub… and that money ought to be returned ASAP, regardless of the outcome of the election or fixing this process.
Let’s hope someone at the FLS takes a deeper dive into what objectively is a pretty serious story. This isn’t a case of where there’s smoke there’s fire; this is an instance where the flames are leaping out of the building and no one seems to care…
…and I’d like to know why.
