In a long-overdue turn of events, Albemarle County Board of Supervisors chair, Ann Mallek, and board member Dennis Rooker have about-faced regarding fellow supervisor, Chris Dumler.
Dumler, who recently pled guilty to sexual battery charges, until yesterday has had the tacit support of Mallek and Rooker—both of whom originally refused to vote for a resolution calling on Dumler to resign.
In today’s Daily Progress, Mallek explains her change of heart:
“I now realize that this is about much more than Mr. Dumler,” board Chairwoman Ann H. Mallek said Tuesday. “We have a crisis of confidence in the county … and I just sense a cloud over the whole operation, and I would like that to be over.”
Rooker continues:
“My personal opinion is that it would be better for the county and [Dumler] for him to resign, but he is legally qualified to serve. The voters elected him and the decision is his to make,”
Noting his consistency on the issue, Rooker then claims:
“This has been my position all along. My position has not changed on this.”
However, regarding the position change, Supervisor Rooker seems to possess an exceptionally short memory.
On January 31, 2013, The Schilling Show asked supervisors about the Dumler situation:
From: Schilling Show
Date: Thursday, January 31, 2013 3:01 PM
To: Dennis Rooker
Subject: Media Request: Comment on Dumler PleaHi Dennis,
I’m looking for your comment on Chris Dumler’s guilty plea to Sexual Assault.
Will you call for his resignation?
Thanks for your prompt response to this request.
To which Dennis Rooker replied:
From: Dennis Rooker <dsrooker@earthlink.net>
Date: January 31, 2013 04:31:14 PM EST
To: Schilling ShowSubject: Re: Media Request: Comment on Dumler Plea
No. If he had committed a felony, he would have had to resign. He didn’t, and whether or not he decides to continue to serve on the board is up to him.
A Clintonesque practitioner of linguistic legal hair-splitting, Supervisor Rooker may not consider a statement of “personal position” the same as a “call,” but the typical county constituent would hard pressed to ascertain the difference, as is the Daily Progress. Rooker had many opportunities to make clear his position on Supervisor Dumler and chose not to elaborate; that is an abdication.
Albemarle County has paid a high price for Mallek and Rooker’s delayed arrival at the station of explicitly undeniable. Better late than never, Ann and Dennis, but in the future: better never late.
Is Dennis Rooker telling the truth about his "unchanging" position on Chris Dumler?
This is mind numbing, have been following this story with interest on your show and social media. Keep up the good work Rob!
Keep up the good work, Dennis!
You understand politics very well. When you have a moment, please come up to Washington and help me explain to everyone why the sequester cuts are going to castrate all males over the age of 19.
I need your eloquence and logic to persuade people to support my platform! You are truly my brother.
This is what the county gets when they fail to challenge an incumbent. NO ONE out of over 12,000 voters stepped forward to challenge Rooker last election. So this is the result. He does not have to be accountable to anyone.
Rookery is as phoney baloney as his hairpiece.
Weird similarities between Thomas Jefferson and Chris Dumler:
•Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia.
•Chris Dumler attended the University of Virginia.
•Thomas Jefferson served as President, Vice President, Secretary of State, Virginia state legislator and Governor.
•Chris Dumler serves on the Board of Supervisors.
•Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence.
•Chris Dumler was arrested last fall on a charge of forcible sodomy.
•Thomas Jefferson was terrified of public speaking.
•Chris Dumler's public relations firm Payne, Ross and Associates, could not be reached for comment.
•Thomas Jefferson, in his first inaugural address in March 1801, pleaded for national unity, insisting that differences of opinion were not differences of principle.
•Chris Dumler in January, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor sexual battery.
•Thomas Jefferson invented the iron plow. An important tool in hillside planting.
•Special Prosecutor, Jeffery W. Haislip is a tool.
•Thomas Jefferson collected biological samples from the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
•Police collected DNA from Dumler.
•Thomas Jefferson believed in life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
•Chris Dumler believes he is entitled.
•Thomas Jefferson was hated by the Federalists.
•Everyone hates Chris.
•Thomas Jefferson was a farmer.
•Chris Dumler is an admitted sex offender.
•Thomas Jefferson was a bit of a "Foodie".
• and Chris Dumler is a convicted sex offender.
Freaky ain't it?
Touche, Rob! And spot on. THANK YOU for keeping us informed here.
Dear Ms. Mallek,
It is breaking my heart to see the moral cowardice of the local Democrats (the ones who hold an elected office, at least.) You and Denis Rooker appear spineless. When you two finally do call for Dumler to go, you wrap it in this “he’s become a distraction” stuff, thus continuing to dodge having to make a statement on whether you do or do not think someone convicted of a sex crime should be on the BOS. As a Democrat, I am searching desperately for someone in office from my party to flatly state “Chris Dumler should resign because of what he did.” The silence is deafening. Shame on the Charlottesville / Albemarle Democrats; Democrats like you make Democrats like me furious because Democrats like you make Democrats like me look TERRIBLE; Democrats like yourself make me ashamed of the Party. Despite what’s on display at the local level, Democrat and decency are not necessarily mutually exclusive; for proof of this, look at the bipartisan makeup of the protesters.
Nobody is doubting that you do not have the legal authority to kick Dumler off the board, which is why nobody is asking you to do so. I am asking you, and I will continue to ask you, to state whether or not you believe it is appropriate to have a sex offender on the BOS. This is a simple matter of opinion that is hugely relevant in determining whether or not your values are compatible with the values of those whom you will ask to reelect you.
As of now, your statement concerning Dumler leads to the conclusion that the only problem you have with him is the distraction his actions have caused and that it weren’t for those distractions, you’d be fine with everything as it currently is. So, it would be accurate to say Ann Mallek is okay with sex offenders holding public office so long as nobody cares? Character is what you do when nobody’s looking, and boy have you shown yours.
By the way, way to let your gender down. If a friend comes to you for help dealing with an abusive husband is your solution to show her how to not burn the pork-chops? Who knows how you actually feel, all we do know is that you have no integrity whatsoever.
Sincerely,
Zachary Reid
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