Protect Fauquier Endorses Renard Carlos for Warrenton Mayor

Protect Fauquier announces proudly today that we have made a generous monetary contribution to Renard Carlos' campaign for Mayor of the Town of Warrenton. 

Our group is a nonpartisan, grass roots organization of Fauquier residents concerned about the future of the county and the Town of Warrenton. We came together this spring to oppose the Dominion power lines expected to cross parts of the county to bring electricity to the proposed Amazon data center on Blackwell Road.  We oppose any data center in that location.

As the Amazon data center threat to the Town and County became clear, Councilman Carlos has been a perceptive and inquiring member of local government on this issue, highlighting the risks the Amazon data center poses to Warrenton and Fauquier. Equally important, Mr. Carlos has continuously called for greater transparency and public involvement on a range of critical issues, including the data center.  

In stark contrast, we have been deeply troubled by:

·       The Town's closed-door meetings with Amazon over the past year,

·       The Town's repudiation of its own 2040 Comprehensive Plan by adopting a special zoning amendment for Amazon,

·       The nondisclosure agreements signed by Town staff with Amazon,

·       The Town's acceptance of Amazon's inadequate application for a Special Use Permit, and

·       The resignation of the Town Manager in July to go to work for Amazon two weeks later. 

Moreover, civic and citizen organizations had to resort to FOIA requests to shed light on the process -- only to find the FOIA'd records to be heavily redacted, with significant gaps. 

In light of this pattern of actions, Councilman Carlos called for a careful review of the process.  We agree an investigation is needed, but the request has been shunted aside by the Mayor and some Town Council members.  

Protect Fauquier has over 1,000 members drawn from both the Town of Warrenton and Fauquier County.  We believe that Warrenton deserves open, transparent leadership that listens thoughtfully to the residents and works in collaboration with the County.  

Renard Carlos embodies those values and characteristics and has our enthusiastic support.

Spencer Snakard, President
Mike Fultz, Vice President
Cindy Burbank, Secretary