Reporting Update: VA-11 & AIPAC, GMU Prof & Casino, Fictitious Company Names & More
Updates on topics previously discussed in Virginia Politics Revealed.
Here are more updates on some of the stories you’ve read in Virginia Politics Revealed.
Another VA-11 Candidate Rejects AIPAC Campaign Contributions
Article: “VA-11 Dem Primary Candidates: Corporate PACs, AIPAC, and Stock Trading” (June 22, 2025)
Update: A reader sent in evidence that another candidate in the contest for the Democratic Party nomination for Congress in VA-11 is rejecting contributions from the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC). In addition to Candice Bennett, Del. Irene Shin, and Dan Lee, Dr. Priya Punnoose is refusing AIPAC contributions, telling our reader in writing that “I will not accept contributions from AIPAC or any other organization that supports the continuation of the attacks on Gaza.”
State Sen. VanValkenburg’s Opinion from AG Miyares
Article: “VanValkenburg, Rosie's, and a Fast-Tracked AG's Opinion from Miyares” (December 20, 2024)
Update: According to the Attorney General’s online database of 2025 Official Opinions, no opinion has been issued yet to State Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg (D-Henrico) in response to his request concerning historical horse racing in Henrico County.
Fictitious Company Names
Article: “‘Intra-Party Chaos’ in Virginia's 2nd & 9th Congressional Districts” (May 18, 2025)
Update: Multiple readers contacted me to ask about the meaning of “fictitious company names” as it relates to Montgomery County Supervisor and 9th Congressional District Democratic Committee member Derek Kitts’ Virginia Blue Star Printing and Tempus Leadership Solutions LLC.
As the Virginia State Corporation Commission explains on their page devoted to fictious names:
A fictitious name is a name that a person or business uses instead of their legal name.
Fictitious names are also referred to as assumed names, “t/a” (trading as), “dba” (doing business as) or “aka” (also known as”).
Valid fictitious company names must be filed with the SCC and will appear in the SCC Clerk’s Information System as you can see in the image above.
James Madison University & Dataminr
Articles: “VSP: "Over $1,000,000" for Dataminr Surveillance Records” (April 11, 2025)
“VSP FOIA Update: Records Released, Still A Million Bucks for More” (April 18, 2025)
“JMU Releases Dataminr Surveillance Records, Deactivates Account” (May 11, 2025)
“VSP Releases More Dataminr Surveillance Records & Master Services Agreement” (May 21, 2025)
Update: To investigate the origins of the relationship between James Madison University and Dataminr, I sent a FOIA request to JMU on May 6, 2025 seeking “all documents and communications received from any employee, representative, or account associated with the company Dataminr, Inc. for the first month during which a relationship existed between JMU and Datamnir.”
JMU released four records to me along with a message that reads in pertinent part:
Dataminr first reached out to JMU through Chief Matos on December 21, 2022. Attached are the two communications from that time and the MSA and the License/SOW which began April 2024.
You can download these records here:
George Mason University Tysons Casino Records
Articles: "Fairfax Casino Records & A GMU Professor's Change of Heart” (February 5, 2025)
“GMU Charges $352.01 for New Fairfax Casino Records” (February 13, 2025)
Update: In response to my February 7, 2025 FOIA request, detailed in the second article above, George Mason University turned over 101 records and withheld three records as “student data” via Va. Code § 2.2-3705.4(1) and nine records under the attorney-client privilege exemption in Va. Code § 2.2-3705.1(2). Several of these released records were already released to me in response to my first FOIA request detailed here.
I won’t drop all of the records here, but if anyone wants them, feel free to email me. I will, however, highlight several records below that may be of particular interest to readers.
First - note that the Interim FOIA Officer set up a meeting with two of the subjects of my FOIA request “to go through a couple of documents before deciding whether it’s a public document or not.”
Here’s an interesting set of questions about Schar School of Policy and Government Eminent Scholars Accounts & Stipends:
Here are the market and gift values, amongst other information, about Schar School endowments:
And here’s a February 7, 2025 email from Peter Appel to Professor Terry Clower (Dean Rozell cc’ed) entitled “GMU and the loss of trust in public institutions”:
From the letter:
I'm on the Board of multiple community organizations that have used GMU data in the course of our analysis.
I read your 2023 statement about the proposed Fairfax Casino: ““My first thought [when seeing the bill] was why. My second thought was why the hell why… I can’t help but think of it as being in a way a measure of economic development desperation”
Subsequently, I read your December 2024 email indicating that you would work up pricing to do a study regarding the casino for Comstock.
Then I saw your comment about the casino in January 2025: “I think it’s the best option going forward"
On the homepage of GMU's School of Policy and Government, next to a picture of its director Mark Rozell, there is a quote from Dean Rozell that begins: "the loss of trust in public institutions calls for a new generation of leaders who can restore Americans’ confidence in democratic norms and in one another."
Doesn't the sequence of events described here show exactly the kind of thing that contributes to the loss of trust in public institutions?
Professor Clower replied to Appel the same day:
From Clower’s reply:
Thanks for reaching out and for your concern about trust in public institutions. This is an example of how taking statements in part or out of context can unintentionally, or intentionally, be used and misused.
To the best of my recollection, in 2023 the question I responded to referenced a stand along [sic] casino. I do not recall if the issue was about a Tyson's location specifically or generic location within the county. I have been involved with studying the economic and fiscal issues related to legal gaming for a long time. For many localities, the decision to host a casino is a result of some level of revenue desperation. There should also always be concern about shifts in development strategy, in this case a move to something other than office occupants. So "why" is a huge question. At that time, I did not see where a stand alone casino fit within the county's economic development strategy.
The center that I run at GMU performs economic analyses. We do other types of work as well, all of which is centered on regional economic performance and competitiveness. We are pretty well known and I have been doing this kind of work for more than three decades. When we do such an analysis, we examine the economic, jobs, and tax impacts of a proposed gain, or loss, of business in a given industry, or impacts of public investments, etc. We do not address "should." We provide decision makers with data and information. When the developer asked Dean Rozell if we could perform an economic analysis of the proposed casino and related convention center, entertainment district, and housing, the answer was yes. The document you saw outlines the tasks we would have performed. That was the end of the conversation. We performed no analysis. If a proponent, or opponent, of this development asked for our analysis, the answer and our analysis would be the same. At the Schar School, we have a range of expertise among our faculty and staff and a core part of our mission is to provide dispassionate analyses on key public policy issues to inform leaders and stakeholders and to contribute to the public debate.
The NAACP event in early January was a great example of an informative public forum that was conducted by all parties with professionalism, decorum, and even kindness with obvious respect by the participants for the views of others. The audience was equally great and I even got to share some communication exchanges with attendees in the following days. I tried to be clear that I am agnostic about the casino, but am generally a huge proponent of place-making types of developments, including entertainment districts, especially those projects that add to our regional housing supply and represent opportunities to diversify our industry base away from dependency on the federal government.
The partial phrase you quote was meant as an add on to a point about the broader entertainment district. Keep in mind, the representative of casino opponents at the public forum said they wanted the convention center, the hotel, the entertainment district, and the housing, but they do not want it to be anchored by a casino. Casino operations are the only entertainment related business I know of that generates the profit margins to underwrite/subsidize the rest of the project. If you do this development without a casino, it will require public subsidies in the hundreds of million dollars. Fairfax County, who will likely impose a meals tax this year, does not have the financial wherewithal for subsidizing the entertainment district/convention center. If you want that development, the only path I see that is fiscally viable is having a casino anchor.
In 2023, I did not think of FFX as being in a desperate state, but in 2023 I did not expect Mr. Trump to return to the Whitehouse with his intent to decimate the federal sector of our economy. Desperation may become the order of the day.
Again, thanks for reaching out. I hope you can see that in context there was no meaningful sift in my views, other than to be increasingly concerned about economic prospects in FFX, and the region.
Finally, GMU released a fascinating January 28, 2025 email from Professor Clower to Dean Rozell, an email touching upon issues like office lockdowns, potential FBI active shooter briefings, and raising money from bankers and federal grants.
From the email:
I think I told you about Jon Peterson promoting me to his banker friends as a way to raise some money. He suggested that I not specify a requested gift for doing board presentations and such, but I should expect to get $5k-$10k per session. I did the first one yesterday with Trustar Bank. They gave me a check for $1k. Thanks, but not hardly worth the effort. Maybe these guys are just cheap. The members really liked the talk, including Barbara Comstock who is on their board. Maybe I need to be upfront about the size of donation (suggested donation?). Your thoughts?
On a similar vein, Bob has his meeting in early Feb with some business leaders, including Dwight, possibly. I think Bob needs to convey that if the business community is not going to financially support CRA/SFI, then we need to revert to an emphasis on contracts. I have done what they asked and played umpire on the regional economy calling strikes more stringently (wider strike zone???), but no one, fans or players, like umpires and it is not easy getting contracts from folks you have publicly said are screwing up. I am in the office this afternoon doing class prep. If you happen to be around, let's chat. Your thoughts welcome.
At the moment, I have to say I am glad I do not do much federal funded work. I have read the new executive order about grants and I cannot discern the scope. These things are terribly written. Does this order shut down Faye? Does it impact the earmark JP and I are working on? Ect.....
What a friggin mess!