Fredericksburg Mayor: 'Mistake' Not to Disclose Towing Donation at Public Hearing

Fredericksburg Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw said she will not recuse herself from a vote July 24 on a request from local towing companies to almost double the illegally parked vehicle fees and more than double the storage fees, despite a discovery by Fredericksburg Patch this week that one of those companies was her largest donor in her campaign this spring.

The discovery raises questions about Greenlaw's campaign finance reporting and who actually paid for the in-kind contribution.

The City Council has a policies and procedures manual that says elected leaders need to abstain from voting on items of personal interest that apply solely to the council member or that prevent impartial voting and not to engage in unethical conduct, such as accepting anything of value or disclosing confidential information.

But state law provides exemptions when the gift or donation involves a campaign for office as long as they are properly listed in campaign finance reports.

When City Council voted 7-0 on a cursory first reading in support of the increases in storage and illegally parked vehicle fees July 10, Greenlaw made no mention of the $1,800 in-kind contribution from Dominion Towing South Inc. administrative assistant Kelly King. The campaign finance report for the January to March cycle states that the in-kind contribution was for "signs-Actual cost."

Initially, Greenlaw said Monday she would recuse herself from the July 24 vote, but she contacted Patch on Tuesday to say that she spoke with City Attorney Kathleen Dooley who instructed her that it would not be proper for her to recuse herself from the vote because Greenlaw said she has no financial interest in this matter. Greenlaw said she will disclose the donation at the July 24 meeting.

"Disclosure is key and I truly failed there, but I didn't mean to," she said.

The donation was the single-largest amount for Greenlaw's entire campaign, Fredericksburg Patch discovered. Greenlaw had well over a dozen 4-foot-by-8-foot signs—more than double of any candidate who ran for office this past May.

Fredericksburg resident Bill Beck, a former mayor who lost re-election in 2004, said he and his wife Susan saw men erecting 4-foot-by-8-foot Greenlaw for Mayor signs near the Smith-Bowman Center near Mayfield months before the May election and there was a Shanks tow truck involved, along with two other unmarked vehicles.

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He said questionable campaign finance reporting has been a problem in Fredericksburg even before he was mayor more than eight years ago.

"This has been going on for so long, but nobody in the community cares anymore," he said.

Christopher Piper, manager of election services for the Virginia State Board of Elections, said if the Shanks truck is not usually rented out for this type of political activity then a value cannot be placed on its usage.

"Therefore, it’s not a contribution," he said. "If the employees were volunteering their time, then it’s not a contribution."

On May 16, which was 15 days after Greenlaw won the mayoral race, the Towing and Recovery Advisory Board met and voted to send a proposal to City Council to increase the illegally parked towing fees from $65 to $125, to increase the storage fees from $20 to $50 after the first 24 hours and to increase the fine for violating the ordinance from $1,000 to $1,500.

"There is certainly no intent to obfuscate anything or hide anything," the mayor said. "I am concerned about the fact that there seems to be a misunderstanding of what was labored and what wasn't. The chain of events might appear to have a connection, but I do not want there to be any appearance of a conflict of interest or of me favoring a towing company because they assisted me in my campaign."

Chain of Events Appear Suspicious

Discussion around the proposed towing fee increase began around the same time as Greenlaw’s run for mayor. Greenlaw said that in December some of the towing companies and Richmond lobbyist Matt Benka approached her about increasing the fees allowed in the city ordinance while she was a member of the council, but that she sent them to the city attorney and the city’s Towing and Recovery Advisory Board, which addresses complaints from the public about towing operators.

The Towing and Recovery Advisory Board consists of Chairman Jamie Walker, a Fredericksburg police officer, Bill Britt, who owns a car dealership, and Gary Pitts, of Pitts Automotive. The city website lists Ashby Powell of Powell's Towing and Recovery as a member, though it is not reflected that way in the most recent board minutes.

On Dec. 29, 2011, Dooley wrote a memo to council asking if it wanted to seek the Towing and Recovery Advisory Board's input on the request from Benka, who was representing at least one of the local towing companies in the effort to increase fees.

The last time any member of the towing community asked for City Council to review the fees was in 2003. Benka said at the July 10 meeting that Fredericksburg's fees in the ordinance are among the lowest in the state and gas, liability insurance and other operational costs for the towing companies have increased dramatically in the past nine years.

On Jan. 10, City Council passed a resolution to send Benka's request to the Towing and Recovery Advisory Board for consideration .

Greenlaw's campaign finance reports lists March 6 as the date the in-kind contribution from King was entered. When King was contacted about the donation Monday, she said she would have to look it up and would call back. She did not call back and several messages the following day were not returned.

Wilson Greenlaw, the mayor's campaign treasurer and son, said that Chris Shanks of Shanks Towing approached him about helping the campaign earlier this year.

Harvey Signs, a company Greenlaw had contracted to make signs for her campaign, needed a deposit, and Shanks offered the $1,800 in-kind donation, Wilson Greenlaw said.

Wilson Greenlaw said he asked Chris Shanks what he wanted him to write in the campaign finance report as the donor and was told to use Kelly King, an administrative assistant with "DTS" at 1313 Alum Springs Rd., which is where Shanks and Dominion Towing South share an auction lot and storage area.

Wilson Greenlaw said he put in the report what Shanks told him to write and that he didn't know Shanks and Dominion shared the office at the Alum Springs Road address, nor was he aware that the company existed.

"We should have asked for that check," Mary Katherine Greenlaw said. "We put down what we were told whose check it was and who signed it. I don't know the connection with DTS and Shanks."

“DTS" is not registered as a towing company with the Virginia State Corporation Commission (VSCC); the towing company uses Dominion Towing South Inc. as its registered name with the VSCC. .

Piper, of the Virginia State Board of Elections, said the SBE recommends using the full name of the business rather than the acronym of the business except in cases where the acronym is the common usage for the company, but it is not incorrect to use only the acronym of the business. Shanks is not mentioned anywhere in Greenlaw's reports.

Wilson Greenlaw said Tuesday that Benka, the lobbyist, called him and said that Dominion Towing South made the in-kind contribution. Wilson Greenlaw said he amended the campaign finance report already to reflect that it was a corporate in-kind donation and not one made by Kelly King. He said he asked Benka why Shanks offered the contribution for the signs and was told it is because Shanks was speaking for the company.

"He said it was an honest mistake and the check came from the Dominion Towing South," Wilson Greenlaw said, adding that he still hasn't actually seen the check.

Chris Shanks of Shanks Towing did not return several messages seeking comment but he texted Patch on Tuesday morning, saying "unable to take your call. driving. please leave a voicemail. thank you. [sic]" Later, Shanks said he'd be able to talk between 7:30-8 p.m. Tuesday, but he never called or answered his phone.

At City Council's July 10 meeting, . Greenlaw voted with her other six council members to send this to a second reading, though Councilmen Matt Kelly and Fred Howe expressed reservations about the towing companies appearing to have violated the ordinance for not having proper signage on private property, the amount of the proposed increases and the process that got them to this point.

Greenlaw said Tuesday that she received more than 100 checks from people who supported her campaign and state law exempts this activity from the undue influence laws because it is campaign-related.

"I don’t want to set a precedent that hamstrings the council as so far as voting on things that have something to do with someone who made campaign contributions," she said.