During a recent Prince William Board of County Supervisors meeting Potomac District Supervisor Andrea Bailey was caught on a hot mic talking about a county resident. Another resident responded by sending an email to the entire board expressing his frustration and anger with the board’s activities and the moment caught on tape. The resident who sent the email was soon visited by Prince William County First Sergeant Bradford Cavender. Apparently, Rev. Cozy Bailey, Supervisor Bailey’s husband, had contacted Police Chief Peter Newsham to investigate the matter.

When Supervisor Bailey received the e-mail, she was concerned and forwarded it to her husband who currently serves as President of the Prince William County Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Rev. Bailey then forwarded it to the Chief of Police Peter Newsham.

Since then, the issue has become a major topic in Prince William County with many seeing the Baileys’ response to the email as a blatant and deeply troubling abuse of power. Others have characterized it as an attack on free speech. Rev. Bailey also sits on the citizens’ advisory board to the police department, which has raised even more concern for some residents. When he spoke to FOX 5 he stated that he was only exercising caution by asking the police to investigate. Critics of the Baileys have described this as an abuse of their positions and a disturbing intimidation tactic against their political adversaries.

“It was primarily the subject line of the email that bothered me,” said Rev. Bailey. “It said ‘government target.’ I couldn’t discern what that had to do with the content of the email so out of an abundance of caution decided to forward it to the police department for disposition.”

The hot mic comment that sparked this whole incident was when Bailey asked Chair Ann Wheeler (D-At Large), “what are going to do about Alan Gloss?” Robert Hand, the resident who sent the email, told Potomac Local the subject line referred to the Board of County Supervisors targeting Gloss who has been a consistent critic of the Democrats on the Board.

The full text of the email can be found in the Potomac Local article that first broke the story.

Following the controversy coming to light, Supervisors Jeanine Lawson (R-Brentsville), Pete Candland (R-Gainesville), and Yesli Vega (R-Coles), the three Republican members of the Board of County Supervisors, released the following statement: “After the individual sent an email to the board of county supervisors where he was critical of certain members of the board, the police were sent to his house, even though it was determined that he had not done anything illegal. This has led to questions from many of our constituents about the potential politicization of our police department.”

According to Prince William Times, the Prince William County Police stated that there was nothing illegal about Hand’s email, and Chief Newsham stated that the email was not intentionally threatening.

Supervisor Bailey spoke with the PW Perspective and issued her first comments on the matter. She spoke of her concern about the email not as a public official, but as someone thinking of her own safety.

“My aim is to serve the community, and that is the focus in all that I do,” said Bailey. “But I am a wife, a mother, and a daughter, as well as a caregiver for my mother. As a citizen, my life has to be protected in order to serve at that high level. So when my life is in jeopardy, my husband is always going to protect me.”

“Even though I am a public figure, I am also a citizen. So the narrative that is out there, I’m not sure why it’s out there and it’s surprising that the common sense understanding is not out there.” 

“So I’m not going to be distracted by needless distractions that prevent me from serving. I’m not going to be distracted.”

“I’m making it clear that I did not initiate an investigation. I should be treated as any other citizen. If not then there is a mistake.”

Then what about the comment made by the citizen? “I didn’t understand the nature of the comment.  I support free speech, but I do believe there is a space for decorum, congeniality, and good communication. That is what we’re missing in this country today, people understanding people.”

She praised the efforts of the police department for investigating the situation. “Kudos to our police department, they understand their responsibilities to the community, and I thank them enough to check on me to see if everything is okay because now I can serve higher.”

What does she want those who may not understand the totality of the situation to know? “This was a citizen’s call. My husband and I have been in this community since 1976 and we chose to serve here with all people and so we’re not going to let anyone be attacked nor we’re not going to be attacked. I’ve been accused of speaking something that has not been said. But when you attack my livelihood, that’s a totally different thing. That’s how January 6^th happened, when we ignored the attack on humanity.”

“We want collectively in PWC freedom of protection.”

Chief Newsham will attend the next County Supervisor Board meeting on September 7 to discuss the annual crime report. It is also expected that he will address this situation.