'It Stinks': Councilman Aveni Weighs in on Wolfe's Manassas Ballet Vote

Manassas City Councilman Marc Aveni is making it clear that he is still upset about fellow Councilman Mark Wolfe's votes to give $23,000 of city money to an organization that employs Wolfe's wife.

Manassas City Council voted twice—once on June 17 and again on Monday—to give the money to the Manassas City Ballet Theatre where Wolfe is the unpaid executive director and his wife, Amy, is the artistic director.

The outcome was the same both times with the council voting 4-2 in favor of a $142,000 package that funds other nonprofits and artistic programs in the city like the ballet.

 Mayor Harry J. Parrish II requested that a second vote be held so the matter could be discussed and so Wolfe could disclose his connection to the ballet, something that wasn't done on June 17.

Wolfe says he regrets that he didn't reveal his connection to the Manassas Ballet Theatre before voting on June 17 to give city funds to its operation.

"It didn't cross my mind to do so," Wolfe said of the June 17 vote.  Almost everyone knows he is the executive director of the ballet, he added.

Aveni, who voted against the measure along with Ian Lovejoy, maintains that his fellow councilman shouldn't have voted at all.
"Nothing has changed, he's still voting for his wife's ballet. He's wrong; he shouldn't do it," Aveni said.

Amy Wolfe makes $50,000 a year as the ballet's artistic director, so her husband voting to give $23,000 in funds to the ballet is like voting to fund half of her salary, Aveni said.

"You tell me how that looks? It stinks," Aveni added.

At the request of Aveni and Parrish, the city's attorneys did some research to see if Wolfe violated any conflict of interest laws by voting on the measure. The attorneys later concluded Wolfe violated no laws.

"It may be legal but it doesn't make right," Aveni said.

His phone has been ringing off the hook with calls from people who are angry about Wolfe's vote and he's been telling those people to call Wolfe or the media, Aveni said.
" ... I tell them to direct their anger where it belongs," Aveni said.

Reports that Wolfe has in the past recused himself from voting to give funds ballet but didn't this year because funding the ballet was, for the first, a line item in a funding package are not true, Aveni said.

Aveni submits that funding for nonprofits and the artistic groups have always been voted on as a package and never individually. Wolfe has always recused himself from the vote, with the exception of this year, Aveni added.

Wolfe voted this year because the measure wouldn't have passed without his vote, Aveni said.
At least four votes are needed to spend city funds.

Aveni said he made a motion on Monday to give the ballet $5,000 but that motion failed.
When asked why he proposed $5,000 for the ballet, he said that figure is more in line with what other nonprofit organizations receive from the city.
What do you think? Should Councilman Mark Wolfe have voted?