Demonstrators want police Chief RaShall Brackney held accountable for what Katrina Turner later clarified was a “verbal attack.”.
Eze Amos
The complaint in front of City Council February 4 was pretty extraordinary: “Chief [RaShall] Brackney came out of nowhere and literally attacked me that night.”
That it came from a member of the police Civilian Review Board was all the more astounding.
At a February 5 protest in front of the Charlottesville police station, Showing Up for Racial Justice members held signs that read, “Chief Brackney assaulted Katrina Turner.” A handful stood in the street and stopped rush hour Market Street traffic and demanded that Brackney be held accountable.
“I wasn’t physically attacked,” clarifies Turner. “I was verbally attacked.”
She describes a situation at a November 5 City Council meeting in which a girl had a panic attack outside the council chamber. When Turner left the room, “This little girl was laying on the ground gasping for air. I said I know CPR. I’m medically trained. I could help her.”
Turner says police officers stood aside and let her approach the girl, whom Turner wanted to turn on her side to help her breathing. “The only thing I could hear behind me was the chief of police yelling that I needed to leave,” says Turner.
Brackney would not listen to her explanation and continued to “aggressively get in my face yelling to leave the scene,” says Turner in the complaint she filed with police January 4. “Her last words to me were, ‘Mrs. Turner, you have been warned to leave the scene.’ I also thought I heard her tell me that I would be arrested if I did not leave the scene.”
Turner asked for body camera footage from the officers present in her complaint, and at the February 4 council meeting, she said no one had called her to get her sworn statement.
“She does not like me,” says Turner. “I understand but when I’m trying to help that child is not the time to come after me.”
Civilian Review Board member Katrina Turner wants to know why no action has taken place on the complaint she filed against Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney. staff photo
Police spokesman Tyler Hawn declined C-VILLE’s request to speak to Brackney, saying the complaint is a personnel matter and she would not comment on it. He also says that none of the street blockers were arrested.
It’s no secret that Turner has issues with the Charlottesville Police Department, stemming from an April 30, 2016, arrest of her son after he called 911, and she’s filed several complaints about the handling of that.
Both Brackney and Turner are relatively new in their roles. Brackney was named chief in May, the first woman to hold the position. And Turner was named last summer to the newly formed Civilian Review Board, whose mission is to come up with bylaws for handling citizen complaints about the police.
Mayor Nikuyah Walker did not respond to a request for comment on the matter, but she did discuss it on “The Schilling Show” February 6. “From my understanding, the police chief yelled at [Turner] to move out of the way of a situation during an incident in the hallway during a council meeting,” she says.
Walker says if Brackney had physically assaulted Turner, “I’m sure we wouldn’t have gotten out of the building if that happened.”
The mayor says she talked to Interim City Manager Mike Murphy, and an external party will take a look at the situation “so it won’t be in our internal affairs department.”
Some of what she’s heard about Brackney from the activist community “hasn’t been very fair,” says Walker. “I’m hoping the community will give her the chance to do the work while understanding she’s a police chief in America.”
And if Brackney did something to harm Turner, council and the city manager should intervene, says Walker, “but if not, then it’s unfair.”
UVA law professor Josh Bowers is on the Civilian Review Board, and he doesn’t think the dispute between the police chief and a board member will interfere with the board’s job of creating bylaws.
“If Ms. Turner has a complaint against the department or an officer, that’s a personal matter, not a board matter,” he says. And because the board has not drawn up bylaws that would define what constitutes a conflict of interest, “I can’t speak to whether it’s a conflict of interest.”
Don Gathers was on the board until he resigned in January, and he says he doesn’t think Turner’s complaint against the chief will have any effect on the work of the board because “they’re dedicated people and they’ll go on with the work they’ve been tasked with.”
He did ask why the complaint was being described as an assault. “There’s some miscommunication. [Turner] never used that terminology.”
He says he hopes Turner and Brackney can work through their differences. “The community needs them both. We definitely need strong black leaders on both sides.”
With so much going on in the executive branch, it's easy to neglect what's happening in the General Assemblyl as the session hits its . midpoint. File photo.
With Richmond in turmoil over Governor Ralph Northam’s blackface past and assault allegations against Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, it’s been hard to focus on the legislature. But the session is halfway through, and February 6 is crossover day, when each house sends the bills it’s passed to the other chamber. Here are some survivors—and some that didn’t fare so well.
Alive
New lines
After years of killing redistricting bills—and a federal court ruling that House of Delegates districts were racially gerrymandered and federal judges must draw new districts for this fall’s election—Republicans, including Speaker Kirk Cox, are suddenly on board with an independent redistricting commission. The Senate passed a constitutional amendment for a bipartisan commission, 40-0. The amendment must pass again in the next session, and will then go before voters.
Mental health in jail
The death of Jamycheal Mitchell, a mentally ill inmate who died of possible heart failure and major weight loss in the Hampton Roads Regional Jail four months after being arrested for shoplifting $5 worth of snacks, prompted Delegate Rob Bell to carry this bill, which sets standards for mental health care in jails. It made it out of one House committee January 29 and now goes to the House Appropriations Committee.
No excuses
A bill that would allow in-person absentee voting a week before an election—without an approved excuse—made it out of the House’s notorious Privileges and Elections Committee, where the Equal Rights Amendment died in subcommittee. Voters would still have to meet state-approved reasons to vote earlier. A more expansive bill, which would allow absentee voting 45 days before the election without an excuse, passed the Senate 40-0.
“Hearing-impaired” axed
After lobbying by advocates who don’t like the term “impaired,” “deaf or hard of hearing” and “hearing loss” could replace “hearing-impaired” in Virginia Code following the House’s unanimous approval of HB2131. The measure now goes to the Senate.
180 days of Airbnb rentals
A Senate bill that would allow Fairfax County homeowners to do short-term rentals for 180 days a year, up from the county’s current 60-day limit, passes the Senate February 4. Albemarle County is currently considering regulations that would limit homestay rentals to 45 days a year—and the owner must remain on the property.
Dead
Tax clarification
Virginians are poised to get hit with higher state taxes because their tax code doesn’t mesh with new federal tax law. If you take the $12,000 personal deduction on fed returns, you can’t itemize on state returns and are faced with Virginia’s much lower $3,000 standard deduction. An emergency bill failed in the House February 4, leaving the state unable to process returns.
Mandatory ultrasounds
Delegate Kathy Tran’s bill that removes some medically unnecessary procedures required for women seeking abortions, including first trimester ultrasounds, doesn’t make it out of a Courts of Justice subcommittee, with Delegate Rob Bell one of the 5-3 votes to table the bill on January 28. The bill’s hearing set off a firestorm that engulfed Tran and Governor Ralph Northam when he described what happens in rare third-trimester cases of serious fetal abnormalities or unviability on WTOP.
Blouse v. shirt
If it’s a man’s shirt, it must be cheaper.
Dry cleaners can continue to charge women more. A bill that would have established gender-parity in dry-cleaning pricing died in an all-male House Courts of Justice subcommittee 6-0, according to VCU’s Capital News Service.
Student reporters
Freedom of the press protections for student journalists didn’t make it out of a House subcommittee. The bill, carried by former WDBJ reporter Delegate Chris Hurst, would have prevented blatant censorship, which typically involves criticism of the school administrations.
Chan Bryant has been tapped by Albemarle Sheriff Chip Harding to succeed him as sheriff.
Staff photo
Albemarle Chief Deputy Chan Bryant got an unusual endorsement when she announced her run for sheriff as a Democrat January 30. Her boss, Republican Sheriff Chip Harding, introduced her and said that in his nearly 50 years of service in the justice system, she was in the top 5 percent of law enforcement supervisors with whom he’s worked.
And while Bryant’s candidacy is historic—she’s the first female to run for sheriff since the office was founded in 1745—Harding, who is not seeking reelection, says that’s not why he’s supporting her.
“I am endorsing Chan because she has done an outstanding job in every position she has been in,” he says.
Bryant, 49, wanted to be in law enforcement since she was a teen in Greene County. After stints as a county reserve officer, an EMT, a Madison deputy and a Scottsville patrol officer, she started full-time in the Albemarle sheriff’s office in 2006. “I have worked my way up the chain of command,” and worked closely with the sheriff in every department, she says.
She’d like to bring back the DARE program in schools. While some question the effectiveness of the once-pervasive Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, Bryant says it could be about more than drugs, and address peer pressure, bullying, and good decision-making.
She also envisions a safety program for seniors, because the department gets phone calls from people from out of state asking that deputies check up on elderly relatives.
Bryant leads the office’s 100-member search and rescue team, and she is commander of the reserves.
Around 10 deputies were present for her announcement, and Harding said the office’s full-time staff voted her “deputy of the year” for her efforts in improving the agency. The Elks Club also named her central Virginia law enforcement officer of the year.
Sheriff Chip Harding says Chan Bryant is one of the top cops he’s ever worked with. staff photo
Bryant says nothing makes her happier than hearing her colleagues say, “I love my job.”
She praises Harding’s mentoring, and says he encouraged her to run.
“I don’t look at it as being the first female,” she says. “It’s about being the most capable.”
Lieutenant Mike Wagner with the Albemarle County Police Department says he’s also a candidate in the November 5 election, but is not certain whether he will run as a Republican.
John Hall has run for City Council before. He’s also been banned from City Hall back in the early aughts because of behavior that caused then-city manager Gary O’Connell concern, such as showing up at City Council wrapped in foil, according to former councilor Rob Schilling.
Hall plans to launch another run for council February 1, but he’s run into a problem with the city again after asking an artist to paint a portrait of Heather Heyer and Susan Bro to hang in council chambers—and telling her the city would pay for the painting, he said in an email he shared with C-VILLE Weekly.
Interim City Manager Mike Murphy said it was “highly inappropriate” for Hall to imply to artist Kelly Oakes that he had the authority to commission a painting and Murphy asked him to cease doing so in an email to Hall. “If you continue to portray yourself in person or in writing as an agent of the City Council authorized to expend city funds, I will refer your actions to the commonwealth’s attorney for possible prosecution pursuant to the Virginia Governmental Frauds Act,” says Murphy.
Oakes, who now lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, says that when Hall sent her the request, “I kind of knew it wasn’t true.” She says she painted Hall for a show she did about a year ago when she was doing portraits of people who were clients of the Haven. “A lot of people are ignored because they’re mentally ill,” she says. “I knew he had no right to do that, but I knew his heart was in the right place.”
C-VILLE was not able to immediately reach Hall. In 2017, he told this reporter he’d been diagnosed as bipolar.
And in another development, Hall planned to announce his run for council February 1 with a rally and ringing of a Liberty Bell replica at the Ridge Street fire station, followed by a post-rally reception at the Omni, according to an email he sent to local media.
Scott Morgan, associate director of sales at the Omni, replies that “under no circumstances” did he agree to host a reception at the Omni, and writes in bold, “Again, the Omni is not a location for any rally or post reception on February 1st.”
At Hall’s rally at the fire station, he addressed the situation, and said he would not be having his follow-up event at the Omni. “Some things are said verbally, and then when the pressure’s put on, they back down,” he said.
He also addressed the portrait of Heyer and Bro that he wants to commission, and said if he is elected, and he is able to commission it, taxpayers will pay for it.
And he shared some other plans for if he’s elected. He wants to encourage local students to study trades at CATEC, improve infrastructure, and replace a “dangerous gas line” near The Corner. In an earlier interview with C-VILLE, he said he’d like to replace the trees on the Downtown Mall with dogwoods, which wouldn’t hold as much ice and snow, because if someone were to walk under the existing trees as ice was falling, they “could be killed,” Hall said.
At his rally, which he said promoted “peace, togetherness, and union,” he rang the Liberty Bell replica once in honor of the First Amendment. And he ended his speech with a quote he attributed to Jimi Hendrix: “When the power of love overcomes the power of hate, the world will know peace.”
The Charlottesville Fire Department referred a call asking if its station was hosting Hall’s rally to city spokesman Brian Wheeler, who provides a January 25 letter from Murphy to Hall, in which Murphy denied Hall’s request to hold a rally there because the fire station property is not available for use by the general public. Wheeler notes that there is a public sidewalk in the area.
Updated 10:43am with the Omni response.
Updated 11:40am with the city’s response about using the fire station for campaign rallies.
Updated 1:30pm February 1 with information from Hall’s campaign announcement.
Supporters of Confederate statues line up to speak at a House of Delegates subcommittee January 30.
Staff photo
Ultimately, no one was surprised that a House of Delegates subcommittee, made up of eight white men, killed a bill that would let Virginia localities decide what to do with Confederate monuments–not even the bill’s sponsor, Delegate David Toscano.
“They knew when we walked in what they would do with that bill,” said Toscano following the January 30 meeting. The subcommittee has five Republican and three Democrats, and one of the Dems joined in the 6-2 vote against the bill.
About a dozen Charlottesville supporters of the bill, including two elected officials, came for the 7:30am meeting of Counties, Cities and Towns Subcommittee #1. Some held signs during the proceeding: “Local authority for war memorials,” “Truthful history heals,” and “Lose the Lost Cause.”
And five opponents of the bill, none of whom were from Charlottesville, spoke against local control of Confederate monuments in public places.
Following the August 12, 2017, Unite the Right rally that brought hundreds of white supremacists to Charlottesville, ostensibly to protest City Council’s vote to remove the statue of General Robert E. Lee in what’s now called Market Street Park, Toscano carried a bill to give localities control over their own war monuments. Current state law makes it illegal for anyone to remove a memorial commemorating any war. That bill died a quick death in subcommittee in 2018, and this year’s version specified Confederate monuments only.
“It’s about local control,” Toscano told the subcommittee. “We give localities control of the cutting of weeds, but we haven’t yet given them control of monuments that might have a detrimental effect on the atmosphere and feelings of this community.”
The 1902 statute protecting war memorials “popped up just at the time of Jim Crow,” said Toscano, at the “height of the so-called Lost Cause celebration of the Confederate contribution to the Civil War.”
Subcommittee chair Charles Poindexter asked about the monuments, “Weren’t they also concurrent with the dying out of Confederate veterans?”
Toscano rejected the notion that Virginia was involved in a “heroic battle” during the Civil War. “This was an effort to destroy the Union.”
Justin Greenlee, who studies art and architectural history at UVA, told the subcommittee Confederate statues are “a monument to white supremacy,” and portray a “false story of history. They continue to intimidate.”
Lisa Draine, whose daughter was injured when self-proclaimed neo-Nazi James Fields accelerated into a crowd, killing Heather Heyer, said, “I couldn’t imagine that the statues brought this to our town.”
And Don Gathers, who served on the city’s Blue Ridge Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces, implored the subcommittee: “Please recognize the hatred these statues brought to descend upon our city.”
Ned Gallaway, Albemarle Board of Supervisors chair, and City Councilor Kathy Galvin both stressed the importance of local control over Confederate monuments.
Richmond native Ed Willis said a bill to allow localities to remove Civil War monuments discriminated against his “Confederate national origin.” staff photo
Among the bill’s opponents was Chesterfield resident Ed Willis, who said the bill was unconstitutional. “It’s painfully clear that discrimination based on national origin—on Confederate national origin—is the purpose of this bill.” He also said the legislature couldn’t do anything that would affect the ongoing lawsuit against the city and City Council for its vote to remove both the Lee and General Stonewall Jackson monuments.
Virginia Beach resident Frank Earnest, who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit and “heritage defense coordinator” for Virginia’s Sons of Confederate Veterans, warned that like “other socialist takeovers, it’ll be Confederate statues today, but don’t think they won’t be back next year to expand it to another war, another time in history.”
He said it was the “improper actions of the city government of Charlottesville” that caused the events of August 12, and that he resented anyone saying Confederates were there. “They were not.” He presented the officials with what he said were 2,000 signatures of Virginians opposed to removing Confederate monuments.
One of the three Democrats on the subcommittee made a motion to move the bill forward, to no avail.
Toscano called the vote “disappointing but not surprising.” He said the “discrimination” objection was “unbelievable,” and joked about whether people would be checking a Confederate national origin box on their census forms.
A bill that would allow localities like Charlottesville to relocate Confederate statues failed in a House of Delegates subcommittee January 30. staff photo
UVA professor Frank Dukes, who also served on the Blue Ribbon Commission, said he was surprised the vote “wasn’t even close. I think it’s so hypocritical from people who constantly talk about local control.”
Nor was Gathers surprised, except for the one Democrat—Portsmouth Delegate Stephen Heretick—joining in with Republicans to vote against the measure.
UVA prof and activist Jalane Schmidt pointed out that it took 10 years to get the “Johnny Reb” statue erected in front of the Albemarle courthouse, and that it could take 10 years to remove Confederate monuments.
“It’s about changing hearts and minds,” she said. “It’s about changing representation.”
The General Assembly is held by a slim Republican majority in both houses, and all legislators are up for reelection this year.
For the moment, however, Confederate supporters had a victory they could savor. As they headed to the elevators, one expressed his thoughts: “Those people in Charlottesville are crazy.”
Supervisor Ann Mallek wants more economic development and less stream degradation. She's running for a fourth term representing the White Hall District.
staff photo
Albemarle native Ann Mallek likes serving on the Board of Supervisors so much that she’s running for a fourth term.
“I enjoy all the work,” she says. “And meeting people. Especially meeting people.”
The 68-year-old farmer and educator, who represents the White Hall District, says, “My skill over the past 11 years is to listen carefully to these diverse opinions and to learn my constituents’ needs and concerns.”
At a January 16 announcement in the Albemarle County Office Building, she listed her accomplishments, including an agreement with the city to improve court infrastructure and parking that will keep county courts downtown, and an ordinance in the works that will have the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau focus on more programming and destination activities. Mallek had previously expressed concern that the county was not getting its money’s worth from the bureau and its wishes were ignored.
She cited a need for economic development after learning that 465 families in her district had both parents working and were still earning below the poverty line. She noted that for a long time, the board saw economic development as anti-environmental.
If businesses grow and provide better jobs, that also shifts the tax burden from residential property owners, who now pay over 80 percent of the tax revenue pie, she said.
When Mallek was first elected, growth was seen as the biggest threat in the county. That slowed with the recession, but as population has risen—along with the demand for services—she’s hearing some of the same concerns from 2007: “Where are all these people coming from?”
Growth means the county has to provide the capital expenditures that were postponed during the recession, such as school additions, parks, and improved fire stations, as well the services citizens demand, like sidewalks and recycling. “We can and must find these solutions together,” she said.
Mallek also revealed her own growth while on the board, and acknowledged the history she didn’t learn while a student at Albemarle High in the 1960s. She didn’t know that families were forced off their land to build the Shenandoah National Park, and she has worked on a chimney memorial to recognize those families.
“I also never learned about the lynching of John Henry James in Ivy in 1898,” she said. “We must find ways to share the history that has divided us.”
Mallek ran unopposed in 2015. And so far, no one else has indicated plans to challenge her.
Jim Hingeley promises a more “progressive, humane approach” to criminal justice in his campaign for Albemarle commonwealth's attorney. Staff photo
Dozens of people, many from the legal community, braved the chill January 23 to stand in front of Albemarle Circuit Court, where Jim Hingeley, founder of the Charlottesville Albemarle Public Defender Office, announced his campaign for Albemarle commonwealth’s attorney.
“It’s time for criminal justice reform in Albemarle County,” said Hingeley, 71. He said he wants to take a more “progressive, humane approach” to prosecution, because lengthy prison sentences come at a cost to society.
Hingeley will seek the Democratic nomination, and he took aim at the Republican incumbent. Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Tracci, said Hingeley, was putting nonviolent offenders in jail and had increased by 29 percent the number of cases tried last year in circuit court, where felonies are heard.
“Many times Mr. Tracci has asked for jail time for driving with suspended licenses,” says Hingeley. “I won’t do that.”
The state’s policy of automatically suspending driver’s licenses for unpaid court costs and fines is murky since a judge ruled December 21 the practice is likely unconstitutional.
Hingeley stressed his 43 years of experience as an attorney handling thousands of cases. “We’ve seen examples of how inexperience can affect justice,” he said. And he drew applause when he said he would not pursue the death penalty.
So far, Hingeley has raised over $10,000, most of that from a committee for Andrew Sneathern, who ran for the 5th District congressional seat last year and who was encouraged by some to run for commonwealth’s attorney. Sneathern introduced Hingeley
He lauded Hingeley’s “recognition of the dignity of every member of the community,” while excoriating the war on drugs and Virginia’s punitive misdemeanor marijuana possession laws, which “take driver’s licenses away for something that has nothing to do with driving.”
Hingeley, currently a city resident, says the law allows him to run in the county, and notes that former commonwealth’s attorneys Denise Lunsford and Jim Camblos lived in the city when they were elected and subsequently moved to the county. He says he’s planning to move to the county before the election “because I’m very committed to this.”
Among those gathered at Hingeley’s announcement were Albemarle Clerk of Court John Zug, Charlottesville Clerk Llezelle Dugger, who used to work for Hingeley in the public defender’s office, Albemarle sheriff candidate Chan Bryant, and City Councilor Wes Bellamy.
“I’m entering this race because we need to turn Albemarle County’s criminal justice system in a different direction,” he said. “I’m entering this race because our community can and should end the politics of mass incarceration.”
TSA agents are being required to work without pay at CHO and at airports around the country.
file photo
Almost one month into the federal government shutdown, Charlottesville hasn’t been hit as hard as Northern Virginia, where thousands of government workers are trying to figure out how to pay their mortgages and buy groceries. But there are more than 200 people here being asked to work without a paycheck, and approximately 4,100 households in the city and county that could see their food stamps run out if the shutdown continues to March 1.
One of the area’s larger employers, the spy center, aka the National Ground Intelligence Center up off U.S. 29 north, is part of the Department of Defense, and its 1,250 staffers won’t be missing a paycheck.
Things are not so rosy for the 40 or so TSA employees at the Charlottesville Albemarle Airport, who are being asked to work without pay. Their salaries range from $25,000 to $38K, according to the TSA website.
“We have been very lucky with the dedicated staff,” says CHO deputy director Jason Burch. “They are showing up. It’s got to be tough.”
Local companies and citizens have been providing sandwiches and pizza for the strapped security agents, says Burch. “Our TSA lines aren’t any longer,” he adds.
There are approximately 10 air traffic controllers—CHO spokesperson Stewart Key says she’s not allowed to say how many—who work for a company contracted by the FAA. Key says the controllers are not affected by the shutdown,.
Over at Shenandoah National Park, around 200 employees are employed this time of year, says Susan Sherman with the Shenandoah National Park Trust. The phone number for the Humpback Rocks Visitor Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway was out of service, and no one answered the phone at the parkway’s headquarters in Asheville.
On January 6, the Department of Interior instructed national parks to tap into recreation fees to clean bathrooms and haul trash—a move some say could be illegal. Volunteers and nonprofit advocacy organizations like the Shenandoah National Park Trust are pitching in.
The trust has picked up two contracts to clean bathrooms at Old Rag and White Oak Canyon, says Sherman, and is sending gift baskets with snacks “to fuel park colleagues who are working without pay.”
Sherman worries about the long-term effects of the shutdown: damage to natural resources, the gap in scientific research and monitoring, the bear population getting used to easy pickings at overflowing trash cans, and the morale of park service employees.
“It’s not uncommon for married couples to both be employed by the park,” she says. “They’re public servants who have devoted their lives to working there, and they’re being told they’re nonessential. That’s inexcusable, in my opinion.”
Also in the shutdown’s crosshairs are families that depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—formerly known as food stamps—which is funded through the USDA, another “nonessential” agency. On January 17, Virginia SNAP recipients received their benefits for February because the USDA is funded through January.
Around 2,000 households in Charlottesville and another 2,100 in Albemarle receive SNAP benefits. Sue Moffett with the city’s Department of Social Services worries about recipients managing money received three weeks early that’s supposed to last through the end of February.
She says anecdotally, she’s seeing new requests for food stamps and for other assistance, such as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. “I have knowledge of people affected by the federal furlough,” she says.
Michael McKee is CEO of Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, which serves 25 counties in western and central Virginia, including hard-hit Loudoun and Frederick counties, where he estimates around 15,000 furloughed federal employees live.
The food bank serves 106,000 people through its network of food pantries and soup kitchens—on average 14,000 in Charlottesville and Albemarle—and about two-thirds of those receive food stamps. “SNAP provides 12 times as much food as America’s food banks,” he says.
If those benefits aren’t restored by March 1, “We can never begin to make up for what we would lose with SNAP,” says McKee. “We could be completely overwhelmed and unable to meet the needs of our neighbors.”
UVA has myriad ties to federal funding, but because many federal agencies have already been funded for fiscal year 2019, “the impact on UVA right now is isolated and limited,” says spokesperson Anthony de Bruyn. “UVA is monitoring the situation closely and preparing for potential effects if the shutdown continues past this month.”
Thanks to DoD funding, the JAG School at UVA’s School of Law is in operation, according to an officer there.
At the Federal Executive Institute on Emmet Street, people answering the phone refused to say whether the facility is open, and referred calls to the Office of Personnel Management. The OPM confirms the government leadership training center is open, although it’s unclear what essential service it provides.
Meanwhile, the shutdown is even thwarting local breweries that want to introduce new brews. Says Champion Brewery’s Hunter Smith. “We have to get all our labels approved by the Tax and Trade Bureau,” which normally takes two weeks when it’s open. He’d planned to introduce as many as six new beers this year, and had to stop production on one.
So far shuttered government agencies haven’t affected the real estate market, says Nest Realty’s Jim Duncan, but that could change if the closures continue.
“Right now the biggest effect is on the psychology of the consumer,” he says. “It’s hard to quantify fear.”
***
When the government doesn’t take care of its own
A number of businesses and individuals are trying to help out the public servants who are furloughed or working without a paycheck. Great Harvest has taken sandwiches to CHO to feed beleaguered TSA agents, and is offering free sandwiches, salads, and bread to unpaid federal workers.
To help paycheck-less government workers forget about their travails, a couple of movie theaters are offering free flicks. At Alamo, that’s on Monday through Thursday, and Violet Crown is hosting free matinees on those days.
And the home of Founding Father James Madison. Montpelier, is offering free tours to feds and their families, who may be able to catch Madison rolling in his grave.
Correction January 18: Susan Sherman said around 200 employees are at Shenandoah National Park this time of year. She is not privy to how many are nonessential.
Attorney Lloyd Snook wants to help Charlottesville get its "ship righted."
staff photo
Around 100 of Charlottesville’s Democratic establishment packed Bashir’s January 15 for defense attorney Lloyd Snook’s launch into the race for City Council.
Snook cited “dysfunction at the top” of city government as the impetus for joining the race. “There are things that are going on in the city that I want to be a part of helping to fix,” he said.
He listed a morale problem in city hall, and said, “The police department got me really concerned. Snook, a criminal defense lawyer for 39 years, said police are not getting support.
Snook served on the Planning Commission in the 1980s, and said, “For many years, we thought we were a 20th-century town, when we’re a 21st-century city with 21st-century problems,” such as affordable housing, gentrification and transportation planning. “I want to prepare the city for the 21st century.”
The third plank of his platform is the “prison pipeline,” which is often called the school-to-prison pipeline, but Snook said he thinks that’s unfair to schools when they only have children six hours a day. He wants to looks at other factors, like housing and food, that affect children and families.
After the August 12 white supremacist invasion, he said the city’s response has not been very constructive. Snook seemed unfazed by unruly City Council meetings and quoted Martin Luther King Jr.: “Riot is the language of the unheard.”
Snook’s mother, Helen Snook, worked toward integration in the 1960s, and her son said part of the city’s dysfunction is in how it’s dealt with racial issues. “That needs to change, frankly more from the white side than the black side,” he said. “There’s a level of well-placed deserved anger that we as white folks tend not to acknowledge.”
Attending the launch were councilors Heather Hill and Kathy Galvin. Galvin, whose term will end this year, has not announced whether she will seek a third go on council. Nor have fellow councilors Wes Bellamy and Mike Signer announced whether they’re going to run again for the three open seats.
Delegate David Toscano drove over from the General Assembly in Richmond to be at Bashir’s. He said he ran for City Council in 1990 with Kay Slaughter and Snook, who came up short in votes. “[Snook] came up and said, ‘David, I’m writing you your first check,’” and handed Toscano a check. “I’m returning it,” said the delegate.
Delegate David Toscano had a favor to repay to council candidate Lloyd Snook. staff photo
Snook joins Dem candidates Michael Payne and Sena Magill in the likely June 11 Democratic primary. Independents Paul Long and John Hall have also announced runs.
Nothing puts a spring in the step of legislators heading to Richmond to do the people’s business like the fact that it’s an election year, and all 140 members of the General Assembly are up for reelection. Oh, and it’s the 400th year since the colonies’ first legislative body, the House of Burgesses, met in Jamestown in 1619, adding historical significance to this year’s session.
“I still get a tingle when I walk into that building and look at that statuary,” says state Senator Creigh Deeds, the area’s longest-serving legislator. He’s marking his 28th session this year.
Charlottesville and Albemarle are represented by four delegates and two senators who have racked up a lot of seniority, and with longevity comes power. Delegate David Toscano from the 57th District, which includes Charlottesville and part of Albemarle, was House minority leader until this past December.
Delegate Steve Landes, who’s there for his 24th session representing his mostly Shenandoah Valley 25th District, which includes a slice of western Albemarle, is chair of the Education Committee, as well as vice chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee.
And the 58th District’s Rob Bell, now in his 18th session representing eastern and northern Albemarle, chairs Courts of Justice.
After years of Republican domination in the General Assembly, last year saw the GOP with a slim two-member majority in each house. Perhaps it was the looming election and Dem midterm victories that led Governor Ralph Northam to propose a bold agenda on gun safety—including universal background checks, extreme-risk protective orders, reinstating the one-handgun-a-month law, an assault weapons ban, prevention of child access to guns, and stricter regulations on reporting lost or stolen weapons.
He’s also called for voting reform that includes instituting no-excuse absentee voting, abolishing the photo ID requirement, and limiting campaign contributions.
Two years ago, neither gun safety nor measures making it easier to vote would have stood a prayer. Not that they will succeed this year.
Stephen Farnsworth, political analyst at the University of Mary Washington, says, “While passage is not impossible, odds are the most Democrats can hope for with those measures is that they will become part of a rallying cry for the party during the 2019 Virginia midterm elections. Gun control is popular, particularly in the suburbs, where Democrats have had a great deal of success in recent elections.”
Farnsworth also says there might be some opportunity for agreement along the lines of no-excuse-required absentee voting.
More money, more problems
“The budget is always the biggest issue,” says Bell. This year’s short, 45-day session is when adjustments are made to the biennial plan. “Before we can do that we have to address conformity with the federal tax law.”
The state expects to reap an estimated $1.2 billion windfall from federal tax changes that double the standard deduction. Unfortunately for Virginians, if you don’t itemize on federal filings, you can’t itemize state returns.
“How do we handle problems generated by the Trump tax package that transferred wealth to the wealthy?” queries Toscano. “Some Virginia taxpayers will pay more.”
“We can’t write the budget until we figure that out,” says Bell. “Republicans want to return the money.”
Northam wants to refund some of that to households making less than $54,000, and use the rest to invest in major state initiatives, such as teacher pay and rural broadband.
Says Farnsworth, “During this session, the Republicans are going to want to focus on something they can take to the voters in November. The GOP’s first choice would be some form of a tax cut to deal with the windfall the state will be getting because of changes in federal tax laws. There’s an opportunity for a bipartisan deal here—something for the rainy day fund, something for the Earned Income Tax Credit, and something for a tax cut.”
He thinks some Republicans are ready to support the Equal Rights Amendment as part of a strategy to make the party more appealing in the suburbs, where it’s struggled lately. “But what to do with that windfall is likely to be the most important things the legislature deals with this year,” says Farnsworth.
Redistricting reform may have a chance in the General Assembly this year, particularly with a federal court ordering Virginia to redraw racially gerrymandered districts.
Another issue that may have a glimmer of a chance is redistricting reform, particularly with a federal court ordering Virginia to redraw racially gerrymandered districts.
Deeds has carried redistricting bills just about every year since he was first elected to the Senate in 2001. “My sense is you can do something this year,” he says. “Republicans know they could lose and they’ll want some rules to protect the minority.”
He prefers a nonpartisan commission that “leaves the legislature out of it.”
Landes, on the other hand, believes redistricting is the responsibility of the legislature. He supports a politically neutral, race-blind effort and doesn’t want it handed over to “an unelected body.”
Bob Gibson is co-chair of the bipartisan advisory committee for OneVirginia2021: Virginians for Fair Redistricting, and he’s not optimistic about this year’s chances of getting it out of the Privileges and Elections Committee. That committee’s chair, Republican Mark Cole of Fredericksburg, is “dead set against nonpartisan redistricting,” he says. Subcommittees are where legislation is buried, and previous gerrymandering reform has died in 7:30am Republican-majority meetings, he says.
“If they could ever get it out of committee and onto the floor, I think it would have a good chance,” says Gibson.
Gaming is also getting buzz, particularly in areas that are struggling like Danville, Bristol, and Portsmouth, says Deeds. “Economically there’s not much going on there. Gambling is seen as an idea that could generate tax revenue and jobs.”
And now that some Native American tribes have gottenfederal recognition, Landes says, “They’re going to move forward.” He urges caution. “I don’t see doing it in every locality in the state.”
Both Deeds and Landes, whose districts are in the western part of the state, are onboard with investing in Interstate 81, although that could mean tolls. “I-81 is going to get some serious attention,” promises Deeds.
It might be his 28th time, but being a state legislator still excites Deeds. “The history of that place still thrills me, that I have a chance to be a part of that.”
Top row: David Toscano, Rob Bell, Matt Fariss Bottom row: Steve Landes, Creigh Deeds, Bryce Reeves
What your local legislators are up to
We checked in with our six—count ’em—six legislators to see what they’re working on this session.
House of Delegates
David Toscano (D)
57th District
Toscano is going a little more progressive this session now that the mantle of minority leader has been lifted. The bills he carried last year stemming from August 12 were shot down, but he’s trying again. Since state law prohibits the removal of war memorials, he’s written a narrower bill that would allow localities to remove Confederate statues. He’s also carrying a bill that Attorney General Mark Herring requested that restricts firearms at events that have permits.
“Both of those bills are going to have a hard time,” acknowledges Toscano. “They’re going to be sent to committees headed by rural Republicans.”
Perhaps more well-received will be another bill to make the use of flamethrowers to intimidate a Class 6 felony.
Charlottesville was hit with the highest health insurance rates in the country last year, and Toscano has a bill that would give the State Corporation Commission more teeth to regulate astronomical increases.
And Dominion probably won’t like his legislation that prohibits publicly regulated electric utilities from making political donations greater than $500.
Rob Bell (R)
58th District
Bell has worked with Senator Creigh Deeds on mental health issues since the tragic death of Deeds’ son in 2013, and he continues to focus on that. This year he’s concentrating on the intersection of criminal justice and mental illness.
“We want to divert the mentally ill from jail in the first place,” he says. But if in jail, “we want to coordinate their care in jail and after they get out.” He’s carrying a bill that sets standards of care while incarcerated and regulates discharge planning to make sure progress isn’t lost once an inmate is released, he says.
Bell also sits on the Virginia State Crime Commission and is perturbed by the “extraordinary, multi-hundreds of thousands” of fingerprints missing from the state’s database.
Matt Fariss (R)
59th District
Rustburg resident Fariss is a cattle farmer, and he wants to make it easier for farmers to shoot nuisance animals on private land without having to get out of their trucks. “If you have vultures and coyotes bothering a cow while calving, and you have to pull up and get out of the truck before firing, that gives them a lot of time for flight,” he explains.
He also wants to toughen the penalty for passing a stopped school bus, and to make it easier to register as a tow truck driver even with a violent crime or driving under the influence conviction—if it happened 10 or more years ago. “Everyone needs a second chance,” he says.
Fariss says he’s planning to seek a fifth term. “My wife insists I run for reelection so she gets a six- or nine-week vacation every year.”
Steve Landes (R)
25th District
Landes is chair of the Education Committee, and he usually has bills dealing with education. “Two are recommendations from the select committee on school safety,” he says. One bill moves election primary dates to the third Tuesday in June so there aren’t a lot of non-students on school grounds (presumably on the assumption that voters are dangerous). The other requires school counselors to spend 80 percent of their time actually counseling. “That’s very important to head off problems,” he says.
One bill makes changes in the Virginia529 college savings plan that he says could help parents and grandparents who contribute save $3,000 a year.
Landes is also keen on funding early childhood education and improvements to I-81. “Eighty percent of what we do is not a Republican or Democratic issue,” he says. “It’s what the government should do.”
Senate
Creigh Deeds (D)
25th District
As a senator, Deeds gets to carry 25 bills compared to the House of Delegates limit of 15 during the short session.
Not surprisingly, several focus on mental health, including two that require training standards for law enforcement, school resource officers, and school administrators.
Like Toscano, Deeds has a bill that limits firearms at events that require a permit. He also sponsors one that would add Charlottesville and Albemarle to localities that can restrict certain firearms in public places.
In addition to his perennial redistricting bills, this year Deeds is carrying a constitutional amendment that says an interstate natural gas pipeline is not considered a public service when exercising eminent domain. “That could protect people from some of the abuses that have been alleged,” he says.
Bryce Reeves (R)
17th District
Eastern Albemarle makes up a pretty small part of Reeves’ mostly Spotsylvania district, so maybe that’s why he didn’t respond to multiple requests from C-VILLE.
We can tell you that he’s running for reelection, and he reports an “A+” rating from the NRA.
Minority Report: Toscano looks back on seven years as Dem leader
For much of his tenure, Delegate David Toscano led an embattled minority hugely outnumbered by Republicans. He’s proud he was able to keep his caucus together to sustain Governor Terry McAuliffe’s vetoes. Photo: John Robinson
Leading the Democratic caucus in the overwhelmingly Republican House of Delegates was not a job that many coveted back in 2011, when Delegate David Toscano was elected minority leader.
Democrats had been drubbed in that year’s election, and even former minority leader Ward Armstrong lost his seat. In the 100- member body, “I came in as leader and there were 32 Democrats,” remembers Toscano, 68.
It was quite a different picture when Toscano resigned the leadership position in December. Fifteen Dems unseated Republicans in 2017, and if not for losing a random drawing, the party would have had parity with the GOP. Even at 49-51, the change was resounding enough that Toscano started calling himself “Democratic leader” rather than minority leader.
“With 49, you can do things you never could have done in the past,” says Toscano, such as Medicaid expansion, a Dem dream for years, which passed last spring.
For much of his term as leader, Democrats were vastly outnumbered in the House, which meant they didn’t control committees and had little chance of passing legislation, even when Terry McAuliffe won the governor’s race in 2013.
“I like to think we did the best we could,” says Toscano. In 2015, Dems picked up two more seats, and with 34 members, were able to prevent the majority Republicans from overturning McAuliffe’s veto, which he used more than any Virginia governor. By keeping the caucus together, Dems were able to sustain all of McAuliffe’s vetoes. “I’m very proud of that,” says Toscano.
Delegate Steve Landes, who was a Republican caucus leader in the early 2000s, says, “Keeping everyone together when they’ve got divergent views is not easy.”
Toscano, says Landes, “played an aggressive advocate for his caucus, but he did it in a way that people in our caucus had a great deal of respect for him.” And Landes doesn’t think Toscano gets enough credit for upping the number of Democrats in the House in 2017.
Some of the newly elected Dems believed that if more had been done to support Democratic candidates, they could have gained the majority. Last summer, there was a challenge to Toscano’s leadership, but it went nowhere.
Toscano initially said he would remain leader through the 2019 session and then turn over the reins to someone else. But in December, the caucus elected Eileen Filler-Corn as the new minority leader.
“I’m fine with that,” says Toscano. “I [could] enjoy the holidays with my family.”
Toscano tried to get out of the leadership role before. He resigned in 2015, citing the time and energy the job took and the effect it had on his family and law practice. A day later, he was back on the job when caucus members clamored for him to stay and said they’d help ease the burden.
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When he was first elected minority leader, back in November 2011, Toscano had a short learning curve without the former leader there to guide him. “So much comes at you so fast, you can hardly think,” he says. “You have to be on your toes, especially on the floor. And where you’re in the minority, you have to pick your fights.”
You also have to be willing to work hard. Delegate Rob Bell noticed that Toscano often was at work late at night. “I think David was always a good-faith negotiator. He was a fierce advocate for his positions. And he enjoyed the essence of lawmaking.”
Says Bell, “It’s harder to be minority leader than majority leader.”
Matt Fariss, the third Republican who represents Albemarle, also says he had a good working relationship with Toscano. “He was a gentleman,” says Fariss, who is looking forward to working with the new minority leader.
Filler-Corn calls Toscano the “leader emeritus” and says she’ll continue to rely on his knowledge and expertise. “David has been a wonderful friend, colleague, and partner ever since I first came to the House of Delegates. I have learned a great deal from watching him and he has been a valuable resource for me as I transition into my new role as Democratic leader in the House,” she says.
Toscano foresees benefits to not being the leader, including fewer meetings to attend. “I’m free to do my own thing as delegate,” he says. “As leader, I had to be more careful about what I introduced because I represented the whole state. Now I can be more progressive.”
State Senator Creigh Deeds, who encouraged Toscano to run for the job in 2011, echoes the dilemma of the party leader. “You’re responsible not just to constituents, but to the caucus as well.”
He says, “David has brought the right skill level to the job. He did a phenomenal job as a fundraiser.”
Toscano was elected to Charlottesville City Council in 1990 and served for 12 years, including a stint as mayor. His first run for office was for Congress in 1982 as a member of the Citizen’s Party, a race he resoundingly lost.
Since his days as a bearded firebrand, Toscano says he has a lot more gray hair and he’s more mindful of the complexity of policymaking, especially the importance of making alliances to get initiatives passed.
“I used to think if I made a good speech or wrote a good article, it would have an impact,” he says. “It’s a lot more complicated than I thought.”
He’s also come to appreciate “the beauty of checks and balances” in our system of government. “I’m sometimes frustrated at how slow it can be to make changes. Then you see a Trump in office and see how fast these things can swing without checks and balances.”
Although he’s previously said he would run for reelection, Toscano now says he’s going to see what the session looks like not being leader, and make up his mind in February. Meanwhile, UVA professor Sally Hudson has already announced her candidacy for the seat.
Toscano did reveal his New Year’s resolution: to finish his book on 25 years in politics, from City Council to the General Assembly.
