Gov. Glenn Youngkin says he will appeal a recent lower court’s ruling to the Supreme Court. File photo.
Roll it back
On October 27, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling ordering the Youngkin administration to add more than 1,500 Virginians back onto voter rolls. Both Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares said they will appeal the case to the Supreme Court, calling the decision an attempt at undermining election integrity.
The decision comes on the heels of a Department of Justice suit alleging an August 7 executive order by Youngkin ordering the daily removal of voters identified as noncitizens by Department of Motor Vehicles records, violates a provision of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The legislation prohibits the systematic removal of voters from rolls within 90 days of federal elections.
District Court Judge Patricia Giles of Alexandria ordered the commonwealth to reinstate the voters on October 25. The Fourth Circuit not only upheld Giles’ decision, but declined a request from Miyares to stop enforcement of the order.
While Miyares argued the order would add noncitizens back to voter rolls, the circuit court panel echoed Giles’ determination that, “‘neither the Court nor the parties … know’ that the people ‘removed from’ the voter rolls under the challenged program ‘were, in fact, noncitizens,’ and that at least some ‘eligible citizens … have had their registrations canceled and were unaware that this was even so.’”
A review of court records by the Richmond Times Dispatch shows several legal voters had their names removed from rolls based on outdated or incorrect DMV records.
Group project
Charlottesville City Schools has partnered with Virginia Career Works on an effort to improve students’ career readiness and help fulfill future workforce needs, according to an October 23 press release.
As part of the collaboration, the district and workforce group plan to create programming for specific hiring sectors to create paths to employment, drawing inspiration from and expanding on existing initiatives at the Charlottesville Area Technical Education Center.
“The feedback from our industry partners has been invaluable to make sure that our students are prepared for careers,” said Stacey Heltz, principal of CATEC and career and technical education coordinator for CCS. “The partnership with VCW will expand the reach and depth of this advisory network.”
CCS Superintendent Royal Gurley also highlighted the importance and potential widespread benefits of the collaboration. “By working closely with industry leaders, Charlottesville City Schools is securing a bright future,” he said, “not just for high school students, or the adults who take classes at CATEC, but also for the city as a whole.”
A Charlottesville City Schools and Virginia Career Works collaboration was inspired by initiatives at CATEC. Photo by Rob Garland Photography.
Walk this way
Darden Towe Park’s Free Bridge Lane will be closed to cars starting November 1 for a one-year trial period promoting walking, running, and biking. The pathway, located along the Rivanna River, serves as part of Albemarle County’s 2019 plan supplementing bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. Parking will still be available at the lot on the north end of the road.
In memoriam
Professor Emeritus Charles J. Goetz, an economist who taught at University of Virginia School of Law for more than 30 years, died October 16 at age 85. After earning his Ph.D. in economics at UVA in 1965, Goetz played a major role in expanding the influence of economics in the legal field. He is remembered by students and colleagues for both his groundbreaking work and generous spirit.
Economist and UVA law school professor Charles J. Goetz passed away on October 16. Photo via UVA Law/UVA Communications.
Bed news
Charlottesville may add two new shelters after City Manager Sam Sanders recommended a $5.25 million budget with funding for the city’s rising homeless population. Projects planned in partnership with The Salvation Army would add 100 beds to the Ridge Street campus and a new 50-bed low-barrier option at the organization’s Cherry Avenue thrift store. Sanders also proposed adding public bathrooms downtown.
On September 28, 2021, former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe said something during the second gubernatorial debate that would spark a movement of conservatives in the state: “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
The Hill would later describe McAuliffe’s statement as “deserving of a top listing in the Hall of Fame of Political Blunders.” His opponent, current Gov. Glenn Youngkin, would seize upon the gaffe, running the statement ad nauseam in attack ads and quoting it in speeches for the remainder of his campaign. He would coin the term that became a catch-all for everything from divisive content policies, transgender bathroom laws, and discussions about America’s history of slavery and racism: “parents’ rights.”
Since then, a wave of hard-right conservatives and Christian nationalists have come out of the woodwork to run in local elections for school boards, launching crusades against everything from library books to nicknames. In a matter of months, local offices were swarmed with new candidates who had big ideas, bold stances, and hot takes on how to make their little corners of America “great” again.
In the months following Youngkin’s victory, there was no shortage of firebrands on hand in those areas to carry the MAGA torch at the local level. With the 2024 presidential election on the horizon, the battle lines for America’s cultural civil war run once again through central Virginia. And in Orange County, a parent and her son are preparing for battle.
A parent’s rights
Laws are hypothetical. Fundamentally, a law is an enforced mandate that, if one commits x action, then y will be the resulting consequence. As a result, political discourse and debate is often based in theoretical discussions involving statistics, principles, and potential outcomes. Over time, talking about statistics and hypotheticals instead of actual people begins to obscure the core truth about the administration of government: The law does not affect hypothetical Americans, but real people, with rights, families, and values.
Emily Potts is not hypothetical.
Potts, a transgender woman who lives in Orange County with her non-binary child Jace, a 10th grader at Orange County High School, is among the few LGBTQ+ people living openly in one of the most conservative counties in the greater Charlottesville region. “There’s a lot more allies than you might expect,” Potts says. “But there’s not a lot of trans people anywhere in our area, much less in Orange County.”
Potts might have begun living openly as transgender in 2021, but she began her journey as a trans woman long before that.
“I’ve kind of known since I was 5 that there was … something going on,” she says. “But when I hit puberty was when I knew [for sure].”
Parents are often credited with having a kind of intuition when it comes to their children’s identity and sexuality. Potts says she had a somewhat different experience.
“My dad had no idea,” she says. “We had to work through some stuff, but we’re good now. My mom has since passed away, but she knew. I had told her a long time ago.” Potts trails off. Her mother, she recalls, sent her to a psychologist (“And not the good kind,” she says. “Think conversion therapy”) followed by military school in Georgia.
Shortly after Potts and Jace arrived in Orange County from Culpeper in 2021, Jace began living openly as non-binary. Around five months later, Emily came out as transgender and began her journey, too.
“I came out after I got sober,” Potts says. “I was self-medicating, trying to suppress it. Once I got into recovery, I realized that I couldn’t keep living like that. I think seeing Jace’s courage in coming out really helped me get the courage to do the same.”
Around the time Potts and her son were beginning their journey as transgender, the parents’ rights movement was taking hold in Virginia. They knew that because they were among the few people living openly as transgender in Orange County, the issue was too important to remain silent.
“This is going to get children hurt,” Potts recalls thinking.
Freedom*
Chelsea Quintern, a former correctional and probation officer, was among those riding the wave of parents’ rights sweeping across the state.
Quintern began her public life in 2022, after being elected to the Orange County School Board. She came out swinging, introducing two resolutions that made national headlines and put her on the radar of just about every conservative in the state. The less controversial of her proposed resolutions was the one aimed at critical race theory. It abandoned the formal, referential language of Youngkin’s executive order, and states that “Critical Race Theory endorses discrimination of individuals based on race.” But it was her LGBTQ+ policies and beliefs that brought national news coverage.
“When I heard about her transgender policy, my first thought was that it would get someone killed,” Potts says. “A lot of times, teachers are like the last line of defense for kids who don’t have a great situation at home. If you take that from them, and give them nowhere they can be themselves with people they can trust, you’re going to see kids getting hurt. Dying.”
Quintern introduced her Divisive Content Resolution at the same time as her Sexually Explicit Materials resolution, and it made headlines that day thanks to its last provision: that teachers inform parents if a student is LGBTQ+.
“The Orange County School Board declares that students shall not be subjected, but not limited, to curriculum, materials, and discussions relating to sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other sexually explicit subject without explicit consent from their parent(s),” the draft read. “Further … the [OCPS] Board requires schools to notify parents of healthcare services and involvement in critical decisions affecting students’ physical, mental, and emotional well-being; including, but not limited to self-identification.”
Quintern’s policy was as brazen as it was vague. To put it simply, she proposed that school teachers and administrators be forced to inform a parent if their child was a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
If there were people who reacted positively to this proposal, they were drowned out by the apoplectic response from the dissenters. The Washington Post ran a story about it, and Change.org petitions, blog posts, and social media posts popped up everywhere. Quintern, to her credit, didn’t flinch, showing local conservatives she was the real deal. A true MAGA acolyte.
On the day of the school board vote, students carried signs expressing outrage, while parents, current and former teachers, administrators, PTA and education department officials, and even Emily Potts took to the podium to eviscerate Quintern’s proposal as a poorly veiled attempt at notoriety.
“Your ‘therefore’ clause is so broad it would require parental notification if a teacher mentions her husband,” said former PTA president Jennifer Heinz. “If you really meant to say, ‘Don’t say gay,’ please don’t insult us by using this ruse of ‘parental notification.’”
While the CRT resolution was passed 3-2, the Sexually Explicit Materials resolution would ultimately fail with the same margin. Quintern, who did not respond to requests for comment on this article, would go on to suggest that this was her attempt to “focus on classroom learning.”
“As a board member who was elected during the wave of parental rights, it was very disheartening to know that as a collective, the Orange County School Board decided not to definitively stand up for them,” she told the Orange County Review in 2022. “The law is clear: A parent has a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of the parent’s child. I vow to continue to fight for these rights during my tenure.”
Potts attended one of the school board meetings and it was her first time coming out (literally) as a transgender woman. She said the amount of support she received from people was tremendous, but it was not the only response.
“One of the local Republican organizations started passing around my business card at their meetings,” Potts says. “They’ve essentially blacklisted my business in Orange. I haven’t had a single client from Orange County ever since.”
Fifteen-year-old Jace Potts is glad the resolution failed, even if it wouldn’t have affected them.
“There’s not a huge LGBT community in the school, but I’m not the only one,” they say. “I have a friend who has only come out to their sister because their parents said if they were LGBT, they would kick them out.”
Jace says the unnamed friend lives in near-constant fear of someone outing them to their parents. If Quintern’s policy had gone into effect, any teacher intuitive enough to discern what was going on, or who overheard a conversation, would be forced to blow the whistle.
“I know it could be a lot worse,” Jace says. “The politics stuff hasn’t had as much of an effect on school life as we were worried it might.”
When the Sexually Explicit Material resolution was voted down, both Potts and her child say they were relieved, but felt like it would not end there. And it didn’t.
Emily Potts says her child, Jace, gave her the courage to come out as trans. Now, the two Orange County residents are navigating an increasingly hostile public school environment. Photo by Eze Amos.
Other people’s children
On May 20, 2024, Quintern, together with District 1’s Melissa Anderson, again made headlines when they made a sudden reversal on Orange County School Board’s membership in the Charlottesville-based Virginia School Board Association, and abruptly called a vote on pulling Orange County School Board out of the VSBA entirely. All but three county school boards in the state (Warren, Orange, and Rockingham) are members of the bipartisan organization. Planning sessions do not schedule time for public comment.
Political bias, criticism of Youngkin, and a lack of utility in its services were all cited as reasons for the board’s withdrawal.
Among other useful perks, like a $2,000 discount on BoardDocs, a school board meeting software, the VSBA assists school systems with legal aid and policy review for school systems—at much lower costs than what an independent attorney would charge. Warren County School Board, the first to decide to leave the VSBA, saw costs skyrocket afterwards, and many expect the same thing to happen in Orange.
VSBA has not commented on the school systems that have exercised their choice to withdraw from the organizations. However, a Q&A published by the VSBA addressed many of these allegations of political bias.
“VSBA operates as a nonpartisan association, emphasizing a commitment to issues rather than political affiliations,” the undated document reads. “Its unwavering stance centers around opposing any measures that compromise the autonomy of local school divisions, a position that has remained consistent throughout the association’s 116-year history.”
While leaving the VSBA may have been ill-advised, it was not the decision itself that drew the most criticism, but the way in which the decision was made. VSBA membership renewal was listed as a discussion item in the planning session, not an action item. As an action item, it likely would have been postponed for public input much in the way past important decisions have been, including Quintern’s two controversial resolutions two years prior.
Two weeks later, the public was finally able to comment on the matter. While those in support praised the Orange County School Board for fulfilling the conservative agenda it had promised, those in opposition said it was fulfilling this agenda at the expense of the people who depend on the public school system.
An OCPS elementary school teacher, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the politicization of public schools has left educators and administrators feeling like the school board is playing for a different team.
“Teachers and children [feel] like they aren’t supported,” she says. “They live in constant fear of retaliation. Like they are walking on eggshells. There’s a lot of anxiety.”
Her biggest concern about the VSBA withdrawal is that it would take resources away from a school system that, from a faculty perspective, should be focusing on more pressing priorities.
“People are consistently sick as there is no funding for building improvements,” she says. “Teachers are being pushed to their breaking points, but are not being listened to.”
When the parents’ rights movement swept across Virginia, it was supported by concerned parents who felt like control over their children’s educational experience was being eliminated by those in power. In Orange over the past two years, Quintern, Anderson, and those like them have continuously faced criticism from parents over concerns that their policies were motivated by their own political ambition, and that their children would ultimately pay the price.
This criticism came from OCPS parents, whose rights got Quintern and so many others like her elected. But when it came time to protect them, many are left feeling like it was never about parents deciding what their kids learn in school, but Christian conservatives deciding what their children learn in school. Or what other people’s children learn in public school—Quintern’s children don’t attend OCPS.
Despite losing her previous bid for Albemarle County School Board, Meg Bryce nabbed an appointment to the Virginia Board of Education on July 24.
Supplied photo.
Former Albemarle County School Board candidate Meg Bryce was appointed to the Virginia Board of Education by Gov. Glenn Youngkin on July 24.
As a member of the VBOE, Bryce is now one of the top education officials in the state despite losing her previous bid for public office. In addition to her appointment to the state board of education, she is also a part-time psychology instructor at the University of Virginia.
While it was officially a nonpartisan race, Bryce ran on a conservative platform in her campaign for the Albemarle County Public Schools at-large seat last fall. Beyond her platform—centered on improving academic standards and strengthening parental rights—the newly appointed board member also caught media attention as the daughter of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Bryce received significant criticism for running for the school board despite having pulled all of her children from public school during the COVID-19 pandemic.
After one of the most expensive school board elections in history, Bryce ultimately lost the election to opponent Allison Spillman, receiving only 37.56 percent of the vote. Spillman won the seat, but with her appointment to the VBOE, Bryce is now the one with greater influence over local and state education policy.
“The governor’s office reached out to ask if I would be interested in serving, and I gladly accepted. The Board of Education has been focused on the issues that matter so much to me and to other [Virginia] families—accountability, transparency, and excellence in education,” Bryce told C-VILLE in a comment via text. “It is a privilege to be a part of those efforts.”
For Spillman, Bryce’s appointment comes as a disappointment, but not a surprise.
“The voters of Albemarle County overwhelmingly voiced their support of public education this past November when they elected me to the school board,” said Spillman via email. “In spite of the Youngkin administration’s continued efforts to weaken public education in the Commonwealth, I will continue to fight for all the students and teachers of Albemarle County.”
Other local representatives have also publicly expressed concern over Bryce’s appointment, including Dels. Amy Laufer and Katrina Callsen.
“You know what’s easier to win than an Albemarle County School Board seat? An unearned appointment to the State Board of Education from Gov. Youngkin,” posted Callsen on X/Twitter on July 24.
Both Laufer and Callsen have indicated they will oppose Bryce’s appointment when it comes before the General Assembly in 2025. In the interim, Bryce has started her term on the board, attending her first meeting shortly after her appointment.
In her first meeting with the VBOE, Bryce indicated her support for changing the state’s accreditation regulations.
“One policy that I believe will be instrumental moving forward is the School Performance and Support Framework,” Bryce said. “The Framework will be a powerful tool to identify the schools that are excelling so that we may learn from their best practices, but also the schools that are struggling so that we may get them the support that they need. I believe it will go a long way in providing the best possible education to every student in [Virginia].”
The VBOE will reconvene for a special meeting on August 28.
Both CCS and ACPS issued new personal device policies in recent years, citing mental health and academic concerns.
File photo.
On July 9, Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order calling for “cell phone-free education” across Virginia. Rather than issuing a direct guideline, the EO outlines a rapidly paced timeline for stakeholder feedback and policy development.
“This essential action will promote a healthier and more focused educational environment where every child is free to learn,” said Youngkin in a press release announcing the action. “Today’s executive order both establishes the clear goal to protect the health and safety of our students by limiting the amount of time they are exposed to addictive cell phones and social media and eliminates clear distractions in the classroom.”
In the order, Youngkin indicates that the directive was prompted by rising rates of depression and suicide among teenagers in addition to a dip in academic performance trends. (Meanwhile, Youngkin has not expressed support for regulating guns, the most common method used in deaths by suicide.)
Under Youngkin’s EO, leaders in the Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Resources, and other related agencies have until August 15 to publish a draft guidance factoring in feedback and best practices from stakeholders. As part of this process, the agencies will also define exactly what a “cell phone-free education” means. Feedback on the policy guidelines will be gathered through online comment and listening sessions, according to the EO.
None of the Commonwealth Conversations listening sessions will be held in Charlottesville, with the closest event set for July 31 in Waynesboro. Those looking for more information on the events or to comment online can visit doe.virginia.gov.
While Youngkin’s office describes the executive order as the first statewide action on cell phone usage in the classroom, the action largely mirrors rules and expectations currently in place across the commonwealth.
In Charlottesville City Schools, students are already required to keep their devices “off and away all day.” The district has also publicly discussed the potential implementation of Yondr pouches—lockable magnetic cases that make devices inaccessible in phone-free zones—but has paused rollout.
“We expect we are already in line with the guidelines that the state will develop—but we are prepared to be responsive and adjust accordingly,” said CCS Community Relations Coordinator Amanda Korman in a comment via email.
“While cell phones have many benefits, they can also be a distraction to student learning and harmful to mental well-being,” said Korman. “We have found that the ‘off and away all day’ policy has had a positive impact in our classrooms, and, to a lesser degree, in our hallways, lunchrooms, and restrooms.”
Albemarle County Public Schools has less restrictive cell phone policies but does prohibit the use of personal devices during “instructional periods.” Unlike their peers in CCS, ACPS students are allowed to use their phones before and after school, between classes, and during lunch.
At press time, ACPS has not responded to a request for comment.
Both CCS and ACPS mention the detrimental effects of cell phone use on mental health and academic performance in the districts’ cell phone policies, largely mirroring the concerns expressed by Youngkin in his executive order.
The executive order can be found in its entirety on the VDOE and Governor’s websites.
Governor Glenn Youngkin was handed a defeat by the General Assembly last week. Supplied photo.
During a heated one-day veto session last week, the Virginia General Assembly killed Governor Glenn Youngkin’s amendments that would have created two new misdemeanor crimes for possessing more than two ounces of marijuana, accompanied by potential fines and jail time. The controversial legislation also would have banned the sale of Delta-8—a popular form of THC that gives users a less potent high than regular weed—starting in October.
The Democratic-controlled Senate initially rejected Youngkin’s amendments, which would have allowed the governor to sign or veto the original bill prohibiting marijuana products in the shape of a human, animal, vehicle, or fruit. However, after a lengthy debate, the senators decided to send the bill to the Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee, taking the new crimes off the table—at least until next year.
Since Virginia legalized marijuana last year, the laws surrounding the drug have continued to stir up debate among legislators. While adults 21 and over can legally possess up to one ounce of marijuana and grow up to four plants at home, it will not be legal to sell it until 2024. Individuals found guilty of possessing more than an ounce—but less than a pound—are subject to a $25 civil fine. (Possessing more than a pound remains a felony.)
Multiple racial justice groups rallied against the governor’s amendments, which they said would have had a disproportionate impact on Black people. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, Black people are nearly four times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession, even though both use the drug at about the same rate.
“This re-criminalization of possession is really just a re-targeting of law enforcement back on Black and brown people in Virginia,” says Chelsea Higgs Wise, executive director of Marijuana Justice. “You’re separating families, you’re putting people in a cage, and you’re now putting up barriers to housing and education.”
Last month, the CannaJustice Coalition—including Marijuana Justice, Rise for Youth, Justice Forward Virginia, and the Virginia Student Power Network—delivered a petition signed by more than 1,300 supporters to the General Assembly, urging it to not create any new marijuana crimes, among other demands. Instead, the coalition says legislators should focus on resentencing the hundreds of people incarcerated for using a now-legal substance.
“We are also disappointed that legislators and even some advocates are publicly discussing which new crimes would be more acceptable than other new possession crimes, when the demand should be no new crimes,” adds Higgs Wise. “If we can’t agree on that, then we definitely can’t agree on who should be making the millions and billions of profit.”
The proposed penalties would have taken the state’s criminal justice reform efforts a step backwards. Last year, Virginia automatically sealed all records of misdemeanor possession with intent to distribute marijuana, including arrests, charges, and convictions. And in 2020, all records of misdemeanor simple possession were sealed.
The death of Youngkin’s amendments comes after the Republican-controlled House killed a bill earlier this year that would have allowed licensed medical dispensaries and 10 industrial hemp processors to begin selling recreational weed in September, but prohibited other retailers from selling the drug until 2024. Some advocacy groups protested against the proposed law, claiming it would give corporations an unfair advantage and increase enforcement in marginalized communities. Legislators are expected to discuss early sales again next year.
However, marijuana advocates like Virginia NORML continue to urge legislators to crack down on unregulated marijuana products, and establish a legal market as soon as possible. Over the past year, products like Delta-8 have increasingly popped up in convenience stores, smoke shops, and other businesses across the state, causing some users to experience adverse effects.
“Unregulated products containing synthetically-derived THC will continue to be sold at retail and wholesale outside of the strict regulatory oversight currently required for legally produced cannabis products,” said JM Pedini, executive director of Virginia NORML, in a press release. “Consumers deserve to know what they’re purchasing, and far too often what’s on the label is not what’s in the package.”
Still, Pedini points to a new law improving the state’s medical cannabis program as a victory for NORML this year. Starting in July, patients who have received written certification from a medical provider will no longer have to go through the lengthy process of registering with the Board of Pharmacy—they will be allowed to shop at a medical dispensary right away. There are currently around 8,000 patients waiting to access the program.
Higgs Wise remains worried about what the next legislative session will bring, and anticipates another tough fight to keep new marijuana crimes off the books.
“I am hoping that by then there will be one or at least a few champions that step up for legalization and will carry a bill that has our true demands in it,” she says. “We do not have to rush to legalize [sales] next session…It’s not just about the criminality but also the commercialization that is going to lead towards exploitation [and] leaving out small entrepreneurs.”
Opponents of the Mountain Valley Pipeline remain optimistic that construction of the controversial project can be halted. Photo: Mountain Valley Watch
For the win
A sense of hope and victory was strong among the over 200 people who attended a virtual, national rally to stop construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
The MVP is a 42-inch, underground natural gas pipeline system that stretches 303 miles from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia. Activists and environmental advocacy groups have expressed opposition to the project since it was first proposed in 2014.
The rally, called We Believe We Will Win, included speeches from several climate activists and leaders of environmental organizations who shared their reasons for opposing the pipeline and the active roles they have played in the movement.
According to the project’s website, 94 percent of the pipeline is already complete. Activists, however, say this is a ploy, and some of the most difficult work has yet to be started.
“They want you to believe that it’s inevitable and we’re here to say it’s not,” said Joshua Vana, director of ARTivism Virginia and MC of the event.
Crystal Cavalier-Keck, co-founder of Seven Directions of Service, spoke about her role in advocating against a key air compressor station for MVP. In December, a state regulatory board denied a permit for the compressor station in a 6-1 vote as a result of efforts from Cavalier-Keck and other Black and indigenous activists.
“We keep sending out postcards, phone calls, doing stuff, because we might be small, but we are mighty,” she says. “We can accomplish anything if we do it together in unity.”
In January, a federal court stopped the MVP from crossing into the Jefferson National Forest. A week later, the same court invalidated another permit.
Speakers including Karenna Gore, the daughter of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, told stories of their own experiences joining the movement, many of which were sparked by a desire to protect future generations. The MVP has led to the destruction of sacred ancestral sites along its trail, displaced indigenous communities, and disrupted the connection between the land and the people who live there.
The speakers on the call were all certain about ultimate victory in this fight.
“People are tired of the landscape being torn up and the waterways and the property being seized,” says Gore. “They want it to seem inevitable and all-powerful, a goliath of a project…But guess who will win. We will win.”
Money woes
Sanctions are still piling up against one of the neo-Nazi co-defendants in the Sines v. Kessler lawsuit.
According to The Daily Progress, federal Judge Norman K. Moon added $18,000 to the amount due from Robert “Azzmador” Ray for attorneys’ fees and out-of-pocket expenses. Ray disappeared after coming to Charlottesville for the torch rally at the Rotunda on August 11 and the Unite the Right rally the next day. He didn’t show up for the November trial, and is considered a fugitive on a criminal warrant stemming from the torch rally and a bench warrant for contempt of court in 2020.
Robert “Azzmador” Ray is among the Unite the Right planners who continue to rack up legal fees. Photo: Youtube
The lawsuit sought to hold the Unite the Right planners, including Ray, responsible for the carnage inflicted that weekend. At trial, the jury was instructed that they could view Ray’s absence in an adverse light, and found him liable for $700,000.
According to the Progress, plaintiffs asked the court for nearly $26,000 for attorneys’ fees and expenses. Moon arrived at $18,000 by reducing the hourly rate charged by plaintiffs attorneys and the number of hours they claimed.
In brief
Bottoms up
To-go margaritas, Long Islands, and other boozy libations are here to stay—for now. Last week, Governor Glenn Youngkin signed legislation extending Virginia’s takeout cocktails policy until July 1, 2024, in an effort to support the state’s struggling bars and restaurants as they recover from pandemic losses. It remains unclear if Virginia will join the 18 other states—plus Washington, D.C.—that have permanently legalized to-go and delivery alcohol sales.
Due time
This week, the City of Charlottesville resumed utility cutoffs for past-due accounts, after pausing all service disconnections at the beginning of the pandemic. Customers who are behind on their utility bills are encouraged to call (970-3211) or email (cvilleutilities@charlottesville.gov) Utility Billing to set up a payment plan as soon as possible.
Stage exit
Crozet native Kenedi Anderson has dropped out of this season of “American Idol,” just after making it to the competition’s Top 24. In an Instagram post on Monday evening, the 18-year-old Western Albemarle High School student shared that she was unable to continue on the show “for personal reasons.” She thanked her supporters and said it was “one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make, but I know it’s necessary.” Host Ryan Seacrest made the announcement during Monday night’s show, following Anderson’s previously recorded performance of Christina Perri’s “Human.” Anderson had secured her spot in the final group of contestants last week with a duet of Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me” and a solo performance of Bruno Mars’ “Talking to the Moon.”
Bills, bills, bills
More than $2,400—that’s how much the Virginia Department of Transportation billed Lake Monticello residents Charles and Carolyn Westrater for removing a pine tree that fell on their car while they were driving on Route 53 last month, according to the Fluvanna Review. The uprooted tree trapped the elderly couple inside their 2014 Toyota Avalon until help arrived, and blocked both lanes on the road near Hillridge Drive. They are now awaiting a verdict from the state attorney general’s office, the only agency that can dismiss the exorbitant charges.
Virginia’s men’s basketball team, three years removed from a national championship, failed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament when the brackets were announced on Sunday. (To make matters worse, Virginia Tech won the ACC Tournament and qualified as an 11-seed.) It’s the first time the Cavaliers have missed the tourney since 2013, a rare down year in the gilt-edged Tony Bennett era.
The 2022 team boasted Virginia’s signature tough defense, but displayed shocking ineptitude on offense, averaging 47 points per game across two ACC Tournament appearances. “When we did get some decent quality looks, we didn’t hit them,” Bennett reflected after the team’s loss to UNC—a fitting summary of the season as a whole.
The Hoos will host Mississippi State in the first round of the 32-team undercard National Invitational Tournament on Wednesday. The Cavaliers last qualified for the NIT in 2013, and lost to Iowa in the quarterfinals. Virginia has won the NIT twice, in 1992 and 1980. “The margin of error for this team was probably a little smaller than most, and I think they did a pretty good job most of the year. But it stings right now,” Bennett said.
2022 men’s basketball numbers to know
62.6 points scored per game, 14th out of 15 teams in the ACC 5.0 3-pointers made per game, 15th out of 15 teams in the ACC 15.3 points per game for leading scorer Jayden Gardner, 12th in the ACC 3.6 assist to turnover ratio for Reece Beekman, first in the ACC
Call off the tip line, say supes
The executive director of the Virginia Association of School Superintendents penned a letter to the Youngkin administration calling for changes to the way the Virginia Department of Education has been operating since the new gov took over.
The superintendents association “disagrees with your assumption that discriminatory and divisive concepts have become widespread in Virginia school divisions,” reads the letter from Howard Kiser. The association also calls for the elimination of the tip line, an early Youngkin initiative that allowed parents to report the teaching of “divisive concepts” to the state. The Youngkin admin’s education policies “can set public education in Virginia back many years,” the letter states.
Glenn Youngkin. Supplied photo
In brief
Wheeling and dealing
Democrats in the legislature denied Andrew Wheeler, a former Trump admin EPA leader, an environmental policy post in Governor Glenn Youngkin’s cabinet earlier this year, citing Wheeler’s history as former coal lobbyist. The Youngkin administration instead decided to hire Wheeler as a “senior adviser.”
For future generations
Third Act, a group of self-identified “old and bold” activists held a rally outside Chase Bank on the Corner this week, demanding the bank pull fossil-fuel development funding. The environmentally-minded seniors, who at one point laid on the ground, spent the afternoon chanting and holding signs.
Windy city blown away
If you’ve got a hankering to see a Cubs game or gaze into the Bean, it’ll take a little longer to get there than it used to—United Airlines will no longer run nonstop service from C’ville to Chicago’s O’Hare airport, the airline announced this week. CHO still has flights to D.C., New York, Atlanta, and Charlotte.
We guess technically it’s called the Cloud Gate. File photo
COVID lows
The number of new COVID cases in the Charlottesville area is as low as it’s been in months. From March 4 to March 10, Charlottesville and Albemarle combined saw 67 new cases. The Blue Ridge Health District reports that the latest seven-day rolling average for new cases per day is 9.6, the lowest it’s been at any point in the last six months. UVA reported just six new cases between February 27 and March 6, down from the peak in late January, which saw up to 130 cases reported in a single day. Forty-four percent of city residents, and 46 percent of county residents, have received two vaccinations and the COVID booster.
Glenn Youngkin was sworn in as governor over the weekend, and right away he signed nine executive orders. Number one is entitled “Ending the Use of Inherently Divisive Concepts, Including Critical Race Theory, and Restoring Excellence in K-12 Education in the Commonwealth.” Though educators say that critical race theory, an advanced conceptual framework for discussing the interactions between race and law, is not part of the curriculum in K-12 classrooms anywhere in Virginia, Youngkin used the term as a bogeyman throughout his campaign.
“Political indoctrination has no place in our classrooms,” reads the executive order in which a politician attempts to dictate what can and cannot be taught in Virginia’s classrooms.
Youngkin’s second executive order states that “parents should have the ability to decide whether their child should wear masks for the duration of the school day.” Already, the order has drawn pushback from school districts around the state, including here in Charlottesville. On Monday morning, both Charlottesville and Albemarle public schools released statements confirming that the districts will keep mask mandates in place. “We are following Virginia Senate Bill 1303, which requires schools to follow the mitigation recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ‘to the maximum extent practicable,’” reads the Charlottesville City Schools bulletin.
Below is a brief summary of the Youngkin administration’s nine first-day executive orders. Opponents of the Republican have questioned whether all of these edicts will stand up to greater legal scrutiny in the coming weeks.
EO 1: Directs the state superintendent of public instruction to remove “inherently divisive concepts” from school curriculums.
EO 2: Allows parents to determine whether their children wear masks in school.
EO 3: Adds five new members to the Parole Board, which had become more lenient during the Northam administration, and orders a review of the board by the attorney general.
EO 4: Orders an attorney general investigation into sexual assault at Loudoun County Public Schools.
EO 5: Creates a chief transportation officer to review the performance of the DMV and the Virginia Employment Commission.
EO 6: Orders a review of state-mandated COVID safety practices for businesses.
EO 7: Creates a commission to fight human trafficking, through increased enforcement and penalties for perpetrators.
EO 8: Creates a commission of governor appointees “to study antisemitism in the Commonwealth, propose actions to combat antisemitism and reduce the number of antisemitic incidents.”
EO 9: Ends Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, an 11-state cooperative program aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
In brief
Provost off to Penn
UVA Provost Liz Magill is leaving for a job as the next president of the University of Pennsylvania. Magill has headed UVA’s academics since 2019, after serving as the dean of Stanford Law and a UVA School of Law professor. She starts her new job on June 1, replacing outgoing Penn President Amy Gutmann, who headed the Ivy League university for 17 years. Ian Baucom, currently the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, will be UVA’s next provost.
Fool me once
The winter storm earlier this month left thousands of area residents without power for as many as five or six days. Naturally, news of a second snowfall found central Virginians checking the batteries in their flashlights and in some cases preemptively booking hotel rooms. Though some snow fell, real disaster never struck—on Monday morning, less than 24 hours after the snow began to come down, PowerOutage.US reported just 12 Dominion Energy customers without power in Charlottesville and Albemarle combined.
Kessler won’t go away
Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler has filed a motion challenging the decision in Sines v. Kessler, a month-long trial that late last year determined he owed $500,000 in punitive damages for his role in setting up the deadly 2017 rally. James Kolenich, attorney for Kessler, argued that the damages were “unconstitutionally excessive,” reports The Daily Progress.
Photo: Eze Amos
Former mayor is anti-snow day
When Charlottesville City Schools announced a snow day on Tuesday, former mayor Mike Signer took to Twitter to call for remote instruction during inclement weather. “Gov’ts largest agency is dark. While other systems have more progressive snow day policies,” the current WillowTree exec wrote. Our 2 cents? Get out there and make a snowman, Mike. Live a little.
The Republican ticket of Glenn Youngkin, Winsome Sears, and Jason Miyares prevailed in Tuesday’s election. Supplied photo.
By Kristin O’Donoghue
“When I was a young man…I’d get so wrapped up in elections,” says state Senator Creigh Deeds, who represents Charlottesville and some surrounding rural areas. “But an election is not an event, it’s part of a process. The work continues after the election.”
Still, it was a consequential election: For the last two years, Democrats controlled all three branches of state government. Then, on Tuesday, Glenn Youngkin beat Terry McAuliffe by 2 percent, ending a losing streak for Republicans, who haven’t won a statewide Virginia election since 2009. The GOP also flipped the House from a 55-45 Democratic majority to a 52-48 Republican advantage. Democrats hold a slim 21-19 majority in the state Senate.
The change in party control of the legislature could have huge consequences for the state’s future.
Despite the losses, Deeds remains hopeful that there’s legislation the Democrats can get passed with a Republican House of Delegates and a Democratic Senate. Deeds has spent 29 years in the state legislature, and he’s been in the minority for 16 of those years. “Democrats won’t put the breaks on anything, they’ll just temper policy goals with a little realism,” he says.
Delegate Sally Hudson, meanwhile, is concerned that some of the progress of the last two years will slow or halt. For example, meaningful change Democrats had made on criminal justice reform risks being undone by Republicans.
“Virginia still has draconian laws that Democrats were trying to unwind,” Hudson says. “I worry that work will start slowing down.”
Some new initiatives, too, are suddenly in jeopardy. “Marijuana legalization is still a work in progress and there’s a lot to be determined,” Hudson says. “Democrats and Republicans have a very different vision for that.”
On the bright side, “we still have a lot of energetic members of the House—there’s been a sea change in the past few years and we now have a diverse and vibrant body of members in the House,” Hudson says.
Rob Bell, a Republican delegate representing parts of Albemarle County, declined to comment.
Shenandoah Republican Delegate Todd Gilbert is set to move from House Minority Leader to Speaker. In a recent statement, he claimed that for the past two years, “the Constitution and the rules and our procedures have been run over.” Republicans are going to try to “run a more open process,” and fix some of the institutional damage they claim was caused by the Dems.
Gilbert said in a news conference that Republicans’ top priority will be education and that they’ll also work on “tweaking, not scrapping” the recently implemented marijuana legalization bill.
Many of the promises Youngkin made on the campaign trail, such as slashing the transportation budget, privatizing public education, and limiting women’s access to safe and legal abortions, will likely be “hugely unpopular” in Virginia, says state Senator Ghazala Hashmi, a Democrat representing District 10, which contains parts of central Virginia from Powhatan to the outskirts of Richmond.
“We know that Virginians have no desire to replicate the failures of other GOP-led states such as Texas and Florida,” she says.
Looking around the country, Youngkin’s win could change the way Republican candidates approach their 2022 races. In particular, other GOP candidates might borrow from Youngkin’s education playbook, according to J. Miles Coleman of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
In the final stretch of the campaign, Youngkin promised more parental involvement in the educational process and emphasized his opposition to critical race theory, a high-level framework for understanding race, which is not taught in any primary schools in Virginia.
“By the end of the 2021 campaign, Youngkin was very clearly the ‘education’ candidate. Perhaps the bigger lesson there is that candidates would be smart to pick one or two signature issues like that and stick with them,” Coleman says.
Virginia’s 11 U.S. Congressional representatives are up for reelection in 2022. Democrats currently hold seven of those seats, but at least two will be very competitive elections. Democrats need to “communicate their successes better,” Hashmi believes, pointing to the recent federal infrastructure bill as an example of the kind of thing worth emphasizing.
UVA politics professor Jennifer Lawless agrees, saying that “Democrats need to focus on what they have delivered to everyday Americans.”
“No politics is local,” Lawless says. “In recent decades, national issues have dominated local political agendas. National figures endorse and stump for local candidates. And money for state-level candidates floods in from national donors. Despite talking points to the contrary, that’s exactly what we saw this time around.”
Hudson says delegates have to push back on this trend. “Candidates who prevailed did the best job connecting with their community, and addressed issues at the top of their constituents’ minds,” she says. “There is something very small-d democratic about running for delegate.”
Democrats won’t change their policy priorities given the new landscape, say Hashmi and Deeds. The party will continue to prioritize public schools, higher education, infrastructure, the environment, support for small business, and access to health care.
“We’ll get through this,” Deeds says. “We just have to work harder.”
Kind of blue
Charlottesville City went 82.9 percent for McAuliffe and 16 percent for Youngkin, and McAuliffe took Albemarle County 61.9 to 37.4. Those might sound like Democratic blowouts, but it’s a lower margin of victory than other Democrats have enjoyed here in recent elections. In total, McAuliffe won the combined Charlottesville-Albemarle area by 36 percent. In 2020, Joe Biden won the area by 46 percent, and in 2017, Ralph Northam won here by 40 percent. Cutting down Democratic margins of victory in super-blue areas was one key to Youngkin’s victory.
Additionally, turnout fell from the 2020 presidential election, as always happens in off-year elections. Biden got 17,500 more votes in Charlottesville and Albemarle in 2020 than McAuliffe did last week.
Local winners and losers
Republicans Chris Runion, Rob Bell, and Matt Farris, and Democrat Sally Hudson, the four House of Delegates members who represent Charlottesville and Albemarle, each easily won re-election for another two-year term.
Locally, former school board member Juandiego Wade and UVA planner Brian Pinkston cruised to victory in the City Council race, earning 42.5 percent and 36.9 percent of the vote, respectively. Independent candidate Yas Washington finished third with 12.5 percent. Current Mayor Nikuyah Walker, who dropped out of the race in September, after her name had already been printed on the ballots, earned 7 percent of the vote. The vote split between council candidates was remarkably even across the city’s voting precincts; no candidate had particular strengths or weaknesses in any part of town.
Lisa Larson-Torres won re-election to the Charlottesville school board, where she’ll be joined by newcomers Emily Dooley, a former teacher, principal, and realtor, and Dom Morse, a teacher at Community Lab School. In Albemarle County, incumbent Graham Paige dispatched a write-in challenge from conservative Randy Zackrisson. —Ben Hitchcock
During a campaign stop at Guadalajara in Charlottesville, a group from The Lincoln Project posed as white supremacists outside Glenn Youngkin’s bus. Photo: Jonathan Ernst
Governor’s race torch stunt fans flames locally
Five young people wearing identical white shirts, glasses, and baseball caps, holding tiki torches, standing in a straight line in front of Glenn Youngkin’s tour bus, praising the Republican gubernatorial candidate: It all seemed a little too neat. And indeed, it was—shortly after images of the demonstration began circulating on social media, it came to light that the torch-wielders weren’t neo-Nazi Youngkin fans who attended the rally to support the candidate. Instead, they were deployed by The Lincoln Project, a political action committee comprised of former Republicans aimed at defeating Trump and his allies. (Posing as a neo-Nazi—do you think that was listed in the internship description?)
A statement from the project said the ham-fisted stunt was an attempt to “remind Virginians of what happened in Charlottesville four years ago, the Republican Party’s embrace of those values, and Glenn Youngkin’s failure to condemn it.”
The Youngkin campaign accused Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe of organizing the event, prompting McAuliffe’s campaign manager to denounce the demonstration and call for an “immediate apology” from whomever was behind it.
During Monday’s City Council meeting, Tyler Magill, who was injured during the August 11 torch-lit rally on the UVA Lawn, spoke out against the “nasty prank,” and asked council to demand The Lincoln Project donate money to equity groups helping Unite the Right victims.
“We’re tired of the pain of our community being used as a prop [and] our community being used for everything but the uplift of our community,” he said. “There’s still a lot of pain in this town, and it needs to be addressed.”
Councilors Lloyd Snook and Heather Hill agreed the city should issue a response denouncing the stunt.
“People who are not from Charlottesville don’t realize the extent to which I think Charlottesville is still struggling with PTSD from that experience four years ago,” said Snook. “Even the TV ads that we’re seeing are triggering for a lot of people in Charlottesville.”
Mayor Nikuyah Walker did not comment on The Lincoln Project, but acknowledged the “people in this community who have had pain and suffering and trauma long before 2017.”
“That is the main problem that we need to focus on in this community,” added Walker.
At press time, we were sitting around biting our nails, awaiting the results of the governor’s race. Check back for in-depth coverage of the election online and in next week’s paper.
Chip Boyles gets new gig
After resigning as Charlottesville City Manager on October 12, Chip Boyles has landed a new job as executive director of the George Washington Regional Commission in Fredericksburg. Cathy Binder, chair of the search committee, expressed the commission’s excitement about its new man on the job, saying that committee members “were impressed by his knowledge, demeanor, and professional reputation, and believe that he will be an excellent leader of the GWRC staff.” Boyles says he looks forward to “addressing the needs of the region” alongside the GWRC staff and partner agencies. This latest post adds to Boyles’ lengthy list of experiences working in city government. We’ll see if he lasts longer than eight months.
In brief
Bounty hunter plot goes wrong
A Culpeper woman was arrested on federal criminal charges last Wednesday for attempting to hire a hitman over the internet. The 25-year-old placed an “order” on the dark web requesting muder-for-hire services, including photos of and personal information about the intended target. She deposited $3,200 in Bitcoin to get the job done, and offered information about the best time and place to kill the victim. U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh said the incident should serve as a reminder “to remain vigilant in the policing of those dark corners of the web where cybercrime thrives.” The accused party faces up to 20 years in prison.
Jefferson plays defense
National Review Editor Rich Lowry and Texas Congressman Chip Roy visited UVA last week to give a lecture “In Defense of Mr. Jefferson,” hosted by the Young Americans for Freedom student group. Roy recently voted against creating a commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection, and was fined for refusing to wear a mask in the Capitol (alongside Marjorie Taylor Greene). Is it unfair to judge Jefferson by the company he keeps?
This plaque sat outside Number Nothing Court Square until early 2020. Photo: City of Charlottesville
Former slave auction site sold
Number Nothing Court Square, the historic building adjacent to the site of a slave auction block where people were bought and sold, changed hands last week. The new buyers are a mysterious entity called Excellent Horse LLC, reports Charlottesville Tomorrow. The property was purchased for $1,287,500, just below the initial asking price of $1.35 million. In the past, some community members have suggested turning the space into a museum of local history, but for now its future remains to be seen.
