Come to the full Committee Meeting on Monday, Oct. 27, 6:30 pm at Fry’s Spring Beach Club. There will be Election Day and new legislation updates, news about the Charlottesville High School Democratic Club, and apple cider donuts!
Food For Thought: Why We Need Jay Jones (and not Jason Miyares) for Attorney General
We cannot have another four years of Jason Miyares.
Yes, the Republicans are trying to make this Attorney General election about a repulsive joke in a private text exchange a few years ago. That’s because they can’t come up with a single thing that Jason Miyares has done for the people of Virginia. He has been a disastrous AG. Here are some of the reasons.
*The “election-fraud” fraud.* Jason Miyares destroyed the life of an election official by bringing false and fabricated charges of election fraud for the 2020 election. The charges were eventually dropped, but the terrible damage was done. This was all to curry favor with Donald Trump. It was as grotesque an example of abuse of office by a state Attorney General as one can imagine.
This was all part of Miyares’ “Election Integrity Unit,” a huge investment of 20 attorneys that was supposed to root out election fraud. That one election official was the only person the EIU prosecuted. A vast waste of money and resources, just to help Trump enjoy his fantasy that he really won the 2000 election.
*Enraged by Black progress.* The Thomas Jefferson School in Alexandria is an elite public high school with competitive admissions. A few years back, the school switched from one merit-based race-blind admissions system to a new merit-based race-blind admissions system. The fraction of Black students went up — and that filled Jason Miyares with rage. As Attorney General, he sued the school district on a baseless charge of race discrimination, and lost after a long and costly battle, wasting vast resources of the school system in the process.
*Neglect of veterans.* Jason Miyares refused to join the lawsuit by several state Attorneys General to fight against Trump’s disastrous — and illegal — cuts to the Veterans Administration. Because of Trump and Elon Musk’s cuts, VA facilities across the country have shortages of doctors, nurses, and administrative staff. Vets often can’t even get anyone on the phone to help. Jay Jones will join the state AG’s lawsuit to restore this needed VA funding. It is the very least that veterans deserve — even though Jason Miyares could not be bothered. To his credit, he has sued the administration over denial of certain education benefits to veterans, but that affects a much smaller number than the VA catastrophe.
*Birthright citizenship.* Miyares has refused to join the lawsuit by 22 state Attorney’s General objecting to Trump’s disastrous and unconstitutional attempt to overturn birthright citizenship (which is guaranteed by the 13th Amendment). If birthright citizenship is ripped up, thousands of Virginians could lose their citizenship, people who have lived here since birth, people who have families and jobs and are core members of their communities. But Jason does not care.
*Law and order.* Jason is actually not very interested in fighting crime. He didn’t object when Trump pardoned hundreds of criminals convicted of attacking police officers violently on January 6, including this lovely guy and more than 100 others:
“A Houston man and Jan. 6 defendant has been arrested for a child sex crime — two weeks after he was pardoned by Trump and released from a six-year prison stint for assaulting police with bear spray and a metal whip.”
He did not object when Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the creator of Silk Road, the largest illegal drug market on the internet, who had been sentenced to life in prison for his crimes:
Jason did not object when Trump fired the career prosecutor who was the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, one of the most important prosecutorial positions in the country, and substituted an insurance lawyer with NO prosecutorial experience, because she was willing to focus on indicting Trump’s political enemies instead of real crime. Jason also supports Youngkin’s executive order whose purpose is to force local law enforcement to double as immigration enforcement and cooperate with ICE, even though it is well documented that that makes it HARDER to fight crime.
“…police chiefs warn that if their agencies are required to enforce federal immigration laws, it will hurt their ability to investigate and solve serious crimes in their communities. If people are afraid to have contact with the local police, they will not report crime, serve as witnesses, or tell police what is going on in their neighborhoods. Without information from the community, investigating crime becomes difficult and crime levels rise.”
Finally, Jason cancelled the prosecution of the US Park Police officers who shot Virginian Bijan Ghaisar four times in the head as he tried to leave the scene of a traffic stop. He was unarmed and non-violent, and the family eventually won a $5 million settlement, but Jason thinks it’s good police work to shoot someone in the head for trying to drive away from a police stop.
*By contrast, JAY JONES HAS AN EXCELLENT RECORD.* Jay was the Assistant DA in Washington, DC. for a couple of years and did a great job. He consistently worked to help solve problems of ordinary Americans.
*Fighting rising grocery prices.* Jay was part of the legal team that sued to prevent the merger of Albertson’s and Kroger, which would have eliminated retail competition in numerous markets and hiked up grocery prices.
*Ghost guns — actually fighting crime.* Jay was part of the team that successfully sued a company that was selling “ghost gun” kits in Washington. Ghost guns are useful to carjackers and gangbangers because they have no license numbers and they are untraceable. Due to the lawsuit, the company was permanently banned from selling them in DC and had to pay a huge fine. Jason Miyares has NEVER had a victory against criminals like this. He’s too busy suing high schools and election workers.
*Jay’s values are our values.* While serving in the House of Delegates, Jay voted for the Medicaid expansion, which has been a true lifeline for rural and working families across Virginia. Jason Miyares voted against it. Jay has consistently stood for the right of women to choose, while Jason Miyares is consistently in favor of forced-birth policies. From Jay’s recent speech in Charlottesville:
“It all starts with accountability. Holding massive corporations accountable for artificially inflating grocery prices. Holding housing markets accountable for hiking up rent, and discriminating against residents. Holding the Trump administration accountable for gutting the exact agencies that are designed to protect consumers,” Jones said.
We really need Jay as Virginia’s Attorney General.
Missed the School Board Candidate Forum? Watch it here!
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UPDATED DETAILS — Cville School Board Forum on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 6-7 pm at Jefferson School
Cville Dems and the Jefferson School will be holding the Cville School Board Forum on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 6-7 pm. The meeting will be at the Jefferson School, at 233 4th St NW, Charlottesville, VA 22903.
The evening will include prepared questions followed by a Q&A session with the four candidates for the School Board: Zyahna Bryant, Dashad Cooper, Emily Dooley, and Lisa Larson-Torres (in alphabetical order).
Those who wish to watch online may do so at: https://www.youtube.com/live/tpqH9P8Mq60 Online access is provided by Charlottesville United for Public Education and In My Humble Opinion. Please note, while the online option is there for viewing, folks that participate online won’t be able to ask questions during the Q&A session. We hope you’ll attend and learn more about the four candidates.
Call to Action, Week of Sept. 29
| Tomorrow, Sept. 30: Get out and knock on doors in this glorious time of year. Abigail Spanberger can use your help to become governor. Times for the North Charlottesville canvassing are 4-6pm and 6-8pm. Sign up to get the details:
Our candidates statewide depend on you! To canvass and do other work for the coordinated campaign to elect Abigail and a Democratic team, come to Ix Park this and every Thursday till the election, 5-7 pm near Brazos Tacos. Vote early! Office of Voter Registration and Elections, City Hall Annex, 120 7th St. NE, Room 142, near the Pavilion end of the Downtown Mall. Click here for more: https://charlottesville.org/ This Saturday night, Oct. 4, 7pm – Reggie Harris and John Flynn will perform their inspirational music about resistance to treachery. The SongMaker Series and Unity of Charlottesville present the musicians at Unity of Charlottesville, 2825 Hydraulic Rd, Charlottesville, VA 22901; tickets are $15; to purchase, visit: https://tithe.ly/event- |
| Contact Your Representatives
U.S. CONGRESS Sen. Mark Warner (202) 224-2023 Sen. Tim Kaine (202) 224-4024 Rep. John McGuire (202) 225-4711 STATE SENATE Sen. Creigh Deeds Specify the committee and bill number(s) in your message. HOUSE OF DELEGATES Del. Katrina Callsen Specify the committee and bill number(s) in your message. CHARLOTTESVILLE CITY City Council School Board |
“Thursdays at Ix Park” Every Week, 5-7pm
The time is now!! As State Sen. Creigh Deeds pointed out at the Cville Dems Summer Bash, Dems are running unopposed – on purpose by the GOP – in certain races, which gears up people to become a bit apathetic and to stay home. We need to inspire every voter to get to the polls!
Every Thursday from now until the election, we’ll meet at Ix Park from 5 to 7 pm, on the grass outside Brazos Tacos. Please bring a chair or blanket and, if needed, something to write on. If you would like a drink or a snack as you write, you can sit under the umbrellas at Brazos Tacos. If the weather is bad, we will meet inside Brazos Tacos.
This year you’ll only need to sign in once, not each time you come to Ix. The Cville Dems are working with the Coordinated Campaign (Abigail Spanberger for governor and other statewide races),canvassing, calling, and writing postcards.
In particular, we are helping Lily Franklin in the Blacksburg (VA-41) House of Delegates District with cards, calls, and texts. She lost by only 183 votes last time.
