Over the weekend, as Republican Glenn Youngkin was sworn in as Virginia’s new governor and began to take immediate actions, reports emerged that other new Republican elected officials were also cleaning house. Newly elected Attorney General Jason Miyares relieved around 30 staffers in the AG’s office of their duties, over the howling protests of Democrats in Virginia. Miyares has also taken immediate steps to reverse democratic policies on prosecutions for certain crimes, investigate high profile public corruption, and reverse radical climate policy. Reactions were mixed, based on the political perspective of the commenters.
So, what really happened?
Miyares, like Youngkin, wasted no time enacting his agenda for the Attorney General’s office. After the January 15 swearing-in ceremony, Miyares informed 30 staffers that their employment had terminated (as reported by Fox News):
Miyares notified about 30 staff members that they will no longer be employed by the office of the attorney general. Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas tweeted that Miyares fired the “entire” civil rights division, which Miyares’s office tells Fox News is not accurate.”This is incorrect information,” Miyares spokeswoman Victoria LaCivita said. “There are 12 individuals who work in the Office of Civil Rights – only two personnel changes were made.”“During the campaign, it was made clear that now Attorney General-elect Miyares and Attorney General Herring have very different visions for the office,” LaCivita told Richmond.com. “We are restructuring the office, as every incoming AG has done in the past.”
In addition, Miyares announced two high profile investigations into public corruption:
One of the reasons Virginians get so fed up with government is the lack of transparency – and that’s a big issue here. The Virginia Parole Board broke the law when they let out murders, rapists, and cop killers early on their sentences without notifying the victims. Loudoun Country Public Schools covered up a sexual assault on school grounds for political gain, leading to an additional assault of a young girl.
Virginians have dealt with the horrific aftermath of these scandals, without understanding how or why they were able to happen.
Virginians deserve answers – they want transparency and accountability.
As a candidate, I promised to investigate these scandals and be as open and transparent as possible – because Virginians deserve nothing less.
As Attorney General, I am proud to say that the process has begun. Investigations by my office into the Parole Board and Loudoun County Public Schools are open.
After his surprise election triumph, Miyares spoke on election night about his priorities when he took office:
Republican Attorney General-elect Jason Miyares—whose transition team includes Loudoun Sheriff Mike Chapman—said wants his office to play a greater role in the prosecution of local criminal cases and that he plans an investigation of sexual assault cases in Loudoun County Public Schools.During his post-election press conference Thursday, Miyares told reporters he’d be introducing a bill to the General Assembly that would also allow the Attorney General’s Office to intervene in cases when local officials think a local prosecutor isn’t handling the case well.Currently, county or city prosecutors may request the AG’s Office to handle a local case, but Miyares wants to allow police chiefs and sheriffs also to be able to ask for the state to step in to carry some cases if local prosecutors won’t.“I’m thinking specifically of some of the so-called social justice commonwealth’s attorneys that have been elected particularly in Northern Virginia,”Miyares said. “We are obviously aware of some pretty horrific cases where they failed to do their job.”
As if the woke mob’s heads couldn’t spin off fast enough, Miyares also withdrew the state from a coalition suing to give the EPA the power to regulate emissions from power plants:
Virginia has dropped out of a coalition of states urging the Supreme Court to find that EPA has broad authority to regulate power plant emissions.Attorney General Jason Miyares (R), who took office over the weekend after Republicans swept the state in November, tweeted last night that he was “proud to announce Virginia is no longer participating in West Virginia v EPA.”The tweet signaled Miyares’ rejection of his predecessor’s challenge to a lawsuit launched by coal companies and Republican-led states asking the high court to curb EPA’s authority. The Supreme Court last fall made the extraordinary move to take up the case, which focuses on a regulation that does not currently exist.Arguments in the case are scheduled for Feb. 28.West Virginia v. EPA, Miyares said in his tweet, “could devastate the coal industry and the thousands of jobs it supports in Southwest Virginia. Virginia is no longer anti-coal.”
To recap: Miyares has announced investigations into politically motivated coverups of sexual assault in the Loudoun County School District, and into politically motivated and illegal prisoner releases by the state parole board; fired 30 employees hired by his predecessors in the office he now runs; begun the process to initiate prosecutions that Soros district attorneys have failed to bring due to political motivations; and withdrawn from a case brought by several state Attorneys General hoping to get the Supreme Court to appoint the EPA to regulate power plant emissions.
Not bad for his first week.
Jeff Reynolds is the author of the book, “Behind the Curtain: Inside the Network of Progressive Billionaires and Their Campaign to Undermine Democracy,” available at www.WhoOwnsTheDems.com. Jeff hosts a podcast at anchor.fm/BehindTheCurtain. You can follow him on Twitter @ChargerJeff, on Parler at @RealJeffReynolds, and on Gab at @RealJeffReynolds.
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