IN THE NEWS:

After our episode on retirements, we learned of two more members who say they won’t be coming back, former Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn and Senator Lynwood Lewis. That makes thirteen House members who say they will not run for reelection, and another thirteen say they won’t run for reelection in the House because they're running for the Senate.

The State Corporation Commission has outsized influence over how electric utilities are regulated, and the three-member commission currently has only one member. That's because Democrats and Republicans can NOT agree on appointments. But does this inability of the SCC to regulate certain industries mean better outcomes in the face of climate changes?

Whole milk was prohibited from school cafeterias a decade ago as part of the Department of Agriculture's School Lunch Program as part of the Obama administration Let's Move initiative. Now people are starting to second guess that idea, including Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat from Northern Virginia’s 7th District. But does this really matter?

At the Watercooler:

- Republican Delegate Matt Fariss of Campbell County is facing two felony charges
- Both Democrats and Republicans are both having a hard time getting people to run for the Loudoun County School Board as it comes under heavy national right-wing scrutiny.

Trivia: What was the name of the Nazi leader who ran for governor in 1965?

Episode Transcript

Michael Pope

I'm Michael Pope.

Thomas Bowman

I'm Tom Bowman.

Michael Pope

And this is Pod Virginia. A podcast that's feeling Irish.

Thomas Bowman

That's right. I'm on my fourth beer of the night, Michael. Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Michael Pope

There's no other way to do St. Patrick's Day. Happy St. Patrick's Day. I hope we're all feeling Irish. Let's get to the news. More retirements after our episode on all the retirements in the General Assembly, we learned of two more members that will not be coming back. Senator Linwood Lewis and former Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn.

Thomas Bowman

Filler-Corn faced a tough primary challenge from Kathy Tran. And also, Linwood Lewis was facing a bill to staff.

Michael Pope

Yeah, so those primary fights they're not going to be happening. They would have been really fun to watch, but they're not going to happen. So by my math, we now have 13 House members who say they're dropping out, they're just retiring, and they're not going to run again. And then, plus another 13 House members who are not going to be running for reelection in the House because they're running for the Senate.

Thomas Bowman

Michael, according to VPAP, about a third of the General Assembly is turning over this year. That's a really huge number of Delegates and Senators that are not coming back.

Michael Pope

And more are expected. And then keep in mind others won't make it out of the primaries because they've been put into districts with other incumbents. Former Republican Delegate David Ramadan, now at the Schar School at George Mason University, says the newly created redistricting maps have really reshuffled the deck,

David Ramadan

The more senior members have gotten used to not having contested campaigns, have gotten used to not being challenged within their parties, have gotten used to having safe districts in the general elections, saying You know what, I'm done.

Thomas Bowman

Well, you know what? It's not just the senior members, right? I love this because you talked to Democratic strategist Ben Tribbett. And he pointed out that younger members who are recently elected are also calling it quits.

Ben Tribbett

You know, like someone who's been there a long time might say, like, I'm not interested in going and knocking on 10,000 doors, this cycle, I'd rather go retire and travel the world with my spouse. So I understand that. But these younger incumbents quit because they're drawn into tough areas. Politics shouldn't be about picking a district and running for it because you think you're going to be favored to win.

Thomas Bowman

You know, Michael, the ideological side of me absolutely agrees with Ben Tribbett's analysis there, like, yes, that is the sentiment. However, the political consultant in me also recognizes that it's really bad for an elected incumbent's political career to lose an election. So it is kind of standard to like a retreat, so you can fight another day. Because what you don't want is to take a big L.

Michael Pope

Actually, George Washington was famous for what was known at the time as the war of posts, which is that he would; lose and retreat, lose and retreat, lose and retreat. Famously, he almost won no battles during the Revolutionary War, but he won the war because he wore down the opposition. What you just said is actually really key. If you think about Eileen Filler-Corn, so she was locked in this race with Kathy Tran and

Thomas Bowman

Not an easy race, by the way.

Michael Pope

Kathy Tran was probably going to swamp Filler-Corn. I mean, like, that's what the map seemed to indicate. And so, if you think about her position, she's a former Speaker of the House. She was Speaker for only two years, and yet she was there for a very historical period of time. So from Filler-Corn's perspective, she's thinking about running for Governor. And you, she's dropping a lot of strong hands that she wants to run for Governor. She would be in a really horrible position if she lost a primary to Kathy Tran. And then she's a former Speaker but also a former Delegate because she lost to Kathy Tran. From her perspective, it would have been really bad to lose that primary and would have totally undermined her campaign for Governor.

Thomas Bowman

Michael, do you want me to light everyone's hair on fire right now?

Michael Pope

Let's do it.

Thomas Bowman

She hasn't actually decided to run for Governor; she's decided to have an exploratory committee that gives people kind of echoes of last cycle when she said she was doing something similar to run for LG, but that never did. Right? She would have been a great LG candidate.

Michael Pope

I forgot about that. Yeah, she was making noise about running for LG, and I guess she decided not to pull the trigger.

Thomas Bowman

She got a lot of people hyped up; she had a lot of people ready to open up their checkbooks and then just never did it. In part because we were all waiting to see what Terry would do up until the last minute, even though we all knew what he was going to do. But I want to point something out. And I realized this is fighting words for the Democrats and the, you know, in the audience listening right now.

Michael Pope

Here we go.

Thomas Bowman

Yeah, let's go. She just got rejected by a little bit over half her entire Democratic caucus. So that's potentially 51% of her caucus mates who would not be interested in leader Filler-Corn running for Governor because they just voted her out. If they had that much confidence in her, they would not have done that. Another thing, I can see her potentially struggling with labor, right? So like, she's on her way out. And so there's a tendency when people are on their way out to say really nice things about them. I don't have anything not nice to say about Eileen. But I want to point out that, like labor, which is the lifeblood of the Democratic Party, she told them that we couldn't repeal the right to work or put that on the floor. Because we would lose the House, we being Democrats, Democrats would lose the House in 2021. Well, guess what? You did, and you didn't even push right to work repeal. So I mean, Michael, you got the lobbyists with their money working against her. And it's not so much about calling and chits anymore because she already did that as Speaker. You got half of her caucus against her. She got drawn out of her own district because she passed a Republican version of redistricting that got her to lose her seat, and there are so many people listening to this podcast who absolutely love her. And she deserves all of that love, does not get like this is not personal. About Eileen, this is just an assessment of her plausibility as a statewide candidate. And at this point in time, I don't see it, Michael.

Michael Pope

Important to point out that aside from Filler-Corn, other Democrats people are talking about include Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, who might run for Governor, and former Congresswoman Elaine Luria, who might be a candidate for Governor.

Thomas Bowman

At least she knows national security, by the way, so yeah, good choice.

Michael Pope

And then, you know, then the person that a lot of people are talking about is Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, potentially running for Governor. So, you know, filler corn, as a former Speaker, certainly has a legacy that she can talk about. And she will be doing that as a former elected official. But before you know, she can run in general; she's got to figure out a way to outflank Levar Stoney, Abigail Spanberger, and Elaine Luria.

Thomas Bowman

And this brings us to the official talking point for when people ask you who you support for Governor. The official talking point is it's way too early to pick sides; we really don't know how things are going to shape up right where we are in 2023. We're talking about a race that's going to happen in 2025. We have no idea what people's political fortunes are going to sound like. And I will have eaten literally half the words that I spit out. Like, by the time that happens.

Michael Pope

As a journalist, Thomas, I have a theory about when people say it's way too early. And my theory is this. When people say, it's way too early to start talking about X, what they really mean is we're doing that quietly behind closed doors right now. And we're not going to be public about it.

Thomas Bowman

Oh, well, sure. But I was just talking about it as a general voter like it's way too early to pick sides.

Michael Pope

Well, let's move on to our next story.

Power Play, the State Corporation Commission is not exactly a household name, but it has outsized influence over how electric utilities are regulated. And the three-member commission currently has only one member, three-member commission, and one actual member. That's because Democrats and Republicans cannot agree on appointments. Harry Godfrey at Advanced Energy United says legislation to restore authority to the SCC is a really good idea. But it won't mean all that much in the short term if the commission can't even get a quorum.

Harry Godfrey

The reforms that have been passed by the General Assembly this session are really intended to operate over the long term to restore the authority of the SEC. But before we can get to that, you've got this immediate short-term need to have a fully functional SEC with a quorum of three judges on it. We just don't have that right now.

Thomas Bowman

The battle over the SEC seats is really a battle over the future of the energy policy in Virginia. So here's Stephen Haner at the TJ Institute.

Stephen Haner

I think the problem is that both sides see the judges as making decisions that have such high stakes. I mean, there really are some key decisions enforcing this Virginia Clean Economy Act, and there was a big debate before the SCC this year about the offshore wind project that could have gone a couple of different ways.

Michael Pope

It's really interesting that right now, as we speak, the Governor is considering this legislation. He's considering what kind of amendments he wants to put to this. He famously campaigned against Dominion in the campaign. There's a lot of antipathy between the youngest administration and Dominion Energy. And so you kind of wonder what kind of amendments we're gonna see from the Governor on this energy regulation thing. So that's in the future. Meanwhile, we've got this ridiculous situation where we've got a dysfunctional regulatory agency here, Thomas; there are three members, two of them are vacant, and the Democrats and the Republicans cannot agree they cannot agree over and over again, they've tried to make some sort of deal, and they've been unable to cut a deal. Because there are these two open positions, and there was a time when people were thinking, the Democrats get one, the Republicans get one, and everybody wins. But then those two positions have different lengths of time. So one person would get the shorter term, and the other person would get the longer term. So that has complicated things. And there has been no agreement. We had just had a whole session where they were unable to come to an agreement; theoretically, when they come back for the veto session, they could make an agreement, but there's no indication that they're on the path to doing that. So there's this legislation to say, to restore authority to the SEC, but what good is that going to do if we've got a dysfunctional sec that can't even get a quorum?

Thomas Bowman

Michael, I went around, and I inquired as to whether or not we thought there might be any governor's amendments to the SCC Dominion bill. And nobody really thinks that there will be, so this was overwhelmingly passed unanimously in the Senate; was it near unanimous in the House?

Michael Pope

Yeah, it's an extremely popular bill. Yeah, everybody's on board with restoring authority. I think for sure the Governor is also on board with restoring authority.

Thomas Bowman

Yeah, there's like one potential angle he could try to take. And it's interesting that Steven Haner mentioned it, which was to try to, like, toy with that VCE again. But he doesn't have the vote. The Governor was definitely involved in this final bill in those negotiations. And he's got a win right now. Why would you go and serve yourself up a loss, right? Why would you grasp defeat from the jaws of victory by back-ending an attack on the VCEA that will fail? When right now, at the very least, can you claim on the campaign trail that you put Dominion back under regulatory authority?

Michael Pope

I have not heard anyone who is telling me that the Governor is going to amend it as possible he might not amend it. If I were Governor, I would demand every bill that came before me; I'd figure something out that I did not want to change about it.

Thomas Bowman

I can't tell if you've been an amazing Governor because of that or the worst Governor.

Michael Pope

Horrible. One of the worst.

It would be, it'd be like... I was gonna make a joke, but I'm not; I'm gonna pass. Like he could amend it. I'm not saying that. I've heard that he will amend it. It's possible that he likes it in its existing form. It's also possible that he might want to exact some kind of revenge on Dominion energy. I don't know. I've given no indication that something is going to happen or not happen. It would be curious to watch, of course, the Governor's amendments on this issue and all the other ones, which is like, obviously, in the very near future here.

Thomas Bowman

You know, the SCC regulates a lot more than just Dominion.

Michael Pope

That's true; like when I spent years looking at predatory lending, that's the agency that looks after all the lending agencies in banking.

Thomas Bowman

Insurance and rail!

Michael Pope

But okay, but here's the thing, the energy policy is what people are talking about because they're focused on what we just heard from Harry Godfrey and Steven Haner. They're on opposite sides of this issue. And so this debate about the SCC judges is really a proxy fight over what you think about the Virginia Clean Economy Act.

Thomas Bowman

That might be true, Michael, but the way I think about this is a distraction. Right, like the Clean Economy Act is not going anywhere. It really isn't. And then the coalition, the multi-stakeholder coalition that's usually opposed to each other that came together to support the clean Economy Act, isn't breaking. Maybe hypothetically, one party or the other could gain a temporary advantage under the Glenn Youngkin administration, but there's always going to be another governor. So those victories are fleeting, so why do you burn bridges with long-term entities like Dominion? In my observations, don't do that. Generally, unless there's really, like, I can't think of even an exception to that rule. So look, here's the reality the fact that the SCC simply doesn't have enough judges to function is a much bigger deal, well, beyond this Dominion stuff. Really salient at the moment is Norfolk Southern, which is presently a Virginia Company and is going to be a Georgia company as of 2025. And that's locked in; it just spilled really toxic chemicals and poisoned all the water in Ohio. And the point is that not having these SCC judges has a lot of other impacts when it's; it's more than just Dominion, right? It's more than just the monthly bill that you get from your electric utility. There's a lot that is getting dropped through the cracks, especially right now, right now. Norfolk Southern is leaving Virginia, so fuck them. And they literally had an ecological disaster. That was America's Chornobyl. In Ohio, you know, what the actually like the responsible human thing to do right now in Ohio would have been was to evacuate Ohio because there are dioxins in the water, dioxins rip your DNA, they kill you, like cancer within like, five to 10 years. And so people who drink that, well water and people who drink the water, and that's been contaminated with dioxins, they're already dead. And the only thing you can do is to leave until you can rehabilitate that entire geography, but of course, it goes into the clouds, it rains on New York, it falls down into the Mississippi River basin, and it contaminates everything. So this is really, really, really bad. And other countries are reporting exactly what's happening. And it's all Norfolk Southern's fault. And there's no SCC judge, or there are not enough SCC judges to actually drop a hammer on them at the state level in Virginia.

Michael Pope

And there is no indication of when we're gonna get the other two judges; there's no indication of when we're going to get a quorum. There is a mechanism for the state corporation commission. If for emergency purposes, if they really need to do something immediately, they can actually call former SCC judges to act as like in the emergency setting,

Thomas Bowman

The SCC reserve.

Michael Pope

Yeah, right, exactly. The SCC reserve. So if they really, really needed to do something, they could do it. There are ways to do it. But the fact that we currently don't have a quorum is a problem. And it's a problem that is going to need to get fixed. And right now, there's this partisan deadlock that seems to show no signs of being solved anytime soon. I mean, I think the I think maybe one avenue towards solving this problem would be that in some sort of global horse trading deal on the budget, you know, it's like, you give me a little bit of this, and I'll give you a little bit of this, and we are gonna make it we're gonna cut a deal. Like maybe they can figure out a way to fill those two vacant positions with judges as part of some horse trading operations and involves the budget and whatever. But we have no indication that's going to happen, either.

Thomas Bowman

Michael was interesting to think about, hypothetically. What if, if those judicial positions get left open for a couple more years?

Michael Pope

What if we just don't have an SCC? Would we just operate without regulators?

Thomas Bowman

Well, think about it. Think about it from the point of view of somebody who acknowledges that climate change is the greatest existential threat that we're facing right now. And that Glenn Youngkin doesn't get that. So think about it from that point of view. Is it really all that bad to not let Governor Youngkin, who's not in step with reality? Appoint anybody for a couple of years, and then appoint the people you actually want? Two years later?

Michael Pope

So you just opened up a can of worms, which is doing the Governor have the power to appoint SCC judges, and I have heard different people say different things here, Thomas. When we talked about this on a previous podcast, I was approached by a State Senator who said you got it all wrong. The Governor plays no role here. It's just the General Assembly. And we've got this power, and they don't they, they being the Governor. Then I heard someone from the Governor's office say, well, hold up a second. Actually, it wasn't someone from the Governor's office. It was someone who supports the Governor said well, hold up a second if you read the Constitution, and it's really clear he's got the power to do this. So I think whether or not the Governor has the power to fill these positions is maybe an open question that people are debating right now.

Thomas Bowman

Okay, so I would amend what my prior statement was, Michael, just the same spirit. But, like you still have the Speaker to think about, you still have a nondemocratic chamber to consider. Michael, if I'm thinking about it from a long-term point of view, right? Obviously, it causes chaos in the short term to not have those people appointed. But in the long term, maybe you will get what you want.

Michael Pope

I guess we'll find out in the long term. Let's move on to our final news story of the day. Milking it so whole milk, whole milk was prohibited from school cafeterias a decade ago as part of the Department of Agriculture's school lunch program. The effort was part of the Obama administration's Let's Move initiative. And now people are starting to second guess that idea, including Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat from Northern Virginia's seventh congressional district.

Abigail Spanberger

Far too often, you see the tray of food, and you see that skim milk going unopened straight into the trash can. And I certainly know for my three daughters, the youngest of whom is a third grader, that she loves chocolate milk whole milk, and it's an important part of getting enough calories and nutrients into her on a regular basis.

Thomas Bowman

Straight into the trash can, Michael. That's what I actually do with skim milk and whole milk. That's why Abigail Spanberger and Ben Cline introduced the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act. Which would allow flavored and unflavored, that's chocolate and strawberry milk, in whole milk, excuse me, in public school cafeterias rolling back what Michelle Obama's titular accomplishment was. Michael Dykes at the International dairy foods Association says the bill reflects the latest in scientific research.

Michael Dykes

Researchers are speaking out more about the consumption of fat and diets not directly related to obesity. There are a lot of other factors in obesity that are also concerned with saturated fat and milk. New studies are out saying that consumption of full-fat dairy is maybe associated with a neutral or lower risk of heart disease.

Michael Pope

There are so many layers to this story. This is so fascinating. I recognize a lot of our listeners are going to be thinking to themselves Wait for a second; we're talking about milk. Why are we talking about this? Because it's fascinating. When you think about Congress, everyone gets so fixated on like George Santos, and they don't talk about stuff like this milk. But, like, this is so fascinating. The milk lobby is one of the most influential and wealthy lobbies in the country. Several years ago, our listeners may remember that there was a very successful effort to try to prevent any nonmilk products from being branded and marketed as milk, for example, almond milk, soy milk, you know, all of those things that are on the grocery store shelves.

Thomas Bowman

Would you rather have oat and almond milk? Or would you rather have oat and almond juice? Nut juice?

Michael Pope

Nut juice, if you will, right, exactly. So I mean, like, the milk lobby does not want those products to be called milk. And they have gone to great lengths to try to get lawmakers to agree with them. And they had a huge vote. They had lots of Democrats voting for this bill to prohibit companies from marketing their products as milk. So why am I even bringing this up? Well, Abigail Spann burger is now working with Ben Cline to do the bidding of the milk industry that wants their products in your public schools, right? In your local school in your local school. You can get skim milk, you can get fat-free chocolate milk, you can get fat-free strawberry milk, but you cannot get whole milk. So here's where it really becomes an issue. Chocolate milk, right? So you cannot get whole chocolate milk. You can only get fat-free chocolate milk.

Thomas Bowman

No kid gives a shit about this. This is literally made up by the dairy industry, which by the way, the Got Milk PR marketing campaign is literally one of the most successful advertising campaigns of all time. And it's studied in colleges to this day because it's one of the most successful advertising campaigns of all time. You do not need dairy milk. Humans don't need lactose; that's the thing. We evolved much, much, much later. To be able to even consume, and many Americans still can't do it. It ain't great for you. But the dairy industry literally bullshitted their way. And, of course, in the 80s and 90s, with the Got Milk campaign changed America's opinion, and everybody drank milk. Milke is good for strong bones and healthy bodies like that type of shit. It's all bullshit, Michael. And so this, like the whole milk campaign trying to undermine Michelle Obama's healthy food and school initiative, is bullshit. Kids do not really give a shit.

Michael Pope

Well, but if you talk to Abigail Spanberger, She says, Well, look at all those trays. They throw away the skim milk. I think the implication she was trying to say is if it were whole milk, they would drink it.

Thomas Bowman

They throw away the milk. That's like the bottom line. They throw away the milk. They don't; they don't really care if it's whole or skim. Look, I acknowledge and appreciate that. Abigail Spanberger and Ben Cline are trying to do a solid for Virginia dairy farmers, and it's a bipartisan effort, like good for them. But come on, like this bullshit. No kid cares about a whole milk verse. Skim milk on their chocolate or strawberry, or regular milk. And for the record, Michael, I just want to put out there. I'm a one percenter. I like 1% milk if I drink milk.

Michael Pope

I'm an almond milk drinker. I go with the substitutes. I like soy milk and almond milk. My wife's got me drinking oat milk. Oat Milk is great. I'm a fan. The only time I ever actually drink actual milk, 2% or otherwise, is when I'm in a hotel. And that's the only option.

Thomas Bowman

Yeah, whole milk is for baking. Right? Like, what are you doing?

Michael Pope

Well, let's play a round of trivia.

Last week, we asked you about candidates serving liquor to voters, not milk or liquor. Which used to be really common, a really common way to win elections. In fact, George Washington famously lost his first race in the House of Burgesses and blamed it on the fact that he did not bring enough alcohol to the polls.

Thomas Bowman

Look, the American presidential first lamb to the slaughter, George Washington, learned his lesson. And in the next election, he brought enough alcohol to get elected this time, and he got elected to the House of Burgess. And what was that name called? Michael? That was our trivia question.

Michael Pope

That was our trivia question. And we even gave you a hint. It was blank, the blank with blank.

Thomas Bowman

And this week, we have not one but multiple winners, right?

Michael Pope

Yeah. This week. Our question about littering of voters clearly struck a nerve, and we have a winner. We have two people who actually got the right answer, but the first person to get the right answer and, therefore, the winner was Henry Watkins. He had the right answer, which was swilling the planters with bumbu.

Thomas Bowman

Okay, swilling the planters with bumbo? What the hell does that mean, Michael?

Michael Pope

Okay, so bumbo is a kind of cheap grain alcohol. You may have had it in college.

Thomas Bowman

We didn't have cheap liquor in my college.

Michael Pope

Well, in the Deep South, we had some cheap grain alcohol. Okay, so planters were people who owned plantations. Okay. So, in other words, people who were allowed to vote in the 1700s and then swilling, of course, swilling,

Thomas Bowman

Swilling as eternal. So congratulations to Henry Watkins. Although he wasn't alone, right? So in getting that right answer, we also had Natalie Louise Lucas shorter. Also, get the right answer, although it was about two hours later than Henry's. So full credit where credit is due.

Michael Pope

Yeah. Congratulations, Henry Watkins and Natalie Shorter. We also got some good answers that were not quite correct. But they were fun.

Thomas Bowman

And that's what makes them right. So James LGR @ HutzlerVA said, Can we please bring this back? Which do I agree with? I'm thirsty. He later added that if we brought back this practice, we'd have more than a 60% turnout.

Michael Pope

True. Michael Shea chimed in to say booze and voting were so common back aways that there was something called election cake teeming with rum and eaten at the polls. And if you kidnap, someone got them drunk and brought them to vote. That was called cooping.

Thomas Bowman

Maybe we can make a Pod Virginia election cake at certain polls this year Michael.

Michael Pope

I like it. We could sell the recipe. Like, let's raise some money.

Thomas Bowman

And Joe Gehlbach suggested that this might be the origin of the Thursday night caucus, which I 100% agree with.

Michael Pope

That's liquoring up the staff. That's a little bit different.

Thomas Bowman

That is another way of saying swilling the planters with bumbo,

Michael Pope

swilling the staff with bumbo

Thomas Bowman

Who can afford to take a $40,000 salary, Michael?

Michael Pope

Swilling the LA's with bumbo.

Thomas Bowman

Swilling the planters with bumbo.

Michael Pope

Okay, well, let's get to our trivia question for next week. Okay, so last week, I made an appearance in Arlington at Marymount University. So I'm thinking about Arlington and the political history of Arlington. And so this is our trivia questions, Arlington related. What was the name of the Arlington-based Nazi leader who ran for Governor in 1965?

Thomas Bowman

Trigger warning, Nazis.

Michael Pope

Nazis. Yes. The Nazi Party was located in Arlington, Virginia. Yes, that's right. The People's Republic of Arlington was the headquarters of the American Nazi Party. And so, the head of the American Nazi Party ran for Governor of Virginia in 1965. What was his name?

Thomas Bowman

And, and no, not Harry Bryd?

Michael Pope

No, he opposed them, so there was a Bryd candidate for governor Mills Godwin, who won that election in 1965. So the Nazi leader actually opposes the Bryd machine candidate for Governor.

Thomas Bowman

Alright, Michael, we got to head over to the water cooler because I gotta tell you some of the coolest shit we've heard.

Michael Pope

Yes, let's do it. Okay. Well, what do you hear about around the water cooler?

Thomas Bowman

All right, Michael. Republican Delegate Matt Fariss of Campbell County.

Michael Pope

Oh, God, this is crazy.

Thomas Bowman

He's facing not one but two felony charges. So shout out to Marcus Schmidt at the Cardinal News. He's been all over the story. And Mark has reported that Delegate Fariss and Julie Miles of Lynchburg. We were in Delegate Fariss's SUV together when a tire blew out, so shit happens. But Fariss did not react well. He apparently tried to get a son to come help. That didn't happen. He grew angry. He grew abusive and not cool. So she started, like she gets out and just starts walking along US 501, according to the report, toward a cousin's home, but then here comes Ferris, again demanding she gets in the car. And she refused. And then, according to her affidavit, he hit her with his car, so it gets really bad. He's currently awaiting a court date, but he's looking at over 20 years in prison for multiple felonies.

Michael Pope

Wow, Southwest Virginia has the craziest story. Marcus Schmidt, you will recall, was on a recent episode of Pod Virginia talking about the alleged assault. This interaction happened between Marie March and Wren Williams. And so we had him on the podcast to talk about that alleged assault and all the issues there. And now we got his new reporting here about Delegate Matt Fariss and this. I don't even know what to call this altercation involving a vehicle. I mean, crazy stuff happens, and that part of Virginia.

Thomas Bowman

Alright, Michael, what about you? What do you hear about the water cooler?

Michael Pope

Well, Loudoun politics. I'm hearing the Democrats and Republicans have a really hard time getting people to run for the Loudoun County School Board. Which, by the way, if you follow Loudoun, I mean, if you're not in Loudoun County, you probably already follow the politics of Loudoun County School Board because it's on Fox News like every night, they're talking about the books that they've got, and the school board members and the vote and the administration.

Thomas Bowman

It's almost like Eric Prince lives in Loudoun County, the guy who runs Blackwater.

Michael Pope

Almost like that. Okay, so apparently, both of the parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, are having a really hard time finding people to run for the school board. And this is true for the county-wide at-large seat and the Dulles seat, and the Catoctin seats. So there are three school board seats that right now don't have candidates. And the parties are desperately calling for people to run for this sort of thing. So the Loudoun County School Board has nine members, and only three incumbents are running. So there are six open seats. So there are three candidates for those six. But right as of right now, at this recording of this podcast, there are three open seats where there are zero candidates. And the parties are really getting desperate and begging people to run for these seats. But nobody wants to run for this toxic sludge here at the center. Like if you're a member of the Loudoun County School Board, you're going to find yourself being trashed and docked on Fox News, like every night. So who wants that to happen? Plus, as a school board member, you can do nothing but make people angry like there's no way to make people happy as a school board member. And so the parties are just having a real hard time finding people. Meanwhile, Loudoun County politics have been upended by the announcement of Senator John Bell that he's not running for reelection. And so you see people swarming in to potentially run for that seat. We got last week, on the podcast, we talked about Delegate Suhas Subramanyam running for that seat. And there's also Ibraheem Samirah, who's also running for that seat. So you got Samirah versus Subramanyam for that seat in the State Senate. So yeah, Loudoun County politics has a certain kind of blown up that is blowing up right now. Certainly, something to watch as the election cycle unfolds. And so what happens if there are no seats there? I mean, I guess theoretically, the Governor could end up appointing people.

Thomas Bowman

Is that the rule?

Michael Pope

I don't know. I mean, like, I don't know that we have seen a situation where you've got an elected seat and zero people filed to run. I don't. I have no clue what happens in that kind of situation.

Thomas Bowman

No historical precedent. That's fascinating.

Michael Pope

Well, I guess we're about to find out. Yeah.

Thomas Bowman

I mean, like, don't get me wrong. I'm personally not that upset that there are not that many Republicans left in Loudoun County to run for office. But I hear, based on a communique from the Republican GOP in Loudoun County. I hear they're very comfortable, just tossing in with all the crazies who are making everybody's lives miserable there, and they can't find a candidate. But they're absolutely going to throw in that nutzo and make life miserable for the residents there.

Michael Pope

Well, keep your eye on Loudon because all kinds of things are gonna happen out there. All right, so let's celebrate some birthdays. We've got three on the agenda for this upcoming week. Tuesday, March 14th, is the birthday of Delegate Rip Sullivan of Arlington. And then Wednesday, March 15th, is the birthday of Congressman Morgan Griffith of Salem. And then Sunday, March 19th, is the birthday of Senator Mamie Locke of Hampton. So happy birthday all around. Yes, happy birthday.

Thomas Bowman

And hey, friends, VIP birthdays. They're always nice. But if you've got something to celebrate and the third year of COVID, we want to hear about it. Yeah, celebrate your wins. That's right.

Michael Pope

Celebrate your wins.

Thomas Bowman

All right, message Michael and me on the pod VA socials or email us at Pod Virginia at jackleg. Media that calm and tell us what wins. You're celebrating so that we can drop them here.

Michael Pope

All right, well, that's all for now. Come back next time for more on Virginia politics.