School Sanctions, Registrar Resignations, and More Earned Wage Controversy

IN THE NEWS:

Money on the Line: Virginia is facing sanctions for failing to provide services to students with disabilities. This comes at a time when lawmakers are still trying to fix a $200 million math error in calculating basic aid to school divisions. The latest revelations about failure to meet federal expectations comes from the U.S. Department of Education, which means federal dollars might be at risk.

Registrar Rage: The environment of threats and intimidation being experienced right now by election workers is just not sustainable for some, with a recent national survey showning that one in six local election officials say they've experienced threats Many have decided to move on rather than confront yet another election cycle of harassing phone calls and intimidating emails.

When a Loan Isn't a Loan: A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office recommends that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau decide whether "earned wage access" cash advance qualifies as a loan--drawing parallels to the payday loan and car-title loan controversy twenty years ago.

At the Watercooler:

- Strategist Jeff Roe is leaving the Youngkin team in favor of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
- This weekend, Michael will be moderating a panel on podcasting for the Society of Professional Journalists with some notable names-- Marc Filippino, Ellein Weiss, and David Schultz, to name a few.

Trivia: Which former vice president was arrested for treason?

Episode Transcript

Michael Pope: I'm Michael Pope.

Thomas Bowman: I'm Tom Bowman.

Michael Pope: And this is Pod Virginia, a podcast where it's April Fool's Day every day.

Thomas Bowman: Michael, this year I got an invite to take us to Williamsburg and visit with some family on April 1st. And rather than say yes or no, or maybe in the RSVP, is this for real?

Michael Pope: You gotta be on guard for those April Fools Day jokes.

Shout out to Attorney General Jason Miyares, who had a great April Fools Day gag last year where he sent a kind of gag letter claiming that Virginia was going to reclaim Kentucky as part of Virginia. So love it. Kentucky. Kentucky used to be a county in Virginia, and so the ag actually was resting on some interesting history here about how Kentucky approved statehood back in the 1700s. So shout out to AG Miyares for A, having a sense of humor, and then B, also doing some solid research here for the April Fools Day gag.

Thomas Bowman: I love it. I hope he keeps it up, and I'd love to see what comes out this week.

Michael Pope: Hopefully, something fun. Let's get to the news.

Money on the line, Virginia is facing federal sanctions for failing to provide services to students with disabilities. Now, this comes at a time when lawmakers are still trying to fix that 200 million math error in calculating basic aid to school divisions, the latest revelations about failure to meet federal expectations come from the US Department of Education, which means federal dollars might be at risk.

Chad Stewart at the Virginia Education Association says tens of millions of dollars from the federal government could be at stake unless Virginia solves lingering problems.

Chad Stewart: Things like alerting parents to the services that should be available to them and also, Procedures for them to file grievances when services are not being rendered that are required.

Michael Pope: Yeah. So these problems were first identified back in 2020 during the lockdown. This would be during the Northam administration, so we're talking about problems here that date actually back to the Northam administration in terms of failure to meet requirements on things like dispute resolution and confidentiality.

So that was like the past 2020, but then here in February of this year, The Youngkin administration gets a letter saying these problems have not been fixed. And more to the point, there's still a problem in 2023; there's a problem with not having procedures and practices in place for a timely resolution of due process claims.

So if you have a problem and you say, Hey, school system, you're not giving my child. Who have disabilities, the services that they need and that they're legally required to have, then there's no way to, there's not a good process and procedure in place to hear out those claims, so the deadline to fix those problems, it's February of next year.

And guess what, if Virginia doesn't fix those problems, there could be sanctions, federal sanctions, tens of millions of federal dollars might be at stake here. There is new leadership in the Department of Education, a new superintendent. She's walking into a very difficult job trying to fix all these problems.

From the math error to the special education services problems. Good luck to the new superintendent and the Youngkin administration trying to fix these problems, which I will point out dated back to the Northam administration here. Very important to point out that these problems actually date to the Northam administration, but they also run through the Youngkin administration, so there is a big job ahead for the new super.

Thomas Bowman: Michael, I would also point out that issues with special education, specifically not just in Virginia but in schools around the country, are not new in a lot of places. A lot of localities and a lot of states do not do special education all that well. My wife was a special education teacher in the classroom for many years in multiple jurisdictions and localities, so I heard a lot of horror stories, and I'm sure people who live every get them all the time. But if we zoom out here and update this into the modern context, Michael, there's a lot of. Generally, distrust right now in this Republican administration and in these partisans that they're appointing because of a history of attacks on public schools, not just in Virginia, of which there is a, like the Madison County School Board, for example, is trying to ban. Margaret Atwood books.

But anyway, there's a general distrust of Republicans, not just the Glenn Youngkin administration, but definitely the Glenn Youngkin administration, but Republicans in general; because of these attacks on schools, it's hard to tell if you're just a parent watching what's going on. What is incompetence because of partisan appointees, and what are just honest mistakes that are fixable?

Michael Pope: It is interesting. All of the many things that are going on with the school system right now. By way of context, let's remember Glenn Youngkin got elected on the platform of fixing the schools and giving parents more of a say.

We heard audio from this parent, Callie Oettinger. Has she been heard? She doesn't think that she's been heard. She doesn't think that you know her student in Fairfax county public schools is getting the services that are coming to them.

The bigger picture here that I find fascinating is so much is happening in the schools. On this podcast, we've talked about the Youngkin administration's effort to ban divisive concepts from the classroom. Then there's all this stuff about getting rid of all the equity initiatives from the Northam administration and revision of the transgender policies so that parents are notified of students who are transitioning.

There's this ongoing review of standards for history and social science. Then there's this aid calculation tool error. Gosh, there's so much stuff here for the new superintendent. So it's a big job, and a lot's riding on it.

Thomas Bowman: Yeah. So if you've got kids in the school systems, or especially if you've got a child in special education, you definitely want to follow up and check in with your representatives, your Delegates, policymakers, and your school board members to understand the risk that your school might be facing for

Michael Pope: One more point on this before we move to the next story, which is there's this new superintendent, Lisa Koons, who's coming from Tennessee. So she's the one who is inheriting this big job that has all these problems that she needs to fix. I will point out I thought the reaction was interesting. The head guy at the Virginia Education Association, James Fedderman, said he was deeply disappointed in the appointment of Koons because he said she's yet another out-of-state official with a political agenda. There's on top of all these problems that need to be fixed; there's also some political tension here grafted on top of all of that.

Thomas Bowman: Shout out to Blue Virginia. Where they pointed out that this new superintendent has a history of saying things like denying the separation of church and state and speaking out against Gavin Grimm. Just some really problematic things. And also, by the way, Tennessee is number 31 or something like that for education, whereas Virginia is number 10. And so there's a lot of concern that we're gonna fall back because of this.

Michael Pope: Let's get to our next story.

Registrar Rage. The environment of threats and intimidation being experienced right now by election workers is just unsustainable for some, and they've decided to move on rather than confront yet another election cycle of harassing phone calls and intimidating emails. Buckingham County supervisor Jordan Miles says things have gotten so bad at his local registrar's office that it currently has zero employees.

Jordan Miles: Right now, the office that oversees and administers our local elections is closed. The door is locked. No one is answering the phone, and that's a disgrace.

Thomas Bowman: Veronica Degraffenreid at the Brennan Center says A recent national survey of election workers shows one in six local election officials say they've experienced threats.

Veronica Degraffenreid: It's also alarming that one in five local officials indicated that they were very unlikely or somewhat unlike. To continue serving in their positions, especially as we prepare for the 2024 election.

Thomas Bowman: Michael Pope, what is going on here?

Michael Pope: The level of hate and vitriol that is, is being aimed at election workers right now is just off the charts.

We've never seen anything like this, and you gotta imagine people that are just trying to do the best job that they can do. And go to work every day with a smile on their face. Is it worth it? And so a lot of them are looking in the mirror and saying, no, it's not. And I quit, take this job and shove it cuz I'm not doing this anymore.

And I will say, you know where I live in Alexandria. I remember a previous registrar became the target of some of these right-wing hate groups, and they put out a report with a bunch of bogus stats and bogus info. And they had this cover, the cover of the report had this like an anti-Semitic cartoon of the registrar and made fun of her name. And it was just horrible, and she toughed it out. And the people in my local registrar's office, they put up with a lot of crap, but a lot of people are looking in the mirror and saying, is this really worth it? And like in Buckingham County, the registrar and both of her employees said, see ya, we're outta.

Thomas Bowman: This has been happening for a while. A friend of mine who was previously with the Department of Elections even mentioned that when this person was there, they had to have an FBI detail or a police officer watching them at some point because they were death threats all the time. There were, they were being harassed people, they were doxing, this person finding the address and whatnot.

And, of course, this person wasn't alone. This was happening to a lot of the election officials. But there is actually a lot of precedent for stuff like this happening, specifically in the Commonwealth of Virginia. So it happens whenever the Governor's party switches and the minority electoral board members become the majority.

Michael Pope: Yeah, actually, let's. Pause here and just make sure our listeners understand what's going on. So every locality has a three-member electoral board. And the way Virginia law is set up, this is a quirk here that we're gonna talk about for hopefully in a minute. Two of those members are from the Majority party, and one of those members is from the minority party.

So after Glenn Youngkin took over and Republicans were in charge of the state, every local electoral board changed composition, and that created tension in many places between the new electoral board members and the existing registrars.

Thomas Bowman: Yeah. It's also important to note that the Governor appoints them all, as far as I've been able to find out, and I've asked that question.

Of multiple people. So no matter if it's a Republican or a Democrat, the Governor is still appointing these people. And so it is technically actually not just two and one, but it is one Republican, one Democrat, and one from the Governor's party, right? And so there's actually a precedent here for failing to reappoint on political bias.

And there that comes from a Willie May Kilgore case from the 1980s. So it's possible, but that in quitting actually, This staff member did a little bit more harm for themselves and good by quitting the general registrar, didn't give themselves the opportunity to claim her contract wasn't being renewed for political reasons.

She still could sue under the pretext of hostile working conditions, which it sounds like she would potentially have a good case for.

Michael Pope: A lot of people just aren't up to that, Thomas, right? Like you gotta get a lawyer involved, and you're looking at years of litigation. It's a mess.

And then you're already being harassed currently. So if you get involved in a lawsuit, those threats and intimidation will only continue for the unforeseen future. I think a lot of people probably consider that as an option and said, yeah, we could stick around, and we can get involved in a lawsuit. And, but you know what? Life is too short for all this.

Thomas Bowman: Yeah. And this actually brings us to a really interesting policy issue here because the electoral board is actually a very antique called over from before the Bryd machine, Michael, right? ,

Michael Pope: Yeah! Yeah, so it is true that the bird machine. Used this makeup here the way that we've got our local electoral boards, which are, of course, designed to give preference to the party in power.

So in the Bryd machine error, that would be the Democratic party. The Bryd machine clearly used the rules of the local electoral boards to maintain power. But they did not invent this. And part of this is because the Bryd machine was not the first political machine to run Virginia. The first political machine to run Virginia was the Mahone machine run by William Mahone.

And he's the one who actually created this electoral board system in the 1880s. So he was a real progressive guy. He liked the public schools. He got rid of the whipping post; he got rid of the poll tax. So his politics were progressive. But his tactics were ruthless and autocratic, and he ran a cutthroat political machine that created this system of local elec controlling your local electoral boards.

Thomas Bowman: So that electoral board probably should be totally dismantled, but the general registrar should, at the very least, be appointed by the State Board of Elections or maybe a city or county manager. So you're removing the pretense of politics. And then, ideally, we would transition the electoral board to a canvas board where their sole duty is to certify the election. Jennifer McClellan asked JLARC to study this issue in 2021, but it died.

Michael Pope: That would've been a fun JLARC report. We could have talked about that on the podcast.

Thomas Bowman: Yeah, so actually, former elections commissioner Chris Piper said to Pod Virginia that he supported the idea of a study cuz it was always smart to review how things are organized, especially in light of how much more politicized election administration has become.

Michael Pope: We need to get Chris Piper back on the podcast sometime.

Thomas Bowman: Oh man, he is a wealth of information and a journeyman in the Virginia government, so he knows a lot about a lot.

Michael Pope: Stay tuned for that

When a loan isn't alone, earned wage access is a new kind of financial technology that may or may not. Be alone. A new report from the Government Accountability Office sheds light on the need for clarity on that issue. Delegate Amanda Batten is a Republican from James City County who says it's about time for some oversight over these financial products that are already in widespread use.

Amanda Batten: The legislation that I was working on would've codified that these earned wage access providers can't sue the consumer to get their money back. So if the consumer empties out their bank account, close the bank account, and refuses to pay back the lender, their lender has no recourse.

Thomas Bowman: 20 years ago, lawmakers took action to add new language to the Virginia Code that allowed payday loans and car title loans, and history might be repeating itself. So it's Jay Spear at the Virginia Poverty Law.

Jay Speer: This was like deja vu all over again for me because it's exactly what the petty lender said, and then we ended up. Took us 20 years to get the payday lenders and the car title lenders to leave the state. So that's why we were not crazy about putting a stamp of legitimacy on it.

Thomas Bowman: Michael, walk us through earned wage access. And I know we've talked about it like recently on Pod Virginia, but what's the actual issue here?

Michael Pope: We talked about it last week, and apparently, Thomas, our podcast from last week, really got people talking about this issue. Which is good because I'm glad the focus is on this.

Clearly, there's a need to do something. People on both sides of this issue are worried about consumers. Getting caught up in a debt trap. So Amanda Batten wants to protect consumers. She wants regulation, too, because currently, it's the Wild West, and there are no regulations, people might get caught up in a debt trap, and she wants to protect them.

Jay Speer is also concerned about people getting caught up in a debt trap. But here's the thing about this new FinTech here. So one thing is it's important to separate out two different kinds of earned wage access. Sometimes this is really big corporations allowing their employees to have early access to their paychecks.

So in some cases, we're talking about Walmart or Walgreens, or like, in fact, Walmart actually created its own business that's inside of Walmart that does earn wage access. , most of these other companies have contractors that do it. Okay. So there's one part of this that's you're getting money from your existing employer, so take that off the table cuz that's actually not what people are worried about.

It's direct to the consumer. Earned income access is causing some heartache here because you can get you can download an app on your phone, and there are apps, one of them called Earn In is one of them. There is a feature of a bear, and when you don't tip, the bear gets sad.

There's also an app called Bridget, so there are ways where you can download an app and just get money. And that's where the real concern is because these apps have, here's the red flag here, direct access to your bank account. So they've, the reason they've got direct access is so they can put money in, and that's, of course, that's what you like, right? So you give them direct access to your bank account, they put money in your account, and everything is great until they still have direct access to your bank account, and they pull money out. So the guardrail that Jay Speer wants is for the General Assembly to prohibit the ability of these companies to have direct access to your bank account there.

Thomas Bowman: terms of service say they're not gonna sue anybody, but they have that direct access to bank accounts.

And Michael, I've had tech company clients before. You can change those terms of service and lock people out until they agree to them at any time.

Michael Pope: Yeah. People who are in favor of this industry and are, trying to make a case for these businesses say that this is a benefit, is that they ostensibly cannot force people to pay back.

In other words, they're not going to sue you. Their terms of service say they will not sue you to get the money back. And the Batten legislation actually had that, wrote that into the code so that these companies cannot sue people to get the money back. And That is potentially protection for consumers until you get to this issue of direct access to the bank account. So it doesn't matter if they sue you or not if they've already gotten what they want out of your bank account anyway.

Thomas Bowman: Yeah. And do we know if this would influence people's credit?

Michael Pope: scores? Undoubtedly it would influence people's credit scores. There is also a flavor of this where instead of having direct access to your bank account, they put the money on a card, like a debit card.

But they also have access to that debit card. So anything that, like they put the money on the debit card and then they can also take money outta that debit card. So it's like your temporary bank account, essentially. So yes, this comes in all kinds of flavors, but the potential is there.

The concern among people like Jay Speer and people who are concerned about consumers getting caught into a debt trap is this direct access to your bank account is a red flag and a potential problem that the Virginia General Assembly could solve next year.

Thomas Bowman: Another red flag is where this idea is coming from, right?

Because there is no present regulation, and likely there should be, but usually, regulation like that happens at a federal level. This bill is being pushed by lobbyists who are paid by their clients and, in this case, earn in. That's the reported client to craft these regulations. So it gives a single company the industry advantage.

.

Michael Pope: Yeah. That's, what was going on in Virginia? It's worth keeping in mind that we've seen similar legislation being introduced all over the country. This is one of those ALEC model bills. And so even beyond the particular interests of one company that was lobbying on this, in 2023, next year, we're gonna see different people show up at the General Assembly. This is an industry. That is really knocking on the door here. And eventually, when they do get something written into the Virginia code, will these things explode? We heard audio of Jay Speer saying 20 years ago, we wrote stuff into the Virginia Code, and guess what happened?

The payday lending industry exploded for the next generation. And so that's what he's worried about is that even if you have some guardrails for consumer protection, you might also be opening up the door to industry to get a foothold. That might actually be counterproductive.

Thomas Bowman: I would also point out that no matter what happens with this policy, whether it passes or it fails, or it gets heavily modified, earned wage access is actually a problem that's gonna go away.

Not necessarily as soon, but after the Fed rolls out their digital dollar, one of the things that will be possible is for you to have a slow, steady, constant drip of funds going into your account in real-time as you work. So it's not going to be a situation where you need to wait until payday, and you need to stack your bills accordingly.

So they. You don't go into a negative balance. You're; actually, a digital dollar would enable that employer to pay you constantly and consistently through micro-transactions with increasing frequency. So that's actually something that, or this is a problem that actually I don't think is gonna last 20 years.

This will go away as soon as we transition from paper money and our current system to the. Central Bank Digital

Michael Pope: You mentioned microtransactions. One of the interesting things here about the business model of some of these apps that do this sort of direct-to-consumer lending is that they rely on tips, and you can boost other users.

And so if you go on Reddit, look at discussion forums for the Dave app, for example, or the Bridget app. There's all this talk about people who get money from these things, boosting other people with the expectation that they will boost you, and so therefore, you can get more money from the app if you have been boosted by other users. So I think part of what you're laying out already exists in this business model. Wow.

Thomas Bowman: It's fascinating. I was thinking not necessarily this business model; actually, to clarify, I'm talking. In a traditional employer-employee relationship, not including a third party, there won't be a need for these services to help you access wages that you've already earned.

Michael Pope: Alright, let's play some trivia.

Last week we asked you about the official portrait of former governor Terry McAuliffe that's currently hanging on the third floor of the Capitol building.

Thomas Bowman: We asked you what document he was signing in his. So Michael, what was he signing?

Michael Pope: So in that portrait, he's signing a document that restores voting rights to people who have been convicted, formerly convicted of felonies.

So obviously, McCullough thought this was really important for his legacy, which is why he featured it in this portrait. So during his time as Governor, McAuliffe restored the rights to almost 200,000.

Thomas Bowman: And if I recall, Michael, the General Assembly brought a lawsuit about that?

Michael Pope: Yeah, actually, I think they brought two lawsuits about that.

Thomas Bowman: So congratulations to longtime listener Adam on Twitter @LikeIGave_Adam he had the first correct answer. TMX portrait shows him signing a document, restoring the voting rights of people who have felony convictions and would otherwise never be able to vote again.

Michael Pope: So Adam was the first person to get it right, but he was not alone.

So this question obviously prompted some discussion across social media. Kevin Saucedo-Broach, @kevsaucebro, noted that it was rights restoration papers, and Jess Brown, @jesselizabrown, responded that it was the papers that restored voting rights to former felons. So a lot of discussion on this.

Thomas Bowman: Kevin Saucedo-Broach is running for delegate in Arlington right now in one of the new open districts.

And Pete Gibson, by the way, also weighed in on Instagram to suggest that McCauliffe may have been signing the receipt for a massive bar tab and leaving a 15% tip.

Michael Pope: Oh man. Thanks to Pete Gibson for having a sense of humor. McCauliffe, actually, I've been to the McCauliffe bar; in he actually used to own an Irish pub, and it's quite the thing in New York.

Also worth noting on this issue of rights restoration, obviously this is very important to McCauliffe, and Northam built on that and did lots of rights restoration. Youngkin is moving in the other direction. At first, he didn't really do much rights restoration at all. He did some kind of before the election. I think now we're at a point where We're not really sure what the criteria are for restoring the rights. So we've moved in a different direction for a while under even Republican Bob McDonald; this was one of his legacies. He was very proud of restoring voting rights to people as a Republican governor.

And then McCauliffe built on that, Northam built on that. Now we're moving in the opposite direction here, so here is a preview for later this week; we will be talking to the A C L U about rights restoration in Virginia, so stay tuned for that.

Thomas Bowman: All right, but what's our trivia question for this week, Michael?

Michael Pope: All right, so this week, I was interested in this discussion about the potential for a former president to be arrested and charged with some sort of insurrection. Fun fact trivia question. There is a former vice president who was, in fact, arrested and charged with treason. Former vice president arrested and charged with treason.

Who is that? Former Vice president.

Thomas Bowman: All right, if you think you know who that former vice president charged with treason was, let us know.

Michael Pope: Yeah, hit us up on the socials.

Thomas Bowman: All right. Why don't we move over to the water cooler?

Thomas Bowman: Yeah. So what do you hear around the water cooler, Thomas? Jeff Rowe is leaving the Younkgking team.

Michael Pope: Whoa, really? Okay. So Jeff Rowe is really big in political circles. Isn't he the guy that worked with Axiom or created Axiom?

Thomas Bowman: Yeah, it's his company. So actually, Jeff Rowe is officially leaving Team Younkin and jumping onto Team DeSantis.

Michael Pope: DeSantis. Oh my!

Thomas Bowman: What a slap in the face. Yeah, so while Youngkin keeps signaling his presidential aspirations for next year, Rowe joined Virginia as the one, and only Ken Cuccinelli aboard his Never Back Down PAC.

And Jeff Rowe owns the Republican consulting firm Axiom Strategies, Youngkin's advisor from the very beginning. So it sounds like a clear signal to me, Michael, that a lot of Republicans think Youngkin is not the future of the Republican Party.

Michael Pope: Youngkin clearly likes people talking about him running for president, so I would anticipate there will be more of that in the future. But this sort of personnel movement here seems to be an indication that he's not really serious about it, at least not from a staffing perspective.

Thomas Bowman: What about you, Michael? What do you hear around the water cooler?

Michael Pope: The Society of Professional Journalists is gonna have a convention this weekend, and I will be moderating a panel about, Podcasting. So this is the SPJ Virginia Pro chapter, and the panel is on April Fool's Day. But don't let that fool you because this panel has some really big names in Podcasting. Mark Filipino is the host of the Financial Times News Briefing. Yes, the Financial Times as in from London. Ellen Weiss is a podcast consultant who's a former executive producer of All Things Considered on NPR, and my friend David Schultz is an audio producer for Bloomberg News. But Thomas, I knew David way back in the day when he used to cover the Arlington County Board back when I used to cover my local Alexandria city council. He was covering the neighboring Arlington County Board way back when Barbara Favola was on the board. So it'd be really good to see David Schultz again, but this panel on Podcasting is really gonna be something, and I'm looking.

Thomas Bowman: That sounds like a very stacked lineup, Michael. So I'm excited to hear about it. Let me know if anybody has anything interesting to say.

Michael Pope: Yeah, we'll. I'm sure we'll have some sort of follow-up on that next week.

Alright, Thomas, go ahead and open up that Pod Virginia Mailbag. What are our listeners talking about?

Thomas Bowman: we got awesome news. By an Apple ID, I can't really pronounce, but they wrote, "great show Pod Virginia gives clear insight into a severely underreported topic. Michael and Thomas do a great job at keeping what can be a boring topic, light and informative. So keep up the great work.

Michael, let's just go ahead and stick that into our little compliments folder.

Michael Pope: Yeah, really. I know I. I actually personally don't think that we are taking a boring topic and making it light. I think this is a very exciting topic. Maybe that's a personality flaw for me. The point I want to emphasize for our listeners, you can write a review on Apple Podcast, and guess what?

You don't even have to use your real name. Just go on Apple Podcasts and tell people how much you love Pod Virginia.

Thomas Bowman: Yeah, leave us a review if you got, only if you got something nice to say. But Michael, do we have any birthdays this week?

Michael Pope: Yes, we've got three today. March 27th is the birthday of Senator Chap Peterson of Fairfax City.

Tuesday, March 28th. This is the birthday of Labor Secretary Brian Slater.

And then Thursday, March 30th is the birthday of Congressman Jerry Connelly, so happy birthday all around.

Thomas Bowman: Congressman Jerry Conley. Happy birthday. That was actually my first time volunteering or interning rather on a Democratic campaign. It was the hard one, the twenty-ten-one.

Michael Pope: Was that the open seat?

Thomas Bowman: No, but it was the one where he was targeted by the Tea Party at the time. Keith Fimian was the nominee. And he and they had to keep counting. It went on like weeks, like two weeks, before we had an official call. And he was the only one. One targeted by the Tea Party, young guns from five districts around the country to hang on.

Michael Pope: Trial by fire for your first political experience. So one more thing worth celebrating tonight. March 27th at 7:00 PM tonight Agenda Alexandria will be hosting a panel discussion about the city's proposed budget for the fiscal year 2024.

Now, I bet you're thinking to yourself, who cares about that? Lemme tell you what's in this budget. It includes Increased funding for firefighters to unionize cuz they're currently doing collective bargaining. It also has $60,000 to rename Confederate Streets. So a lot to talk about with this panel discussion tonight at the Lycium. So if you're in old towns, stop by and say hi.

Thomas Bowman: All right, let's leave it there. That's all for this week. Don't forget to check out our website and follow us on social media for more updates and discussions on Virginia Politics.