Letter: Virginia AG Jason Miyares No-Show At Indivisible Event

Grassroots Indivisible Virginia released this piece on Sept. 9.

ANNANDALE, V.A.— V.A. Attorney General Jason Miyares was a no-show at a Sept. 7 “rule of law” town hall hosted by eleven grassroots Virginia organizations.

Virginians representing thousands of voters across the state gathered in a Fairfax country auditorium to ask Miyares how he would defend the rule of law and their rights as Virginians.

Event organizers attempted to invite Miyares 11 times over the course of the past three weeks, but never received a response. Nevertheless, they continued with the event, posing their questions to an empty chair marked “reserved for AG Miyares.”

“We are disappointed. Grassroots groups from all parts of Virginia - NOVA, to Richmond, to Roanoke came together to invite and engage with our top lawyer and elected leader and he is a no show,” said Stair of Network NOVA, one of the event sponsors with a state-wide network. “We tried everything the last three weeks, calling, emailing, offering to change the time and date, meet by zoom or host a representative of Miyares’ choice. We never got a response to any of our invitations, not even an acknowledgement if they had been received or not. We decided to hold the town hall anyway to underscore the importance of rule of law at this time in our history.”

Attendees posed questions about the future of healthcare in Virginia, federal firings, immigration, healing political divisions, trans rights and more issues the Attorney General has the power to influence as the state's top lawyer. Attendees underscored the importance of having local elected leaders ready to fight back against funding cuts and harmful policies coming from the federal level.

Many attendees echoed Stair’s strong disappointment over the Attorney General’s lack of response and absence. A 90-year old pediatric nurse said she was especially worried about Virginia's children having access to vaccines after Miyares lost $250 million of federal health funding because he did not join a successful law suit with other state attorney generals who saw much of their states' funding restored. She recalled treating polio patients and her cousin dying as a toddler from measles.

Another longterm Virginia resident explained that her son was reinstated to his federal job because he lives in Oregon and that state's attorney general had joined a multi-state law suit and won. However, because AG Miyares chose not to join a multi-state lawsuit, thousands of Virginia workers were laid off. Both voters said they were disappointed Miyares did not show up to answer their questions or be accountable to his constituents.

Also See ...

• Walkinshaw Claims VA’s 11th Congressional District, Keeping Seat Blue
• Stopping DOGE Job Cuts, Public Safety Top Priorities In Congressional Race
• Immigration, Climate Change, School Funding Debated During Reston Forum
• Gender Policies Lawsuits By Arlington, Fairfax Schools Dismissed

Although Miyares did not attend, V.A. State Delegate Holly Seibold, did accept a short-notice invitation. She shared with the group that one of her constituents had just been deported, after being threatened that she would be separated from her children otherwise. Seibold said she shared many of the same concerns brought up in the questions. She recommended voters take a look at her party's candidate for Attorney General, democrat Jay Jones who she said will fight for resources and civil rights of all Virginians. Virginia goes to vote on Nov. 4 for its highest offices: Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General.

The event was co-hosted by Grassroots Indivisible Virginia, which includes: Defend Democracy Indivisible, Eagle Group Indivisible, Fairfax Indivisible, Falls Church Indivisible, Indivisible NOVA, Northern Virginia Indivisible, NOVA West, Indivisible Roanoke, Indivisible Turning the Tables, Burke Network NOVA Virginia-wide, Viva La Resistance Indivisible Virginia-wide, and We of Action Virginia. Indivisible is a non-violent grassroots effort to promote democracy of, by, and for the people.

For more information, contact indivisiblenova@Proton.me