GOP-linked group targets 3 progressive Virginia prosecutors deemed soft on crime
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A new group called Virginians for Safe Communities is targeting three progressive prosecutors in a recall effort amid a Republican push to capitalize on voter concerns about rising gun violence.
Virginians for Safe Communities is not disclosing the donors who have given more than $250,000 to the group, but its president is “a Republican operative,” Sean D. Kennedy, the New York Times reports.
Kennedy told the New York Times that people who support law enforcement have “woken up,” and the recall efforts of the prosecutors are a “test case to launch nationwide.”
Another member of the group, Ian D. Prior, is leading a petition drive to recall school board members in Loudoun County, Virginia, over what he thinks are the district’s association with critical race theory, according to the article. Prior was a Department of Justice public affairs official during the Trump administration.
The prosecutors targeted for recall are commonwealth attorneys Buta Biberaj of Loudoun County, Parisa Dehghani-Tafti of Arlington County and Steve Descano of Fairfax County.
In an email to the New York Times, Dehghani-Tafti said Virginians for Safe Communities was “relying on misinformation” to “overturn a valid election through a nondemocratic recall.”
