This morning, I want to share with you a veto on a a bill related to the justice system we need in Arlington that has me fired up, share a key endorsement that means a lot to me personally, and offer a thought on Joe Biden's closing to his speech last night.
Last year as Chair, I worked with colleagues and community leaders, including NAACP Arlington Branch and Arlington for Justice on a community oversight board of our police. As part of that work, we sought County Board oversight of the Independent Auditor.
Yesterday, the Governor vetoed the bill to change oversight from the County Manager to the County Board to help provide that independence that was an important part of our work. It appears neither the Governor nor his staff read the bill carefully. That omission, as indicated by his veto statement which contains misleading statements at best, along with the decision to veto a bill that would only have impacted Arlington lead me to share in the County Board's thorough disappointment in the Governor's action yesterday.
This action is the Governor messaging on a statewide issue and not focusing on the language and impact of the bill, which are about Arlington as a community alone. We will never, ever, ever agree on your demagoging in a racist way on critical race theory, but we should be able to focus on what we may be able to agree on. Respectfully, this is one such instance. Do better please.
On to a much happier note. I am honored this morning to receive the support of Praveen Meyyan, an Arlington community leader on one of the issues I worked hardest on last year: communicating and working on vaccinations.
Praveen is a community leader and activist and a leader of our Asian American and Pacific Islander community in Virginia. I'm honored to have his support as we build a strong, diverse campaign that seeks to be worthy of our entire community and every resident of Arlington.
Last, I want to share with you the close of Joe Biden's speech. Watch 2 minutes of it at 1 hour and 18 minutes in. see if You can feel how he is putting his heart into the American people. We must put our heart into this election as well: so much is at sake this year in this pivotal moment in American history.
Go to 1 hour 18 minutes and 15 seconds and watch Joe Biden's close last night. We are in a moment and we must step up.
I am grateful I am for your help--because of you, we raised the $1,143 we needed to before March 1.
