The AG Should Investigate Portsmouth Political Corruption

by Ken Reid

Philosopher David Hume once said: “The corruption of the best things gives rise to the worst.” That may be the fate of the Portsmouth, population of 93,000, in the absence of outside oversight.

In the wave of protests over George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police in 2020, Portsmouth activists called for tearing down a 127-year-old monument to Confederate war dead. City Council deferred a decision to remove the two statues, as  required by law. In June a mob proceeded to topple one and behead the other. Portsmouth city police pressed charges against several high-profile participants. Although the charges were withdrawn, the subjects turned around and sued the city.

Rather than litigate the suits, the city awarded $300,000 earlier this year to state Senator Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, who is the Senate Pro Tempore and de facto Democrat political boss of Portsmouth. The remaining $150,000 was divided between 10 influential demonstrators, whom columnist Kerry Dougherty called the “Portsmouth 10.”

These include Portsmouth School Board Vice Chair LaKeesha Atkinson, an employee in the public defender’s office, and several city NAACP leaders. Among 19 arrested in the protest was the public defender, Brenda Spry. She was later confirmed by the General Assembly to be a judge — a decision that was decried by then-Delegate Jason Miyares before he was elected Attorney General.

Lucas and the “Portsmouth 10” (plus 8 others) were charged with felony counts in August 2020 for the interference. In this video, you can see Lucas – wearing a bandana over her face due to COVID – telling police not to arrest the demonstrators (i.e., interfering with police trying to stop the mob).

City Police Chief Angela Greene –- whose predecessor had been fired just months before, and then appointed by Gov. Ralph Northam to chair Virginia’s controversial state parole board — did not “detail exactly what Lucas or several other people are accused of doing … to merit the charges…” Politico reported,
But Greene told a press briefing the damage had cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars and created a serious injury when a statue fell on one of the protesters.

Greene said requests were made to state and federal authorities to conduct an independent investigation. And she said that a discussion with the Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney “did not yield any action.” The CA is Democrat Stephanie Morales.

Then Lucas’ daughter, Vice Mayor Lisa Lucas-Burke, was served a summons after a Portsmouth resident filed a criminal complaint against her for calling on Greene to resign. The charges were class-3 misdemeanors, and nothing came of them.

But the filings triggered massive protests by Lucas supporters, claiming they were intended to silence her efforts on police and bail reform in Richmond. Northam and Democrat gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe came to her defense. The Virginian-Pilot slanted stories to make the charges look like the old white establishment picking on a black leader. (Chief Greene is black).

After Lucas was charged, an effort to recall her from the state Senate ensued, initiated by conservative Virginia Beach attorney Tim Anderson (now a state delegate), and largely led by white Republicans.

Despite getting the requisite number of signatures to possibly get the recall on the ballot, Lucas’ attorney found a provision in the state constitution that said only the General Assembly can remove members. So, the recall failed.

Angela Greene (left) and Louise Lucas (right)

In September 2020, the city manager put Greene on administrative leave for 30 days, pending an investigation. Then after the 2020 election, on Nov. 16, the city manager fired her, giving no reason. Hours later, Morales dropped charges against Lucas and the demonstrators

In April 2021, Greene sued the city for the firing – and Portsmouth is paying for her defense. Lucas then sued Greene and the police for $6.7 million, citing “great emotional and mental distress, loss of enjoyment of life, humiliation, embarrassment, mortification, shame, vilification, great personal trauma, stress, fear, worry, and injury to her good name and reputation.”

The Portsmouth 10 also sued the city, individually, seeking damages. Each settled in November 2021 for $15,000, amounts okayed by the City Council.

But the Lucas settlement of $300,000 was not council-approved. There is no record of even a closed session discussion. Greene’s attorney, Tom Plofchan of Sterling, said the settlement violated the city’s policy. Greene was not even consulted.

Lucas told the media she would donate the $300,000 to “the charitable efforts in our community I have been involved with for so many years,” via the Hampton Roads Community Foundation.

What smells about the Lucas settlement is the size of the award. In September 2021, the city approved a $500,000 settlement with the family of Pamela Riddick, who died in the city jail in 2017 due to maltreatment.

So, a wrongful death warrants a $500,000 payout while a dropped felony charge is worth $300,000?

I have worked in Portsmouth, lived in neighboring Norfolk, served 10 years in local government in Loudoun County, and done reporting in New Jersey and Maryland. I witnessed how cities — notably, Baltimore — can die due to political corruption.

In my view, the Attorney General should investigate to ascertain if any laws were broken, just as he is probing the Loudoun County Public Schools’ handling of sexual assault cases.

I recognize this is a potential hornet’s nest for Jason Miyares due to the racial overtones, but Portsmouth is a city with a history of corruption, including an African-American councilmember who was convicted of felony forgery in 2018 (pardoned by Northam before he left office), and a former sheriff, who is White, who allegedly gave away government property. Any probe should go beyond Lucas.

If we ignore this and say, “Well, that’s just Portsmouth, for you,” are we not making the same mistakes Baltimore and Newark have made through the years, giving carte blanche to politicians elsewhere in their states to do the same?

Portsmouth already has a serious crime and homicide problem, too. It is No. 18 in per capita murders in the U.S.

To ignore all of this without a proper investigation is bad news for Portsmouth and bad news for Virginia.

Ken Reid is a former Loudoun County supervisor and member of the Leesburg Town Council and currently lives in Tysons Corner. He is active in Republican politics in Virginia and authored the book, The Six Secrets to Winning ANY Local Election and Navigating Elected Office Once You Win.


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Comments

16 responses to “The AG Should Investigate Portsmouth Political Corruption”

  1. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    The GOP wins… and the investigations begin…. pro forma….

    especially all those localities that the Dems have “infested”….

    😉

  2. Portsmouth was a dumpster fire when I was growing up in Virginia Beach forty-plus years ago, all indications are that it is still a dumpster fire.

    Perhaps the city’s politicians should stop dumping so much fuel on it…

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      It’s unique. Usually, there is a suburb that separates rural from intercity. Portsmouth doesn’t have one.

  3. Despite getting the requisite number of signatures to possibly get the recall on the ballot…

    Everyone in the Commonwealth could sign the petition and it still would not have “the requisite number of signatures to possibly get the recall on the ballot”.

    That is because the Code of Virginia contains no provisions whatsoever for requesting, or holding, recall elections. There is simply no such animal in Virginia.

    There is such a thing as petitioning a circuit court to remove an elected official from office, but that is far from being the same thing as a recall election. Apart from un-electing them when they run for reelection, forced removal from office of Virginia’s elected officials happens in court or it doesn’t happen at all.

    https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title24.2/chapter2/section24.2-233/

    1. Ken Reid Avatar

      you are are partially correct. The law says you need a percentage of signatures based on turnout of the election in which the official won. You then bring it to the circuit court, and if the circuit court finds there is sufficient grounds for a recall election, the judge orders it. It has happened rarely in Virginia. The Loudoun Court did not agree to do a recall election for EUgene Delgaudio in 2014 because he was never indicted for a crime. With Lucas, the petition drive organizers felt that since she was charged with a felony, they could convince a judge to do the recall. However, the provision for recall apparently doesn’t apply to members of the General Assembly, which can expel a member on its own only.

      1. No offense, but I am not “partially correct”. I am completely correct. There is no such thing as a recall election in Virginia.

        § 24.2-230 through 238 describe the procedure.

        The gist of it is, once a proper and correct petition is filed with the circuit court, the entire matter is handled in circuit court. There is no mechanism by which a petition for removal will result in a recall election.

        § 24.2-235. Procedure.
        A petition for the removal of an officer shall state with reasonable accuracy and detail the grounds or reasons for removal and shall be signed by the person or persons making it under penalties of perjury. The circuit court shall not dismiss the petition solely because of an error or omission in the form of the petition relating to its statement of the grounds or reasons for removal if such error or omission is not material in determining whether the statement of the grounds or reasons for removal provides a reasonable basis under § 24.2-233 to consider the removal of the officer.

        As soon as the petition is filed with the court, the court shall issue a rule requiring the officer to show cause why he should not be removed from office, the rule alleging in general terms the cause or causes for such removal. The rule shall be returnable in not less than five nor more than ten days and shall be served upon the officer with a copy of the petition. Upon return of the rule duly executed, unless good cause is shown for a continuance or postponement to a later day in the term, the case shall be tried on the day named in the rule and take precedence over all other cases on the docket. If upon trial it is determined that the officer is subject to removal under the provisions of § 24.2-233, he shall be removed from office.

  4. VaNavVet Avatar

    Plenty of cities with potential corruption problems lead by Republicans or white politicians, but Reid apparently doesn’t care about them.

    1. DJRippert Avatar
      DJRippert

      This is a blog formally and specifically about Virginia. Please let us know the name of corrupt Virginia cities run by white Republicans.

      I’m not saying there aren’t any such examples in Virginia but I can’ think of any.

      1. VaNavVet Avatar
        VaNavVet

        We have seen quite a bit about Windsor here on the blog. Also talking about “potential” corruption problems.

        1. Matt Adams Avatar
          Matt Adams

          The Town Council of Windsor is non-partisan. Do you want to try again, fake sailor?

          1. VaNavVet Avatar
            VaNavVet

            I believe that in the Commonwealth all municipal elections are supposedly non-partisan but that is in theory only. We can have a discussion without name calling.

          2. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            So you’re admitting your statement was wrong?

            Calling you a fake sailor isn’t name calling. Your critized someone for a uniformed service comment, to which I’ve requested you provide a DD-214 to support your claims of, you deflected to a statement about Trump.

            That pretty much solidifies you aren’t an actual veteran.

      2. Ken Reid Avatar
        Ken Reid

        Me, neither. Purcellville had terrible scandals about four years ago due to meddling of two former councilmembers, one very liberal Dem, the other, who considered herself a Republican. Republicans don’t generally get elected to run cities, except really suburban ones like Virginia Beach and Chesapeake.

      3. VaNavVet Avatar
        VaNavVet

        There has long been allegations of corrupt deals in Virginia Beach involving the ocean front developers. I would say that the US model of local elections does indeed invite corruption. They raise $100K plus for a mayor’s race in a major city and most of it comes from developers and business interests. These political donations are buying access and hopefully favor. Just follow the money!

  5. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    “I recognize this is a potential hornet’s nest for Jason Miyares due to the racial overtones …”

    Why would there be racial overtones?

    According to liberals both Lucas and Miyares are people of color.

    I think Miyares should investigate. Let the liberals howl. They have already lost a significant number of Asian voters. Their support in the Hispanic community is eroding too. Calling Miyares a racist for doing his job will only accelerate the loss of Hispanic support for Democrats.

  6. Stephen Haner Avatar
    Stephen Haner

    What was the fictional city Raymond Chandler invented as his nest of corruption? Bay City (which all recognized as Santa Monica of the 1950s, apparently.) Our Bay City. Ignore the debate over recalls. Explore instead the possibility of a citizen-driven Special Grand Jury. To quote the line from Absence of Malice, “wonderful thing, a subpeeny” (you will recall the crusty U.S. Attorney pronounced it that way.)

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