Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has issued his first veto, blocking a measure that would have allowed Arlington County's governing board to hire an independent policing auditor.
The Republican governor announced the move Tuesday.
“The best way to ensure that any bad actors within law enforcement are held accountable is to stand up for law enforcement, not tear them down or subject them to politically-motivated inquiries,” Youngkin said in a news release.
"We think that's a real blow to the system that we have really, carefully constructed as a community, but this is too important for us to not move forward," Arlington Board Chair Katie Cristol said.
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The measure would have allowed the Northern Virginia county's board, rather than its county manager, to hire the independent policing auditor.
Youngkin's statement said the bill would have given one person the authority to be
"judge, jury and executioner" on police misconduct matters.
But Cristol says that's not the case. Final decisions rest with the police chief.
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"It's clear from this statement that accompanied the veto that the veto is based on misunderstanding or misreading of our ordinance, which, again, does not make anyone judge, jury and executioner - and we'd ask for an opportunity to try to clarify that," Cristol said.
The measure's sponsor, Democratic Del. Patrick Hope, said in a statement that due to its charter, Arlington is the only locality whose governing board needs express permission from the General Assembly to make any hire. The veto will not impact the manager's ability to fill the job, nor will it impact the disciplinary powers of the policing oversight body, he said.
“In my 13 years of service, I don’t ever recall seeing a governor vetoing a local charter bill," he said in a statement. “To say that I’m disappointed the governor would use his veto pen on a charter bill to make a misguided political statement is an understatement.”
The county voted in 2020 to create a civilian oversight board that will be able to request subpoenas of police and direct the auditor to launch investigations of individual officers, The Washington Post reported.
"It was bipartisan support so we're still kind of scratching our heads as to what was the rational for the veto because we read his statement. It just didn't pass muster," said Julius Spain, president of Arlington's NAACP chapter.
