Youngkin used his first veto as governor to target a bill that would have allowed the Arlington County Board to appoint an independent auditor to oversee the Community Oversight Board, which handles civilian complaints of police misconduct in Arlington. The oversight board already exists, and already has an auditor that reports to the county manager. The only charge this bill would have made would be to give the county board, rather than the county manager, oversight over the auditor. The county manager is the top law enforcement official, though, so having the auditor be under the supervision of the board rather than the manager would allow for an independent auditor and a stronger oversight board. These kinds of local charter bills are usually completely uncontroversial formalities, and haven’t been vetoed in at least a dozen years. But then we got this guy.
In his press release celebrating the veto, Tweedledumkin showed that he has no clue whatsoever how this oversight and auditor process works, and instead blindly vetoed the bill to make a divisive political statement about supporting law enforcement. Contrary to his press release, Arlington (like many Virginia localities) already has an oversight board with an auditor; the only change this bill would have effected would be who the auditor answers to. The oversight board already has the ability to make binding disciplinary determinations, and the auditor already is required to be a non-law enforcement civilian. Yet Youngkin seems to believe that his veto has somehow stopped any of this from happening. Showing once again that Youngkin has no clue how Virginia’s system of government works, and no interest in learning.
https://www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/news-releases/2022/march/name-929639-en.html