Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Upcoming Event

Best Places to Work in Virginia

Hamburger Menu Hamburger Menu

Tag: Mark Herring

VCU poll shows McAuliffe, Youngkin in dead heat

The Republican and Democratic candidates for Virginia governor are in a virtual tie, a new poll by the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University reported Friday.

Democratic former Gov. Terry McAuliffe is polling ahead at 40%, while Republican Glenn Youngkin, former co-CEO of The Carlyle Group, polled at 37% among likely voters.  McAuliffe’s 3% lead falls within the poll’s 5.23% margin of error, according to the Wilder School. Another 23% of voters polled said they are undecided or unwilling to vote for one of the two major party candidates. Conducted during Aug. 4-15,  the poll questioned 823 Virginia adults about their voting plans.

Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Del. Hala Ayala leads with 39%, compared with 31% for Republican nominee Winsome Sears. Incumbent Attorney General Mark Herring, a Democrat running for his third term, holds the largest lead among the statewide candidates, with 41%, compared with 31% for Republican candidate Del. Jason Miyares.

“As of this survey, there have been no debates between the candidates for governor or lieutenant governor. The gubernatorial candidates are in a virtual dead heat,” former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder said in a statement. “That could change once positions are taken on the issues. The lieutenant governor’s race showing the largest difference could also be affected. The attorney general race has 19% of the voters unwilling to vote for either candidate. Added to the 10% undecided, [that] leaves one-third of the voters who could tighten that contest. How the pandemic affects turnout and enthusiasm energizes voters should be of utmost concern.”

With all 100 state delegate seats up in the air this fall, poll respondents were split when asked which party they would rather see in control of the General Assembly. Democrats received 44% to maintain control, while 40% of those surveyed said they’d rather see Republicans regain power of the state legislature.

The regional breakdown held no big surprises, with McAuliffe holding a large lead in Northern Virginia (51% to Youngkin’s 24%) and Youngkin dominating in the northwestern and Southwest regions of the state with 52% to McAuliffe’s 32%. In Southern and Central Virginia, including the Richmond and Petersburg areas, Youngkin has a slight lead of 34% to McAuliffe’s 32% share, although 33% of voters polled in those regions said they are undecided. In the Hampton Roads region, 42% of voters said they support McAuliffe, and 37% are for Youngkin.

Gov. Ralph Northam, entering the final months of his four-year term, received strong approval numbers for his handling of COVID-19, with 57% of those polled saying he did a good job, although only 47% said he handled health care and racial inequities well.

So far, the two gubernatorial candidates have accepted only two debate invites on the same stage, although Youngkin turned down three opportunities that McAuliffe agreed to, and McAuliffe rejected an invite at Liberty University that Youngkin accepted. The two scheduled debates are set for Sept. 16 at the Appalachian State School of Law and Sep.t 28 for the NOVA Chamber of Commerce/NBC4 debate in Northern Virginia.

Virginia could receive $530M from $26B opioids settlement

Virginia is expected to receive about $530 million as part of a $26 billion settlement that the nation’s three primary drug distributors and pharmaceutical manufacturer Johnson & Johnson reached Wednesday with the states that would release the companies from legal liability in the opioid crisis.

A majority of the roughly $530 million that Virginia is expected to receive will go to the state’s Opioid Abatement Authority, according to a news release from Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring. Created by the Virginia General Assembly this year, the authority will provide grants and loans to state agencies and localities to treat, prevent and reduce opioids abuse.

The deal was announced Wednesday by a bipartisan group of attorneys general from Connecticut, Delaware, Louisiana, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

McKesson Corp., AmeriSourceBergen and Cardinal would pay up to $21 billion over 18 years to participating states and localities, including Virginia, which is expected to receive up to $427 million from the drug distributors. The three distributors would also establish an independent clearinghouse to track and monitor the number of opioids that distributors send to health care providers and localities.

Additionally, Johnson & Johnson would pay up to $5 billion over nine years, paying up to $3.7 billion in the first three years. Virginia is expected to receive up to about $100 million from Johnson & Johnson, according to the attorney general’s release.

“The roots of the opioid crisis began in the marketing offices and board rooms of pharmaceutical companies like Johnson & Johnson and ran straight into the homes and medicine cabinets of Virginians. Distributors like McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, and Cardinal spread billions of doses of highly addictive opioids throughout our communities, helping to fuel a crisis that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans and upended the lives of Virginians in every corner of our commonwealth,” Herring said in a statement.

States have 30 days to review the deal. If participating state and city governments accept the offer, the companies will release the funds and the governments would drop any lawsuits against the companies and pledge not to bring future action, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

 

Va. Democratic primary concludes Tuesday

Tuesday is the final day for Virginians to vote in the Democratic primary races for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. Based on a recent poll by Roanoke College, two familiar faces — former Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Attorney Gen. Mark Herring — are likely to win handily, but the lieutenant governor nomination is still up for grabs.

Early voting for the primary started in late April, but according to state elections officials, turnout has been relatively low. They expect larger crowds on Tuesday than last year’s in-person elections turnout during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since McAuliffe announced his bid for a second gubernatorial term, he has raised more money than his competitors and held significant leads in polls this spring. In the June 4 Roanoke College survey of likely primary voters, McAuliffe had 49% support, outpacing former Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, who was in second with 11% and state Sen. Jennifer McClellan with 9%, followed by Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax with 5% and Del. Lee Carter at 1%.

Herring, who is running for his third term as the state’s top prosecutor, also had 49% support in the Roanoke College poll, followed by challenger Del. Jay Jones, with 20% of polled voters’ support.

“To the surprise of few, McAuliffe and Herring appear headed for victory on Tuesday,” Harry Wilson, senior political analyst of the Roanoke College Poll, said in a statement. “The race for lieutenant governor is there for the taking, with a large percentage of the electorate undecided on their decision. It is also clear that the Democratic primary electorate in Virginia is well-educated, upper-income and very liberal, but McAuliffe, arguably not the most far-left candidate, appears set to win the election.”

As for the lieutenant governor seat, Del. Hala Ayala, who has received Gov. Ralph Northam’s endorsement, led the poll with 16%, followed by Del. Sam Rasoul’s 11% support, with five more candidates trailing. However, a whopping 45% of people polled were still undecided on this race in late May.

Ayala, who pledged not to take campaign funding from Dominion Energy Inc. and then accepted $100,000 from the powerful Fortune 500 utility, has been subject to criticism from progressives in recent days, including Clean Virginia PAC runner Michael Bills, who funds candidates who agree not to take money from Dominion.

The Democratic nominees will face Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin, lieutenant governor nominee Winsome Sears and attorney general nominee Del. Jason Miyares.

In some localities, Virginians also will have the opportunity to choose Democratic and Republican nominees for delegate seats Tuesday (although they must vote in only one party’s primary). One hotly contested seat is in Prince William County, where state Del. Elizabeth Guzman dropped out of the lieutenant governor race in April to defend her seat against three other Democrats.

In Richmond’s 68th District, incumbent Del. Dawn Adams is being challenged by Richmond attorney Kyle R. Elliott on the Democratic side. On the Republican side, attorney Mark Earley Jr. is running against far-right candidate Mike Dickinson, although both have received negative press in recent weeks — Earley for a campaign finance disclosure complaint by Dickinson, whose recent criminal misdemeanor convictions were brought to light last week.

For more information on the primaries and what to expect on your ballot, visit the Virginia Department of Elections.

 

Virginia, other states sue Augusta County company Nexus Services

Updated 3:30 p.m. Feb. 22

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring joined Massachusetts and New York in suing Virginia-based bonding company Nexus Services Inc., alleging in the suit that its Libre by Nexus subsidiary “preys on consumers held in federal detention centers by offering to pay for consumers’ immigration bonds to secure their release.”

In exchange for those services, the suit alleges, “Libre demands large upfront fees and hefty monthly payments while concealing or misrepresenting the true costs of its services.”

Joined by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the three states filed suit Monday against the company, the Libre subsidiary and its co-owners, CEO Micheal Donovan, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Richard Moore, and Nexus Services Director Evan Ajin, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. The suit alleges they violated the federal Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 and “engaged in deceptive and abusive acts or practices in connection with Libre’s offer of credit to consumers for their immigration bonds,” and that Nexus and the three individual defendants “knowingly or recklessly provided substantial assistance to Libre in its deceptive and abusive acts or practices.”

In a statement issued Monday afternoon, Donovan said, “Libre by Nexus categorically denies all allegations in the complaint filed against the company today and looks forward to our day in court.” The company, he adds, “is committed to fighting for immigrants scarred by the torture of ‘civil’ immigration detention. While we have fought to release tens of thousands of immigrants from detention, especially during the last four years, the AGs have taken time and money to investigate our company. These same AGs have defended their police and prison guards in abuse cases, some of which have been funded by Libre. The result of their years-long investigations is a poorly drafted complaint that rehashes allegations the company has successfully defended in three different legal actions. They are still defending the corrupt prison guards.

“While the federal government continues to detain scores of immigrants, the AGs have ignored the fact that these detention centers operate within their own borders. From Buffalo, [New York], to Farmville to Suffolk, [Massachusetts], immigrants are tortured while Herring, [New York Attorney General Letitia] James and others conduct a shadowy investigation into the only company helping the immigrants they claim to be protecting,” Donovan’s statement says. He adds that the company funded lawsuits against Virginia on behalf of prisoners’ rights. “Libre is proud of its work and believes sunlight is the best disinfectant. We plan to vigorously defend this suit and prevail at trial.”

Nexus has been based in Atlanta since 2019, but its founders are residents of Fishersville and its principal place of business is in Verona, according to the complaint. Since its founding in Augusta County in 2013, the company has drawn considerable scrutiny from multiple states, which accused it of taking advantage of immigrants caught in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement system and their family members. As of late last year, the U.S. Justice Department and several other federal and state agencies were investigating the company.

The company worked with bail bond agencies to pay bonds on immigrant clients so they could leave federal ICE custody, using GPS ankle monitors to insure their clients would appear in court. Clients of Libre by Nexus paid $420 per month for their monitors, although in June, the company announced it would switch from ankle monitors to a mobile app on clients’ phones, after a client in Florida died of COVID-19 in a hospital while still wearing a monitor.

According to the suit, “from at least 2014 until at least late 2017, Libre used a multi-part, written client agreement of over 20 pages, all written in English except for a single page written in Spanish,” although “the vast majority of Libre’s clients and their co-signers are Spanish speakers, most of whom do not read or write English and many of whom cannot read or write in any language.”

In December, Nexus settled a case with the state’s Bureau of Insurance, which claimed that Libre was acting as an unlicensed insurance agent, by agreeing to pay $425,000 and limiting its ability to collect monthly fees in Virginia. In November, the company reached a $5.5 million settlement with the California Department of Insurance.

The suit filed this week alleges that Nexus Services and Libre by Nexus are not licensed bail-bond agents in any state; according to news reports, founders Donovan and Moore, who are married, were convicted of writing bad checks and are not eligible to become bail bondsmen. They previously worked as lobbyists in Richmond representing the bail bond industry.

The suit also alleges that because immigration cases can languish in court for an average of three years, “Libre’s clients may have to make $420 monthly payments for that long, or longer,” incurring up to $17,000 in fees. Also, the company’s written agreement misleads clients to believe nonpayment will lead to re-arrest or other consequences, the suit says, even though “neither ICE nor any other agency is a party to Libre’s agreement.”

Further, since February 2018, “Libre has not provided any GPS monitoring service to thousands of consumers … because Libre’s GPS vendor cut off Libre’s remote access to the monitoring software at that time,” the suit says. The following month, the vendor decommissioned all of Libre’s monitors, due to delinquent payments, according to the complaint.

CFPB, Massachusetts, New York and Virginia have filed 17 counts against the company and asked the court to award Virginia up to $2,500 per violation, as well as $1,000 per violation in legal fees, along with other damages and restitution. The plaintiffs also seek to “enjoin defendants from making material misrepresentations … and engaging in other deceptive, abusive and unlawful conduct alleged in the complaint.”

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.