A judge barred a far-left attorney from blocking voters from recalling a Loudoun County school supervisory board on Tuesday.
The judge said the recalls of Beth Barts, who was admonished for frequently assaulting parents, can instead be handled by a special counsel.
Everything You Need to Know
Following her removal from the advisory board (due to party political activism that frequently included attacks on parents), Barts organized a mob of violent thugs in an anti-racist group on Facebook.
These thugs threatened to hack outspoken parents, with a sheriff’s inquiry finding the parents were primarily targeted for interrogating the extended school shutdowns urged by teaching unions.
Many elected officials, notably Buta Biberaj, the district’s chief appointed prosecutor, were members of the Facebook page. In Virginia, elected leaders cannot be removed from office simply by collecting a certain number of votes from the voting public.
Instead, meeting that tipping point triggers a court case in which a prosecuting attorney argues to a judge that the office holder has engaged in conduct that warrants removal.
This could include things such as misappropriation of office, neglect of duty, or ineptness.
Kudos to my partner David Warrington, Counsel Stuart McCommas, & support team on HUGE court victory today for @iandprior's group seeking to recall a Loudon County school board member. We intervened, got prosecutor disqualified & defeated motion to dismiss! https://t.co/cUJCl8XADw
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) October 6, 2021
Despite the obvious conflict of interest, Biberaj didn’t even offer to excuse herself, despite engaging in the group on Facebook. She wrote a public letter denouncing parents seeking an education department recalls as rabble-rousers.
Biberaj secured a one-percentage-point victory in 2019 after getting more than $800,000 in outside funding from George Soros. Her adversary, a Republican prosecutor, spent $150,000 on the campaign.
Another liberal prosecutor in adjacent Fairfax dropped a recall lawsuit against a school administrator. He did this without revealing his possible conflicts of interest to the judge last month, despite voters passing the threshold.
The Judge Ruled in Favor of Conservatives
According to Ian Prior, chief executive of an organization called Fight For Schools, a judge heard three arguments on Tuesday and decided in favor of parents in all three.
“Beth Barts was attempting to have the petitions dismissed by asserting the affidavit portion was unlawful. A petition to participate in the case was filed by Fight For Schools, as was a motion to suppress Buta Biberaj and establish a special neutral prosecutor.
“On all arguments, we won,” he added. “The judge requested a week to designate a special counsel, after which we will proceed to the next phase of discovery and inquiry with Fight for Schools as an advocate.”
.@MattWalshBlog SLAMS Loudoun County School Board: “You are predators. I can see why you try to stop us from speaking, you know that your ideas are indefensible. You silence the opposing side because you have no argument.” pic.twitter.com/u4wdWH8WU4
— The Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) September 28, 2021
He estimated that about 25 parents in support of the recall were in the courtroom, while Biberaj attended in person to argue against the parent group’s capacity to participate fully in the case.
The win for families against a court system that appears to be working against them came after the American School Boards Association compared parents upset about school failings to violent extremists and Attorney General Merrick Garland offered help.
It also comes just days after Terry McAuliffe, Virginia’s Democrat governor contender, stated repeatedly that parents should not be dictating to schools what to teach.
