During this weeks Virginia State Legislature's "Special Session", Virginia lawmakers debated law enforcement reforms in wake of the recent national instances of negative interactions between citizens and law enforcement. None of these instances however occurred in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In fact, more law enforcement officers have died in the line of duty over the last few years than "officer shootings" resulting in the death of any citizens.
Nonetheless, never letting a "crisis" go to waste the Democratic Party of Virginia has sought to advance reforms that would impact the manner in which Virginia law enforcement operates. Some of the provisions can be argued from a civil libertarian view point as valid. One such provision is "no knock" warrants. The "choke hold" measure however appears to be something that was derived from other states in truth or at the very least copycatted because Virginia law enforcement does not engage in "choke holds" as a means of force when interacting with citizens.
The S.B. 5030 bill puts Virginia Democrats in a very tenuous position. The appearance or "optic" this week is that Democrats do not support law enforcement and are attempting to undermine the ability for law enforcement to do its job effectively. Suburban districts certainly do not wish to see what is happening in places like Richmond City happen in their communities. Some in the Democratic Caucus support defunding police entirely where the majority appears to simply seek to enact reforms to appease the far left of the party. Many see this week as mere posturing for next year in attempts by some Democrats to avoid primary challenges from the "progressive" wing of the party which is well funded with resources coming from outside the Commonwealth. This week has put Democrats on soft footing for the House races coming in 2021 which resembles the door Democrats provided Virginia Republicans in the 1990's in terms of making crime and law enforcement a central theme in campaigning. Many political analysts draw a direct line of this theme to the election of Governor George Allen (R) during that decade.
In what appeared to be the perfect opportunity for Virginia Republicans to come together in a focused effort to begin to formulate new messaging for 2021, appeared shattered with one speech on the floor during the S.B. 5030 debate. State Senator Amanda Freeman Chase (I- Chesterfield) who no longer caucuses with the Virginia Senate GOP managed to once again spotlight on herself. This has become habitual for the State Senator who is seeking the GOP nomination to run for Governor in 2021.
| State Senator Chase (I) |
In an effort to address her "stand" or support for law enforcement, Senator Chase once again played the victim card. A card that Chase has routinely played over and over on the campaign trail all across Virginia in 2020. Recently, Chase claimed she was the victim of "liberal" restaurant owners in Harrisonburg, VA when owners asked for her to wear a mask in accordance with the state mandate governing restaurant services. The owners provided Chase with reasonable accommodation though Chase never owned this fact in terms of informing her followers. Chase claimed she was "denied service" because of her refusal to respect Governor Northam's mask covering mandates. Chase would later claim that a "medical condition" of some sort prevented her from wearing masks yet multiple images of her mask wearing appeared on social media to undermine this claim.
On the Senate floor, Chase rose to oppose S.B. 5030 and in doing so determined to bring up the 2019 incident in which she had involving an interaction with Capitol Police at Pedestrian Plaza in Richmond where Chase attempted to park her car in an unauthorized parking spot. Chase asserted on the floor that she knew "...what its like to be the victim" as she described this interaction only to receive moans from her colleagues. Chase sated she was thankful that the officer was no longer with the Capitol Police implying that the officer was a "bad officer".
Chase's comments stem from the 2019 incident in which Capitol Police officer Ashley Berryman refused to permit Senator Chase from parking in an unauthorized spot and where Berryman stated Chase became "irate" and used profanities directed at her.
Chase was quoted as stating to Berryman "You don't know the equality of women's right" and "Do you know who I am?" while Berryman remained professional and radioed her superior and support officer to determine if she was permitted to allow Chase to park in the area. After word came down the chain of command that Chase was not authorized to park in the area, Chase became even more agitated with Berryman and stated:
"Madame Clerk, Miss Piggy, gets to park her fat ass in front" referring to the Senate Clerk Susan Clarke Schaars who apparently was in fact authorized to park in the location and at the time first term Senator Chase was not. Chase was directed to park in her authorized deck.
Now Chase appears to insinuate that Officer Berryman was "bad officer" and was now longer with the Capitol Police because of her performance yet this is not the case at all. Ashley Berryman is now a federal law enforcement officer and by all estimations was elevated in her career field. Berryman was never removed from duty by the Capitol Police and was a well respected member of the department.
This incident followed another with Capitol Police where many believed that Senator Chase was using the Capital Police as a personal shuttle service for her own benefit.
The 2019 incident was merely the first run in with law enforcement that Chase claims to support. One thing is very clear and while Chase may claim to "support" or "stand" with law enforcement her own actions appear to provide a very different position. Chase has continued to use law enforcement throughout her campaign as a sword to advance her own paradigm on various issues and routinely with no corroboration.
For example, Senator Chase claimed earlier this year that she had credible information from law enforcement in North Carolina that Governor Northam was traveling to Manteo, NC during the pandemic to vacation on the weekends. This claim nor any corroboration from law enforcement was every provided. Then a few months later, Chase claimed that the Chesterfield County Chief of Police informed her that Antifa was planning to cross the James River and terrorize residents of her district and that the militias were being called out. The Chief denied any such conversation concerning Antifa too place. This followed Chase's assertions a year prior that the Chesterfield Sheriff's Department and Sheriff Karl Leonard was soft on illegal immigration and ultimately opposed the Sheriff's nomination. This opposition resulted in Chase being ousted from her local GOP committee for failure to support a bonafide GOP nominee per RPV rules.
It has become rather evident to the political community that Senator Chase is nothing more than an opportunist who continues in every instance to claim the "victim" card when it suits her politically. Any time that any questions arise regarding Chase for her own actions or statements Chase claims they are simply coming from "liberal operatives" or some conspiracy against her.
Chase has repeatedly made this claim over and over. When supporters formed a grassroots Facebook group for Chase and the group refused to permit her control of the group messaging or permit her to place donation links on the group page, Chase took to her own social media calling the group creators "fake" and "liberal plants". Chase would claim a "bait and switch" yet refused any attempts at mediation in terms of the group now with over 12,000 members.
Chase has sought on two separate instances to undermine the group, once in April after a article was released by the Richmond Times-Dispatch and than again in August with no success. Chase claimed to have no personal knowledge of the creators on her facebook page yet text messages were published demonstrating that Chase had been in contact with the creators as far back as October of 2019 where she enlisted their support as well as calls and texts during the 2020 General Assembly session completely discredit Chase's assertions and claims.
The Democrats had a field day. The liberal Blue Virginia page reported the circumstance as follows:
The group has continued to grow from 8,000 to over 12,000 since Chase began her campaign to undermine it claiming she was the "victim" once again. The groups description clearly describes itself as unrelated or affiliated to any campaign. The group can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/999287823791649
The pattern of claiming to be the "victim" appears to be the central theme of the Chase for Governor 2021 campaign. Based on recent fundraising reporting from Virginia Public Access this theme does not appear to be resonating. Chase trails Delegate Jennifer Foy (D), State Senator Jennifer McClellan (D) , former Governor Terry McAulifee (D-undeclared) in donations and in the first full quarter Chase reported only $200,953. Here is the breakdown:
https://www.vpap.org/offices/governor/elections/
Chase's own response to the 2019 incident involving Officer Berryman is indicative of every instance in which anyone challenges State Senator Amanda Freeman Chase:
"I am a bit surprised by this report, which honestly, looks like it was written by democrat operatives."
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