{"id":689865,"date":"2021-08-27T10:50:42","date_gmt":"2021-08-27T14:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=689865"},"modified":"2021-08-27T10:50:45","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T14:50:45","slug":"soros-backed-attorney-kills-effort-to-recall-school-board-member-who-fought-reopening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/soros-backed-attorney-kills-effort-to-recall-school-board-member-who-fought-reopening\/","title":{"rendered":"Soros-Backed Attorney Kills Effort To Recall School Board Member Who Fought Reopening"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsoros-backed-attorney-kills-effort-to-recall-school-board-member-who-fought-reopening%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=689865&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div readability=\"29.10843373494\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/\">Campus<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">James Hingeley was appointed to defend the petition he got dismissed<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"325\" height=\"280\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/hingeley_hires-1.jpg\" class=\"w-full lazyload blur-up wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 325px) 100vw, 325px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/s4.freebeacon.com\/up\/2021\/08\/hingeley_hires.jpg 325w, https:\/\/s4.freebeacon.com\/up\/2021\/08\/hingeley_hires-300x258.jpg 300w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tAlbemarle County, Va., commonwealth&#8217;s attorney James Hingeley (D.) \/ University of Virginia School of Law\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/alex-nester\/\" title=\"Posts by Alex Nester\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Alex Nester<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/matthew-foldi\/\" title=\"Posts by Matthew Foldi\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Matthew Foldi<\/a> \u2022 August 27, 2021 10:40 am<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div readability=\"116.67565579799\">\n<p>A Virginia commonwealth&#8217;s attorney backed by left-wing billionaire George Soros tanked an effort to recall a Democratic school board member who prevented students from returning to classrooms.<\/p>\n<p>The Open Fairfax County Public Schools Coalition, a parents&#8217; group, in July reached the signature threshold to recall Elaine Tholen, a school board member who refused to reopen schools during the coronavirus pandemic. James Hingeley, the court-appointed attorney assigned to represent them in the case, dismissed Open Fairfax County Public Schools&#8217; petition on Friday. Hingeley, a Democrat who <a href=\"https:\/\/bluevirginia.us\/2019\/06\/photos-video-from-day-1-of-va-womens-summit-2019?fbclid=IwAR2CsNdWnioB3F3shjfTUrtDwicCl8mcQvyjT1EnBsJhOopewlur58YoNOc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">campaigned<\/a> alongside Tholen in 2019, received $5,000 that year from the Soros-funded Justice and Safety PAC.<\/p>\n<p>Soros and other left-wing donors backed Hingeley and other radical prosecutor candidates in an effort to remake Virginia&#8217;s criminal justice system, the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/politics\/soros-backed-prosecutor-candidates-sweep-virginia-races\/\">reported<\/a>&nbsp;in 2019. Hingeley, other Democratic candidates, and Tholen attended that year&#8217;s Virginia Women&#8217;s Summit.<\/p>\n<p>Soros&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/george-soros-funnels-1m-to-defund-the-police-as-violent-crime-surges\/\">funneled<\/a> $1 million to defund-the-police efforts as the country faced a violent crime spike this summer.<\/p>\n<p>The Open Fairfax County Public Schools Coalition originally sought to retain Charles R. Spies as its lawyer. But Virginia law required the group to plead their case with a Commonwealth&#8217;s attorney, Virginia&#8217;s equivalent of a district attorney. Fairfax County attorney Steve Descano\u2014who received $600,000 from Soros and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vpap.org\/committees\/324420\/top_donors\/?page=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&nbsp;thousands of dollars<\/a> from Tholen\u2014is facing his own recall and recused himself from the case. Descano tapped Hingeley to take his place.<\/p>\n<p>Fairfax County Circuit Court judge Richard Gardiner had already denied Tholen&#8217;s motion to quash the case against her, ruling that a trial would determine the veracity of the coalition&#8217;s allegations. The parent group said Tholen neglected her duties as an elected official by refusing to reopen schools.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than argue the coalition&#8217;s case, Hingeley sought to have it dismissed. The attorney said he had completed his own investigation into the parents&#8217; petition and <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/8.23.21-letter-to-Charles-Spies-1-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">called<\/a> their accusations &#8220;improper.&#8221;&nbsp;Gardiner <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Hearing-082021-Condensed-1-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> during an Aug. 20 hearing that his hands were tied in the matter and that he had to approve Hingeley&#8217;s request.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As the Commonwealth attorney, if he makes a motion to dismiss a case, in this Court&#8217;s view, the Court has no discretion at that point,&#8221; Gardiner said. &#8220;It&#8217;s totally up to the Commonwealth whether to move forward.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Dee O&#8217;Neal, an Open Fairfax County Public Schools Coalition leader who was in the meeting with Gardiner and Hingeley when the attorney declined to take up the case, told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> that Hingeley&#8217;s decision was obvious from the start.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was clear he wasn&#8217;t going to represent us. He told us he didn&#8217;t represent us, but the people of the county,&#8221; O&#8217;Neal said. &#8220;The first thought that came to my head was, if this guy is going to be defending Elaine Tholen and the county, who&#8217;s defending the petition? It felt like the fix was in.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Open Fairfax County Public Schools Coalition is a nonpartisan group of parents that opposes the school district&#8217;s closure during the coronavirus pandemic. The group is working to recall several Fairfax County Public School board members who voted against reopening schools.<\/p>\n<p>O&#8217;Neal criticized the treatment of the coalition&#8217;s petition, alleging that the state government was biased in the matter.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was definitely political. I mean, I don&#8217;t care what party you vote for. It felt planned,&#8221; O&#8217;Neal said. &#8220;We weren&#8217;t given a fair shake because of the person who was there to defend us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The coalition is also&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/fairfax-county-parents-notch-victory-in-effort-to-recall-board-member-who-opposed-reopening\/\">working<\/a> to recall school board members Laura Jane Cohen and Abrar Omeish. Omeish&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/virginia-school-board-member-makes-anti-israel-social-media-posts\/\">caught flack<\/a> in May when she referred to Israel as an apartheid state.<\/p>\n<p>Groups of parents across the country are toppling board members who kept schools shuttered during the coronavirus pandemic. A group of Wisconsin parents on Monday submitted its petition to recall four school board members who deferred authority in deciding coronavirus mitigation strategies to the superintendent.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Campus James Hingeley was appointed to defend the petition he got dismissed  Albemarle County, Va., commonwealth&#8217;s attorney James Hingeley (D.) \/ University of Virginia School of &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-689865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}