October 25, 2021
McAuliffe is making up lies about "banning books" because he's losing.
Terry McAuliffe is ratcheting up his attacks on parents – specifically, Fairfax mom Laura Murphy. McAuliffe is scared to death of her story. He's even calling it a "racist dog whistle."
According to the Washington Post Fact Checker, McAuliffe is lying about the legislation he vetoed. It would not have banned books. These were two parental notification bills that McAuliffe vetoed, and they were both bipartisan.
Between the two bills, 18 Democrats voted for them. Are these 18 Democrats – including 14 members of the Black Caucus – racists? Does their vote equate to "silencing esteemed Black authors," as McAuliffe so ridiculously charged?
HB 516 (2016) was supported by 14 House Democrats, including 11 members of the Black Caucus. It was also supported by 1 Senate Democrat, Lynwood Lewis.
1. Lashrecse Aird
2. Lamont Bagby
3. David Bulova
4. Betsy Carr
5. Daun Hester
6. Joe Lindsey
7. Jennifer McClellan
8. Delores McQuinn
9. Cia Price
10. Sam Rasoul
11. Lionell Spruill
12. Luke Torian
13. David Toscano
14. Roslyn Tyler
15. Lynwood Lewis
HB 2191 (2017) was supported by 8 House Democrats, including 6 members of the Black Caucus:
1. Lashrecse Aird
2. Lamont Bagby
3. Jeff Bourne
4. David Bulova
5. Cliff Hayes
6. Mike Mullin
7. Cia Price
8. Sam Rasoul
The bipartisan bills McAuliffe vetoed would simply have notified parents of sexually explicit reading assignments and given them the choice of having their own child receive an alternative. McAuliffe continues to confirm every day that he wants to silence parents because he doesn't believe they should have a say in their child's education.
As The Washington Post Fact Checker wrote on September 30, 2021 following the second Youngkin-McAuliffe debate:
While the former governor [McAuliffe] knocked Youngkin for not understanding the basics of the law that was debated, he mischaracterized the bills he vetoed. Neither bill would have allowed parents to "veto books" or "take them off the shelves," according to the bills and the veto statements issued by McAuliffe at the time. In fact, neither had to do with books, but concerned instructional material.
Meanwhile, Youngkin asserted that the bills vetoed would have informed parents that sexually explicit books were in the school library. But since the bills referenced instructional materials used by teachers in class, that would not have been the case unless a teacher assigned one of the books for a reading assignment.
In 2016, McAuliffe vetoed H.B. 516, which would notify parents if a teacher planned to provide "instructional material that includes sexually explicit content." Parents would be given an opportunity to review the materials upon request. If a parent objected, a student would be given "nonexplicit instructional material and related academic activities." The effort to override his veto fell short by one vote.
McAuliffe's veto message made no mention that parents could remove books. "The legislation would also require teachers to provide alternative instructional materials if requested by a parent," he wrote. "Open communication between parents and teachers is important, and school systems have an obligation to provide age-appropriate material for students. However, this legislation lacks flexibility and would require the label of 'sexually explicit' to apply to an artistic work based on a single scene, without further context."
...
In 2017, McAuliffe vetoed H.B. 2191, which had similar provisions. Lawmakers also failed to override his veto. "The legislation would also require teachers to provide alternative instructional materials if requested by a parent," McAuliffe acknowledged in his veto message. But he said the Virginia Board of Education had "determined that existing state policy regarding sensitive or controversial instructional material is sufficient and that additional action would be unnecessarily burdensome on the instructional process."
As Youngkin said last week in his major education speech, "I will sign the bipartisan bill that Terry McAuliffe vetoed that would have alerted parents to what their children are reading in school."
In vetoing the legislation, McAuliffe did the bidding of the special interest education unions. "Governor McAuliffe vetoed all of the bills we asked him to veto!" crowed the Virginia Education Association (VEA) at the time, referring to McAuliffe as "our goalie in the mansion."
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