Editor, Gazette-Journal:
Here we go again. Another rich businessman has decided he knows how to govern without any previous experience in government, in this case, the state of Virginia. Just like the Former Guy, Donald Trump, who attempted to overthrow democracy in America so he could be king. Glenn Youngkin, a former CEO of The Carlyle Group, wants to be our governor. It is useful to know as much about him as possible.
The Carlyle Group is a private equity corporation that bought up properties like mobile home parks, raised the rent on sites to the point that low-income renters and seniors on fixed incomes couldn’t afford them and had to move. Then the group sold the sites for profit. In one case, the gross profit was $85 million. Shareholders must have really liked that.
The group also bought a nursing home chain and instituted cost-cutting measures that resulted in the loss of hundreds of jobs. Complaints of deteriorating service and neglect followed. It’s all about the profit for people like Youngkin.
He has spoken out against life-saving gun legislation like expanded background checks, handgun purchase limitations and red flag laws. He has stated he will ban Critical Race Theory from Virginia schools, even though CRT is not part of Virginia’s Standards of Learning. In July, he was caught on video telling an activist that he would limit his comments about abortion during the campaign so that he would not alienate independent voters. After that was published, he admitted he is against abortion. He is opposed to vaccine mandates, while McAuliffe wisely wants to protect Virginians from this deadly disease.
It appears Youngkin either doesn’t know what he believes in or wants voters to believe he supports their views, whatever they are, in order to get their votes. Do we really need another dishonest novice politician with no government experience running Virginia? That didn’t work out so well on the federal level. Why would it work in Virginia?
I believe Virginians are smart enough to know when they are seeing another Trumper. While Youngkin has been endorsed by The Former Guy, he seems to try to avoid any relationship with him; even though he has been quoted as saying Trump was the reason he was running for governor.
We had enough trouble with one Trump. We don’t need a copycat Trump in Virginia’s governor’s mansion. Vote Terry McAuliffe, an experienced chief executive, for Governor of Virginia.
Katie Thompson
Hayes, Va.