Political officials in Virginia are required to submit Statement of Economic Interest forms that are posted to the state’s ethics advisory council website. As a part-time legislature, delegates and senators have lives and other work outside of representing constituents and must disclose publicly what might be an economic interest to them.
Sen. Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico, who is running to be the next chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia, initially failed to disclose his wife and various businesses on recent SOEI forms. Though the document has been amended to include those details, one of his opponents in the race questions why they weren’t revealed in the first place and if it’s something Republicans could target Bagby for should he become the leader of the state’s Democratic party.
Bagby told The Mercury that the omission was an “oversight.”
Potential liability for state Democrats?
The form includes the question “Do you or a member of your immediate family own, separately or together, a business that has a value in excess of $5,000?” Bagby had at first answered “no,” despite his wife’s salon and event space businesses. On the updated form, amended on March 10, he answered yes to that question.
Josh Stanfield, who is also running for DPVA chair, has tried to ask Bagby about potential conflicts of interest in candidate forums.
In an interview with the Mercury and on his blog, Stanfield noted that when former Democratic governor L. Douglas Wilder was a candidate in 1989, he came under scrutiny from Republicans for failing to disclose his real estate and stock holdings on forms. At the time, Wilder called on then-Democratic Attorney General Mary Sue Terry to investigate the matter.
“(She) was able to put that to rest,” Stanfield said. “But the point is, when it comes to these forms, any sort of omission or anything of serious question gives the Republicans a route of attack, whether founded or unfounded.”
Stanfield also points to Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares’ run for re-election and how former DPVA spokesperson Liam Watson was subject to a probe from Miyares’ office. Watson, who left DPVA in 2023 after being elected to Blacksburg town council, now faces trial for election fraud charges.
DPVA’s central committee members will vote between Zach Pruckowski, Bagby and Stanfield on March 22 to pick the party’s new chair. That person will then be the new face and voice of the political party in Virginia and can play a key role in boosting Democrats ahead of this year’s House of Delegates and executive branch elections.
When reached for comment, Pruckowski did not wish to weigh in on Bagby’s forms.
“I’m just staying focused on making the case to members of (DPVA’s Central Committee) that I’m the best guy for the job,” he said.
As candidates for an inner-party race rather than a state-run election, neither Stanfield and Pruckowski are subject to the SOEI.
“To qualify for the ballot in a state-run election, you have to fill out to SOEI,” DPVA’s executive director Shyam Raman said.
Meanwhile, as a former state candidate and current state lawmaker, Bagby fills out SOEI forms each year. Issues with Bagby’s paperwork were first discovered by independent journalist Christa Motley and when she questioned Bagby about them, his lawyer responded.
“The omission that you shared has been addressed and was a result of an oversight,” Bagby’s lawyer Joe Massie wrote to Motley on March 11 after the forms had been updated.
Motley, who has spent years reporting on how Virginia’s substance use recovery homes are managed in the state, uncovered Bagby’s connections to the Virginia Association of Recovery Residences and began looking into his finances more closely when he announced his run for DPVA chair.
Her reporting on recovery homes revealed Bagby’s role in state funds that VARR has received in recent years — a role Bagby has downplayed.
“All I have done was give money to the recovery community,” he said in a recent interview with The Mercury.
Emails that Motley received through a Freedom of Information Act request showed VARR officials referring to Bagby as a “champion” in the legislature. He also joined a limited liability company called Imagine The Freedom LLC with members of VARR, which owned a property, as well. Though the LLC was on Bagby’s previous SOEI forms, it is absent in recent years. This is because his association with Imagine The Freedom has ended, he told The Mercury.
Virginia’s Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council website is where SOEI forms are publicly viewable. The database indicates that Bagby recently amended his filing, but previous versions of the forms are not publicly available. The Mercury confirmed the omissions through a records request to the council.
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From last year to now, Virginia raised teacher pay by an average of $3,000. Still, the commonwealth’s average pay rate for educators remains stagnant compared to other states, according to the latest salary report published by the National Education Association.
The commonwealth dropped by one spot to 26th, paying teachers an average of $66,327, an increase from a year ago. Virginia’s average teacher pay is $5,703 below the national average of $72,030, the NEA report states.
Education leaders and lawmakers in the commonwealth said inflation and investments are some of the factors contributing to mixed results in the national salary report.
“Clearly (the report) shows that we have made good improvement in recent years, and we have a long way to go,” said House Education Committee Chair Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke.
Rasoul admitted that the commonwealth is thousands of dollars below the national teacher pay average, “but when we started this journey a few years ago, we were in the bottom third of states, and so we’re approaching where we need to be.”
The Virginia Education Association (VEA), representing the largest group of K-12 teachers in the commonwealth, said that while the national data shows gains have been made in Virginia, pre-kindergarten to higher education teachers are still not making enough to support themselves after being adjusted for inflation.
According to VEA, the average public school teacher salary increased by 3% from the previous year, but when adjusted for inflation, teachers made only $108 more.
“While it might look like teachers are getting support, they are actually losing money, which has a direct impact on student learning,” VEA said.
While recognizing recent gains, VEA president Carol Bauer said Virginia’s teachers are “still losing economic ground” while schools continue weathering the state’s education staffing shortages.
“True historic investment means decisively closing salary gaps, adequately funding schools, and ensuring every classroom has a qualified teacher. Virginia must commit to real, sustained investments to attract and retain educators, rather than relying on incremental gains that barely keep pace with inflation,” Bauer said.
What can Virginia do now?
Virginia has an opportunity to boost educator pay even more, after the General Assembly recommended changes to the state budget.
This week, Gov. Glenn Youngkin will decide whether to support lawmakers’ budget proposal to provide bonuses to teachers and lift a cap on state funding for non-instructional school staff positions. This would give school divisions greater flexibility to hire the staff they need without being “restricted” by outdated student-to-staff ratios.
In 2009, during the Great Recession, lawmakers initiated the cap to reduce state spending on non-instructional school staff positions, including central office and administrative, technical, clerical, maintenance, and instructional support positions.
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to comment on the report. However, in the governor’s budget recommendations in March, Youngkin wrote that Virginia has raised teacher pay by 18% over the last three years.
The budget amendments now being considered by the governor contain $166 million more for public education, including $84.7 million to raise the cap.
Last year, state lawmakers formed a joint committee to work on overhauling the Standards of Quality (SOQ), the state’s funding formula determining the financial needs of school divisions, after a state study group found local governments have been shouldering a disproportionate share of K-12 education costs compared to the state’s contributions.
Lawmakers arranged for the state and localities to pay an even split of contributions in 1972, but they changed it in 1993, urging localities to start paying for K-12 fringe benefits.
According to the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, the state’s share was established at 55%, while localities paid 45%.
What’s next?
House Education Committee Vice Chair Shelly Simonds, D-Newport News, carried the support cap bill and budget language to support non-instructional positions.
As a former teacher and school board member, Simonds said a core issue her legislation will address is the administration’s prioritized focus on overhauling testing and accountability measures — part of the administration’s efforts to combat learning loss and raise student testing scores — instead of recruiting and maintaining teachers.
Simonds said some ways to make teaching the best job in Virginia could involve creating competitive pay, treating educators as professionals in the school buildings, and offering maternity leave, professional development and planning periods to collaborate with colleagues.
“The only thing that has been really proven to improve education is highly qualified teachers,” Simonds said. “Having a highly qualified teacher in every classroom is the way we move the needle on test scores for our children.”
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Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
The content focuses on advocating for higher teacher pay and increased public school funding, highlighting the challenges teachers face with current salaries lagging behind the national average and inflation. It presents perspectives from education advocates and Democratic lawmakers supportive of investing more in public education. While recognizing some progress, the tone calls for more substantial government commitment, aligning with generally progressive stances on public education funding and labor support. The article maintains a factual and policy-oriented approach without extreme rhetoric, situating it in the center-left range.
www.youtube.com – 13News Now – 2025-04-30 14:54:32
SUMMARY: I’m 13 News Now meteorologist Evan Stewart. It’s Wednesday, April 30th, with warm temperatures in the 80s across Hampton Roads and Eastern Shore, over 10° above average. A frontal boundary near North Carolina could trigger isolated showers and thunderstorms later today and into the evening. While severe weather is impacting Texas and nearby areas with tornado risks, Hampton Roads faces a low, level one risk for isolated strong storms. Thursday remains warm with a slight 20% rain chance, and Friday brings more late-day showers and storms. A slow-moving front will increase weekend rain chances, possibly lingering into early next week with cooler weather.
There will be several chances for rain showers and potentially even storms through the weekend.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Shirleen Guerra | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-30 12:55:00
(The Center Square) – Virginia just logged one of the sharpest drops in fentanyl deaths in the country — down 44% from last year and nearly cut in half since 2021—Gov. Glenn Youngkin says it’s proof his crackdown is working.
The administration credits everything from drug seizures to tougher laws on dealers, plus a massive naloxone rollout. “Overdose deaths skyrocketed across America and in Virginia, driven primarily by illicit fentanyl flowing across our southern border. With an average of five dying Virginians each day, in 2022, we launched a comprehensive effort to stop the scourge of fentanyl, it’s working, and Virginia is leading,” said Youngkin.
He also tied the drop to border enforcement, echoing President Trump’s argument that immigration policy is key to stopping fentanyl from entering the U.S.
“Our approach stands on four principles: interrupt the drug trade, enhance penalties for drug dealers, educate people about the dangers of fentanyl, and equip them to save the life of someone in crisis,” said Youngkin in astatement.
According to the Virginia Department of Health, fatal overdoses across all substances fell by34.1% in 2024compared to the year before — the sharpest drop since the epidemic peaked in 2021.
Trump’s recent moves include a new order cracking down on sanctuary cities, more troops at the southern border and a pledge to ramp up deportations.
“We have turned the tide in this battle and must now redouble our efforts to build on our success,” said Dr. Colin Greene, Special Advisor on Opioid Response.
In Virginia, Youngkin’s team points to several key efforts behind the numbers. Operation FREE, a joint law enforcement initiative, has seized enough fentanyl to kill every Virginian ten times over, according to the administration. The commonwealth also banned pill presses, expanded penalties for dealers, and now requires schools to notify parents when student overdoses happen.
Since 2022, nearly 400,000 doses of naloxone have been distributed statewide, and almost 100,000 Virginians have been trained to use it. First Lady Suzanne Youngkin’s “It Only Takes One” campaign is also part of the strategy — aimed at raising awareness among families, schools and local communities.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Right
The article presents a clear ideological perspective, with a tone that strongly supports Governor Glenn Youngkin’s policies on combating fentanyl deaths. It emphasizes the success of Youngkin’s efforts, such as drug seizures, tougher laws, and border enforcement, which aligns with conservative viewpoints, particularly regarding immigration policy and law enforcement. The framing of the issue—highlighting Youngkin’s leadership and drawing connections to President Trump’s immigration stance—reinforces a right-leaning narrative, suggesting that tougher border control is key to solving the fentanyl crisis. The article does not present significant counterpoints or explore opposing viewpoints on these measures, which could balance the coverage. Overall, the content reflects a pro-administration stance, particularly aligning with the policies of the Republican Party.
