The district attorney project: Case study of Norfolk, VA
They aren’t even trying to hide it. For the past few years, there has been an organized effort to elect far-left district attorneys around the nation. The result has been surging crime in urban areas.
San Francisco’s Chesa Boudin is probably the most well-known example. Boudin is the subject of a recall election this June. A recall effort is also underway for George Gascon in Los Angeles.
But the phenomenon has gone from coast to coast. Organizers have achieved considerable success in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
In the Commonwealth, district attorneys go under the title Commonwealth’s Attorneys. Two of Virginia’s most controversial have served in the Counties of Arlington and Loudoun, in the Washington, D.C. suburbs.
In Arlington, Commonwealth Attorney Parisa Deghani-Tafti prosecuted a shop employee for shooting an intruder breaking into his store. In Loudoun County, Commonwealth Attorney Buta Biberaj famously went after parents protesting at local school board meetings. What all of these prosecutors have in common is that their elections were supported by New York-based financier George Soros.
In this age of “dark money,” this source of this financial support could not be more transparent. All of Soros’ donations and the monies received by district attorney candidates are fully disclosed at both ends.
Take the example of the Commonwealth Attorney for Norfolk, Virginia, Ramin Fatahi. He was first elected to office in November 2018. His program includes all the usual elements: eliminating cash bail, expanding parole, etc. And, of course, crime is up in the region.
There is a political action committee registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) named the Justice and Public Safety PAC, founded in July 2017.
In the first election cycle it operated (2017-18), the PAC took in and spent $136,000, all donated by Soros. In that cycle, all of the money was spent supporting the re-election bid of Stephanie Morales, the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Portsmouth, VA.
In the next election cycle (2019-20), the committee spent more than $2 million of Soros cash supporting the election of Biberaj, Tafti, and a third candidate, Steve Descano of Fairfax County. Descano is the subject of an ongoing recall effort.
In the current election cycle (2021-22), other than operating costs, all of the money spent by the PAC is recorded as “in-kind” donations to Friends of Ramin Fatehi, his campaign committee. For 2021, that spending amounted to more than $200,000.
The FEC records all donations to the PAC. The largest donor in 2021 was George Soros at $119,000. In October 2020, Soros’ Democracy PAC contributed $780,000 to Justice and Public Safety. Earlier in the year, Soros directly donated $1.1 million.
It is all out in the open, available to everyone with just a few clicks of the keyboard. Soros’ operation has opened branch offices all over America, all sharing the name [insert state] Justice and Public Safety.
The campaign account of Loudoun’s Biberaj shows that it received $655,000 from the Justice and Public Safety PAC in 2019, according to reports on file at Virginia’s State Board of Elections. Tafti received the same amount in 2019, down to the penny. The Board records Fatehi’s current committee as having been established in July 2020.
To illustrate how circular the whole thing is, take a look at Fatehi’s report filed for April-May of 2021. He reports $221,000 of in-kind contributions that period, mostly from Justice and Public Safety. He records receiving $41,500 in cash directly from Democracy PAC. He also reports a personal $125 contribution from Biberaj.
Birds of a feather.