#MeToo Politician Sunny Reynolds’ Protective Order TOSSED

June 26, 2018July 28, 2023Moderator 6 Comments

“I actually thought he actually could have hit me.”

—Former Warrenton, Virginia Vice Mayor Sunny Reynolds

Translation: He didn’t actually hit her.

Question: Is the subjective impression that someone “could have” committed an act of violence a valid—or even rational—basis to seek the state’s protection after the moment has passed, and there was no violence?

Considering that statutes that authorize injunctive relief were enacted to check violence that actually occurred (or at least was actually threatened), the answer is a pretty resounding no.

Here, remarkably, is an instance of a judge actually agreeing.

A complaint of abuse by (now former) Warrenton, Virginia Vice Mayor Sunny Reynolds, one that has been criticized on this site, was this month thrown out by the court.

Context: Local real estate developer Keith MacDonald was alleged to have verbally accosted Ms. Reynolds in a restaurant in February, pointed his finger at her, and said, “I’m going to get you.” Then: “All it takes is 125 votes.” In other words, Mr. MacDonald allegedly threatened to run against her in an election that has since seen Ms. Reynolds unseated.

Judge Jeffrey Parker, as quoted in the Fauquier Times:

“I have little doubt the behavior was rude and impolite and made the petitioner uncomfortable,” Parker said. “This statue is not about rudeness or a lack of politeness” but, rather, calls for a level of force or threats that invoke “a reasonable apprehension” of death, sexual assault or bodily injury.

Ms. Reynolds, in contrast, reportedly testified she felt Mr. MacDonald’s spittle on her face.

*The cost to Virginia taxpayers for this self-indulgent public tantrum by a member of their government, which involved law enforcement officials, besides several courts, and surely ran to the thousands of dollars, was not reported by the Fauquier Times.

Letter to the Editor Notes How Claims of “Abuse” Are Used to Exert Control

June 3, 2018July 28, 2023Moderator Leave a comment

Some recent critical scrutiny by the author of this blog was inspired by a restraining order petitioned by Warrenton, Virginia Vice Mayor Sunny Reynolds against a constituent and political rival of hers.

Since the March prosecution, Ms. Reynolds has been voted out of office (reportedly by a margin of 2 to 1) and replaced by a male candidate whose campaign stressed change.

What follows quotes former Warrenton town council member Yakir Lubowsky, who reminds readers of the Fauquier Times how being a citizen of the United States is supposed to be different from being a citizen of China (see First Amendment). What Mr. Lubowsky highlights is an emergent social trend that is hardly new but has newly been brought to the fore by social media: assuming the victim pose to silence unfavorable opinions (which has notably been remarked elsewhere in recent months).

The quotation below appeared in a letter to the editor last week and is in response to critical remarks by Ms. Reynolds concerning an earlier letter by Mr. Lubowsky (who writes that he composed two). Ms. Reynolds reports on her campaign website that she has filed a formal complaint with the State Board of Elections, apparently on this basis: “Mr. Lubowsky’s letter…presents nothing more than an accusatory opinion.” The last this writer heard, opinions were protected under our Constitution’s free speech clause.

Mr. Lubowsky (stresses added):

I wrote two letters, a short one that appeared in Fauquier Now [and] was also faithfully reproduced on approximately 1,200 leaflets (distributed lawfully in the spirit of the founding of our Republic); and a longer one which went viral through emails, and appears to have been read by hundreds more.

Both letters only criticize [politician Sunny Reynolds’] conduct, not her personality, and by points detailed and supported in each case by examples. Readers of both my letter(s) and Sunny’s will notice that hers does not respond meaningfully to any of these censures.

Sunny dismisses my criticisms as simple animosity. Yet she points out herself that I worked with her at the town council and voted for her to be vice mayor. (Moreover, as many know, Sunny and I had cordial relations during most of our time as colleagues.) No, my letters are neither angry nor personal, as is evident from even a casual reading. The letters are substantive indictments of Sunny’s injudicious behavior.

Finally, as to style, Sunny characterizes her own energetic engagement as “fervent” or “spirited”; while that of others, especially men, as “bullying.” She plays this card whenever useful, for example forcing our colleague Sean Polster into an absurd “mediation” and bringing specious charges against candidate Keith MacDonald in court.

What Mr. Yubowsky observes is an isolated point on the fringe of a very long shadow that has been steadily eclipsing citizens’ civil rights for decades.

*Had Mr. Lubowsky’s critical opinions been ad hominem attacks, had they been rude, hurtful, ill-supported, or even off-the-wall, they would still be protected speech in this country.

Constituent of #MeToo Politician Sunny Reynolds Describes a Phone Response by the “Victim” Mayor as Dripping with the “Vilest Truculence and Hostility”

April 14, 2018April 14, 2018Moderator 1 Comment

Previously remarked here, Virginia’s Fauquier Times reported last month that Warrenton Vice Mayor Sunny Reynolds was granted a restraining order against one her constituents, local real estate investor Keith Macdonald, for allegedly displaying aggression toward her in a restaurant during a verbal exchange lasting a few minutes. Ms. Reynolds testified she was “afraid” and complained to the press that she felt she was picked on because she was a girl.

This week, the same news outlet ran a letter to the editor by another of Ms. Reynold’s constituents, Robert Bowman, which contrasts with her self-representation to the police and the court as a fragile flower (emphasis added).

In the last city council election, I ignored friends’ advice and not only voted for Sunny Reynolds, but also allowed her to be the only candidate ever to place a campaign poster in my yard.

Since the election I have had three occasions to contact Reynolds.

On the first two incidents she did not call or respond in any way.

On a third issue I wish she had, yet again, ignored me. She responded to [it] by [phone] with the vilest truculence and hostility.

To say she was less than helpful would be a grave understatement.

Robert Bowman
Warrenton

Feminists are oblivious to the obvious, and no one else could fail to miss the implications, which spares this writer any obligation to comment further.

#MeToo Restraining Orders Petitioned by Politicians This Month

March 25, 2018March 30, 2018Moderator 1 Comment

Some recent posts on this blog concerned a frivolous restraining order granted to Warrenton, Virginia Vice Mayor Sunny Reynolds. Curious, I took a look to see whether this was a one-off among politicians.

It wasn’t.

This post looks at other restraining orders petitioned at the people’s expense by representatives of the people (all women)—reported in one month (March 2018). The majority seem to concern disruptions of public speeches. Of note, especially considering the plaintiffs are representatives of government, is that at least one of the orders is patently unconstitutional.

From the various news stories digested below, my favorite quotation was this: “It’s hard to keep track of who is driving this clown car.”

Republican Congresswoman Tarah Toohil was granted a three-year restraining order against fellow Republican state representative Nick Miccarelli, both of Pennsylvania, after alleging he abused and threatened to kill her during a relationship six years prior. Miccarelli, who was stripped of a badge that allows lawmakers to swipe into the Capitol complex and must enter with the general public through a metal detector, is being criminally investigated based on Toohil’s claims and those of another woman who prefers to remain anonymous.

Democratic Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham, a candidate for governor of New Mexico, was granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) against a former intern, Riley Del Rey, a transgender woman who alleges her termination was discrimination-based. Del Rey interrupted a Mar. 11 political speech, for which she was jailed, and was alleged to have “barged into a room” and “disrupted” a different event the month previous. A criminal investigation is pending in this case, which already required that Del Rey keep her distance from Lujan Grisham. The TRO was consequently tossed.

Cape Coral, Florida Mayor Marni Sawicki was granted a restraining order against her ex-husband, Ken Retzer. The only reported allegation was that he was “previously accused of attacking the one-term mayor last year during a conference in Miami.”

Florida Democratic Sen. Lauren Book was granted a permanent restraining order against Derek Logue for political speech (i.e., an unlawful prior restraint). Logue reportedly heckled Book at public events and published criticisms of her on Twitter and YouTube that included obscene words. (“Logue posted a video on Twitter entitled ‘You are a C**t,’” reports writer Peter Schorsch on the website Florida Politics, “that included lyrics saying he would ‘f**k up [Book’s] face.’” Schorsch also reports “[t]hat video was deemed a credible threat to Book’s safety by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.” The quoted lyrics are plainly those of Australian singer-songwriter Kat McSnatch, whose performance of the song is viewable here, and if Logue only linked to McSnatch’s video, the finding of “credible threat” by law enforcement, the court, and, most deplorably, Schorsch, is absurd.)

*In an instance of the people’s getting theirs back, the ex-husband of a woman said to have had an affair with Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, who was reportedly indicted in February on the charge of felony invasion of privacy for taking a nude photo of the woman without her permission in 2015, is seeking a restraining order against Greitens, a retired Navy SEAL, on the grounds he feels intimidated by him.

Alison Friedman and Karen Mallard: A Consideration of Two Congressional Candidates from Virginia Who Could Move for Reform of Corrupt Abuse Laws if Elected But Who Probably Wouldn’t

March 20, 2018March 21, 2018Moderator Leave a comment

Two recent posts here have commented on a restraining order petitioned by Warrenton, Virginia Vice Mayor Sunny Reynolds. The order was grounded on an exchange of words in a restaurant that lasted “three or four minutes.” To critics of feminist-inspired civil court processes that reek of kangaroo, the absurdity of Ms. Reynolds’ complaint, for which a man is now registered in the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database, isn’t necessary to remark.

Misapprehended, though, almost by everyone, is that what makes such travesties endlessly possible are laws, laws made by the legislators who we vote into office (and can vote out of office).

This post rhetorically analyzes the campaign videos of two congressional candidates from Sunny Reynolds’ state. The women in the videos may be tomorrow’s lawmakers.

One message is by an activist mom and former State Dept. official, Alison Friedman (“Alison for Virginia”):

The other is by a schoolteacher, Karen Mallard (“Teacher for Congress”):

Both advertisements conspicuously center around children, and their appeals are emotional. Her voice trembles as Ms. Friedman narrates a series of stills. She describes her grade school daughter’s fear that the President would “[bring] his guns to [their] house” if news of a letter she wrote to him were leaked. Mrs. Mallard, who’s on camera throughout her ad, gets teary-eyed as she recalls learning that her father was illiterate and teaching him to read.

Adult male presences in the ads are tame or mute. Ms. Friedman seems to be a single mom. Mrs. Mallard’s husband, David, appears in her video, but how he appears is positively morose:

Mr. Mallard becomes animated later on—after he cooks dinner, which he’s filmed doing. Two young men, who seem to be Mrs. Mallard’s sons, are seen on the beach in her company but never speak.

The structure of Ms. Friedman’s video is provided by a homework assignment given to her daughter, Olivia, “to write a letter to the President.” Below are some of Olivia’s appeals to “Trump,” juxtaposed with images that will resonate with citizens who’ve been injured or crippled by false allegations of abuse.

“Make sure everyone has freedom.”

“Love instead of hate.”

“No violence; only words.”

“Please remember everyone matters.”

In this still from Ms. Friedman’s campaign video, her daughter, Olivia (in the foreground), is flanked by predominately female protesters in pink, some holding up feminist signs, one with a clenched fist. Olivia’s sign reads, “EV[E]RY ONE Mat[t]ers,” and features a daisy chain of unified male and female stick figures.

Mrs. Mallard is endorsed by the People’s House Project:

We recruit and support excellent candidates in Republican-held congressional districts in Midwestern and Appalachian states. Our candidates are classically Progressive, true to their working- and middle-class roots, and focused on issues of consequence to those who work not for personal fulfillment but for a living.

It purports to be looking out for the interests of “working- and middle-class” America.

The president of the People’s House Project is described as “an author, activist, [and] social media innovator” who’s “central to Glamour magazine’s political coverage, where she concentrates on issues important to women.”

Her name is Krystal Ball…which is something no one should need to predict the future if the present course isn’t corrected.

TALKING BACK to restraining orders

THEY’RE NOT JUST ABUSED BUT ABUSIVE

Tag Sunny Reynolds