Prince William County Supervisor Chair-At large Ann Wheeler, one of the county’s five top elected leaders who finds herself at the center of a Virginia State Supreme Court case tomorrow, made comments about the upcoming proceedings on Tuesday, November 1, 2022.
Potomac Local News has obtained an email in which Wheeler calls the lawsuit against her and her fellow Democrats on the Board of County Supervisors “frivolous” and “politically motivated.” It’s the first time Potomac Local News has seen a comment about this case from any of the elected defendants, despite seeking comments multiple times.
The state high court agreed to hear the case brought by county residents Alan Gloss and Carol Fox, who are suing each supervisor individually. The suit alleges they violated Virginia’s open meetings law on May 31, 2020, in the hours following the Black Lives Matter riots near Manassas.
The Democratic supervisors attended the impromptu meeting at the James J. McCoart County Government Center in Woodbridge, a gathering of the county police Citizen Advisory Board led by Rev. Cozy Bailey, husband of defendant and supervisor Andrea Bailey, to discuss the riots. Gloss and Fox argue the meeting was never properly advertised under Virginia’s open meetings law that requires an advanced notice of when multiple lawmakers convene and that the Supervisors provided criticism and direction to the county’s police chief about how cops should respond to riots.
From Wheeler’s email:
“It’s a shame the county had to waste the money on a frivolous suit, but this was politically motivated back in 2020. While it was not found to have merit by the lower level judge, the Supreme Court of Virginia agreed to hear it on appeal.”
On October 8, 2020, Fairfax County Judge Dennis J. Smith, who heard the case after all justices on the Prince William County bench recused themselves, tossed out Gloss and Fox’s case. According to court documents, Gloss and Fox’s attorney argue Smith was wrong to strike the case evidence “based on the mistaken construction of the language…defining the term ‘meeting.”
Court documents state Wheeler requested the meeting and allege the county’s arguments — the meeting was not held to transact public business, and the meeting was solely held to inform the public — are not valid.
The lawsuit names the Supervisors individually, and each has retained their own lawyers. Meanwhile, county taxpayers are funding the legal defense to more than $132,000, which does not reflect the cost of the appeals to date, Wheeler adds in her email.
The May 29, 2020 riots on Sudley Road and Sudley Manor Drive marked the first time in the county police department’s 50-year-history authorities declared an “unlawful assembly.” Other police agencies, including Virginia State Police, Fairfax County Police, and officers from Manassas, were called to help Prince William County officers keep the peace.
The next night, following the alleged illegal meeting, more riots again at Liberia Avenue and Signal Hill Road in Manassas, about five miles from where rioters had taken to the streets the night before. Several small retail shops were smashed, and a Walmart was looted.
Live audio of the Supreme Court hearing will be streamed online at 9 a.m. Tuesday, October 1.
