Commonwealth Attorney Candidate Katcher on Campaign

mentally ill, the homeless and the addicted. It means not prosecuting simple marijuana cases and opposing the death penalty. However, Real Reform does not shy away from aggressive and unapologetic prosecutions for offenses such as murder, rape, robbery, major drug dealing, and serious gun charges.

Real Justice means embracing, not just giving lip service to, the belief that justice for victims is bedrock in our judicial system. It means unequivocally upholding the constitutional rights of the accused. It means always remaining focused on just and equitable outcomes for the convicted. But the promise of 21st century reform prosecution requires more than just good intentions and slick talking points; it requires the relevant experience to lead and train a team of prosecutors in this complicated task. I have that experience.

I have been a local pros - ecutor for the past 11 years. I have practiced in every court, been in front of every judge, and collaborated with all our local law enforcement agencies. I have tried hundreds of bench trials and over 50 jury trials. My opponent has not personally prosecuted a “single” case since taking office.

Last August, I made the difficult decision to quit a job I loved, because I had lost faith in the leadership and management of the office. Prior to doing so, I was the Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney supervising the largest team in the office. Specifically, my opponent entrusted me to train up our next generation of reform prosecutors.

Over the past 11 years, I have served as president of the Arlington County Bar Association and as a member of the Virginia State Bar Council. I have often been invited to train prosecutors, defense attorneys, and police officers on the law across the state. I have been fighting for Democratic values my entire life. I have served as a local precinct captain twice, the head of voter registration, a member of our local Democratic Steering Committee, and a host of other roles.

As your Commonwealth’s Attorney, I will not retreat to the corner office when I’m elected. I will be in court on our most serious cases. I will handle cases from our juvenile justice docket. And I can and will pull my prosecutors off the line and handle their dockets myself when they need relief.

My opponent promised that she would use her background to reimagine prosecution in a way that aligned with our collective values. She stated that transparency would be a hallmark of her administration, yet she refuses to release any data. We have no way of evaluating any of her supposed accomplishments.

As Commonwealth’s Attorney, I promise to release crime data within the first 12 months. My public-facing dashboard will inform the community how categories of cases are being handled. Reality and the truth are more important than politics. This election is about choosing a leader that has the right experience to deliver on the promise of 21st century reform. We have to move forward with reform in our community, not backwards. It takes informed experience to make the difficult judgment calls about which cases can be diverted entirely, which individuals need more services and support on their path away from the system, and which crimes need to be prosecuted. I am a Democrat who believes that there is a way to uphold public safety, respect victims, and improve our justice system. And I have the experience, temperament and judgment to do so.

By The CBC Campaign Finance Working Group

As part of our Little City’s unique character and sense of place, community engagement and correspondingly related effective governance are commonly mentioned as key ingredients that help make up our “special sauce.” Indeed, many of our citizens – young and old, newcomers and long-time resi - dents – are volunteer activists who work diligently to make Falls Church a wonderful place to live. For example, if one steps into any of the myriad nightly local board, commission, or other civic organization meetings, what they’ll readily see is good governance at work, with participants routinely showing their commitment to trying to keep our City running smoothly and move forward to a brighter future.

But, as we consider our “special sauce,” there’s another critically important element that must be mentioned: our long-lived model of local elections. For decades elections for the School Board and City Council have been at the center of effective governance in our Little City. They have truly been local in concept and practice and accessible to and affordable for any qualified citizen interested in being a candidate. In addition, reflecting this longestablished construct, they have been characterized by a pattern of campaign spending that has been remarkably restrained. Campaign expenditures have been for typical items, such as yard signs and printed materials; sponsorship of local events, ads in the Falls Church News-Press and on social media, t-shirts and buttons, and campaign launch, election night and other events in between.

However, in recent times things have been changing dramatically. We’ve all become aware of the alarming trend that’s been evolving, in which national interests and organizations have injected themselves into local school board and city council elections, fueling selected candidates’ campaigns with enormous sums of money and other resources. This has been happening across the country, throughout Northern Virginia and, as of the 2021 election cycle, right here in Falls Church, where for the first-time large contributions from outside sources were made to candidates. Making this situation even more concerning, campaign contributions and expenditures in Virginia are virtually unregulated and can be used by candidates however they may wish during the election and after it’s over.

Spurred by these findings and concerned about the threat they represent, CBC invited 21 local groups and organizations to discuss the campaign finance issue. The meeting took place on May 17, with designated representatives and/or members of the AAUW, Women’s History Group, Welcoming Falls Church, the League of Women Voters, VPIS, Falls Church Forward, Bike Falls Church and two elected local officials. Results included: A clear consensus that campaign funding from outside organizations and interests are threatening our City’s guiding principles of keeping local elections local, affordable, and accessible; agreement that public attention needs to be focused on this matter to forestall it from happening again; and a discussion of possible ways to address this problem, including developing a plan to apply “soft pressure” on those intending to stand for election, via a voluntary signed Campaign Finance Pledge, which might include language such as:

“I pledge to make every effort to support my campaign with contributions from family, friends and neighbors who hold the interests of Falls Church uppermost in their minds. Whenever possible, I will endeavor to seek and accept only contributions from those residing within our borders, longtime friends and family excepted.”

CBC volunteers are working on developing this voluntary candidate pledge and will circulate the draft for public review and input in time for the upcoming campaign season. Additionally, we intend to carefully monitor candidate fundraising results and assure that that information is posted conspicuously and regularly.

We sincerely look forward to an ongoing public discussion of the campaign funding issue and widespread attendant input from the community. The more people involved, the more intense the spotlight and the greater the public pressure that can be brought to bear to assure that our School Board and City Council elections remain local, affordable, and accessible.

Questions and comment can be addressed to fallschurchcbc@gmail.com. Submitted by the CBC Campaign Finance Working Group: Hal Lippman, Don Foley, Ross Litkenhous, Pete Davis, Sally Ekfelt, and Nancy Brandon.