The Virginia Senate is blocking multiple appointees from Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration.
Jeff Goettman, Yesli Vega, Meg Bryce and Ken Marcus were among the appointees blocked.
A source told Virginia Scope that these appointees had no idea they were not going to be removed.
When these appointments made it to the full Senate floor Friday afternoon, the debate lasted hours.
Republicans wanted to pass by the proposal taking up debate on the resolutions until Monday, but Democrats killed that motion.
Republicans severed the amendments on each of the appointees who were removed and asked Democrats multiple questions as to why they did so.
Democrats would not specifically say the reason for removing each appointee, citing precedence and not wanting to harm the reputation of the removed appointees.
“It is known we don’t support extreme ideology,” Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria. “We have certain expectations….we are not going make characterizations beyond that on the floor.”
“It is the prerogative of this body to reject people,” said Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell. “The message to the governor is to maybe come up with better nominees next time.”
Democrats also pointed out that they approved hundreds of Youngkin’s appointees while only removing a few of his picks.
“I commend Youngkin on having hundreds of good choices,” Ebbin said.
Youngkin responded with a long statement Friday night.
“Senate Democrats rejected highly-qualified, nationally-recognized individuals who have already been serving with distinction on a volunteer basis,” he said. “What reasons did they offer for their actions other than their own extreme partisanship? None. Repeatedly, they could not articulate a single substantive reason to reject them.”
Youngkin is hoping that the House of Delegates will reinstate the appointees that have been removed by the Senate.
“Virginians are looking to the House to right this wrong,” he said.
Read more about who was not approved in a story by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.