You might have seen during election season that I really hate Glenn Youngkin. Unfortunately, unfathomably, he still won. And now…he’s our Governor. 

Let’s just say that voters are having some regrets after 3 months of having him as Governor. So here’s 5 more things we can hate about Glenn Youngkin, governing edition. 

1. He’s a petty Betty. Just look at his vetoes. 

Listen, I love a petty Betty. I am a petty Betty. But I know when to turn it off, and one of those times would be while I’m governing the Commonwealth of Virginia. But Glenn Youngkin? Not so much. 

Glenn Youngkin vetoed 25 bills that were passed this session. And you might think, what’s petty about that? But 6 of the bills he vetoed were identical to bills he signed. The only difference? He vetoed the one sponsored by the Democrat and signed the one sponsored by a Republican. Like I said…PETTY. 

To learn more about these absolutely wild vetoes, check out this blog that goes more in depth. 

2. He couldn’t get Andrew Wheeler confirmed, so he made him a “Senior Advisor” instead. 

We’ve talked before about how Andrew Wheeler has a history of rolling back regulations on environmental protections while supposedly being in charge of enforcing them. His record is so bad he couldn’t even get confirmed as Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources here in Virginia. That might not seem like a big deal, but even with a divided government, cabinet picks almost always get confirmed. That probably should have been a hint to Glenn that Virginians don’t want Andrew Wheeler anywhere near our natural resources. But apparently, Glenn didn’t get the message and decided to make him a “Senior Advisor” instead. This isn’t the first time and won’t be the last time that our Governor will work to get around the will of people in our community. 

3. He can’t get a budget deal. 

A governor’s main job is to get legislators together to pass his agenda. Obviously, this can be difficult with a divided government like we have now, but not impossible. But Glenn Youngkin clearly has no idea what he’s doing. He can’t even get legislators of his own party to come together to work on a deal for a budget. (Which by the way, has to be done by no later than July 1, according to Virginia’s constitution. Kind of a big deal.) 

So what did Glenn do? He called a special session. But it seems like he didn’t tell anyone he was calling a special session because even members of his own party were like, “What? We don’t have a deal.” So he called all the legislators back to Richmond (at a cost of $50,000 to taxpayers) only for them to go home after less than two hours. Because if there’s not a budget deal, there’s nothing for them to vote on. Just another example fo Glenn Youngkin having absolutely no idea how government works or what his job is. 

4. His proposal for a gas tax holiday benefits out-of-staters and oil companies, not Virginians 

We all know gas prices are high. And people in our community are hurting every time they have to fill up their gas tank. Glenn Youngkin’s idea for addressing the problem is to have a holiday on our 26 cent per gallon gas tax. According to our friends at The Commonwealth Instiute for Fiscal Analysis, 30% of the savings from this plan would go directly to oil companies, not hardworking families trying to get gas. Another 24% of the savings would go to people who live in other states. So a grand total of 54% of the savings on this plan would not benefit people in our community. But it might actually harm folks right here in Virginia by taking funding away from crucial programs that fund our transportation infrastructure right here at home. 

Maybe instead of gas tax holiday that won’t actually help Virginians that much, he should do what we’ve been suggesting all along—pass a refundable earned income tax credit so that low-income families can have more money in their pockets. But he and his Republican allies in the House of Delegates don’t like that plan, probably because it doesn’t directly benefit them and the huge corporations who pay for their campaigns. 

5. He’s breaking transparency laws. 

Remember that tip line Youngkin set up so parents could snitch on teachers if they didn’t’ like what their kids were learning? Well, it should be subject to the Freedom of Information Act, meaning that members of the public can pay a reasonable fee to have the information released. But Glenn doesn’t want to do that and is trying to claim that his tipline falls under the “correspondence of the Office of the Governor” exemption to FOIA laws. So now several news organizations in Virginia and nationally are suing the Governor to have the records released. It’s no secret that the governor will lie to get what he wants. Now he’s breaking the law to avoid being transparent with the people he supposedly represents. 

Unfortunately, we’re only a few months in to Youngkin’s tenure as governor. So we’re going to have a lot more reasons to hate him and the Republicans the longer it goes on for. But let’s make sure our rage benefits us in the long run. Start by calling your representatives and tell them you support the Senate version of the budget. Then make sure you and all your friends are ready to vote them out when the time comes.