Statement of Fairfax Democrats Chair on School Board Member Jeanette Hough’s Resignation

May 29, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Bruce Neilson

STATEMENT OF SUE LANGLEY ON
SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER JEANETTE HOUGH’S RESIGNATION

Jeanette Hough resigned her position on the Fairfax County School Board, effective May 31, 2017, due to her husband’s job transfer overseas, and to spend time serving her family abroad. Troubling signs indicate that Republicans may have pressured Ms. Hough to resign early. According to Virginia code, had the resignation occurred after June 10, the special election to fill the vacancy would coincide with the November 7 general election, when voters turn out to elect the next Governor and other state officials.  Her earlier resignation requires Fairfax County to finance a special election this summer instead, when many families are vacationing and unavailable to exercise their right to vote.

Fairfax County Democratic Committee Chair Sue Langley said, “Efforts by the Republican establishment to pressure Hough to resign early are a shameful effort to deny hundreds of thousands of Fairfax County voters a chance to elect a new School Board member.  No parent should be denied the opportunity to elect someone who will have an impact on their children’s daily lives and education.”

Langley went on to say, “It is bad enough that Republicans short-circuited the democratic process. Worse yet, their strategy will waste approximately $250,000 of taxpayer money by holding this unnecessary election.   Ms. Hough was unwilling to delay her resignation by a couple weeks.  Had she done so, she would have stood with the children of Fairfax County, their parents, and fiscal responsibility, rather than with the Republican establishment.”

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