Democrat Jay Jones, Virginias newly elected attorney general, is already drawing the kind of attention no top law enforcement official should want.
According to RedState, Jones first came under fire when resurfaced text messages showed him fantasizing about the death of his Republican rival, former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert, and Gilberts children, yet voters still elevated him to the states highest legal office.
That decision alone raises serious questions about the judgment of the electorate and the standards Democrats are willing to overlook, as my colleague Teri Christoph previously detailed in outlining several troubling issues surrounding Jones record and temperament.
Jones rocky tenure began almost immediately, when on his first day in office he rushed out a formal opinion on the constitutionality of a proposed redistricting amendment but did so on official letterhead still bearing the name of his Republican predecessor, Jason Miyares.
Virginias new AG Jay Jones, who took office today out with an opinion on the constitutionality of the proposed redistricting amendment (so quick, in fact, that his letterhead still has his predecessors name), one post noted, capturing the haste and sloppiness of the rollout.
Miyares, a Republican who had set a far more professional tone in the office, responded with dry humor that underscored the contrast.
I said what???? he quipped, highlighting how Jones eagerness to flex his authority only exposed his inexperience and carelessness.
Yet the letterhead fiasco turned out to be only the opening act in what is rapidly becoming a pattern of embarrassment for the new attorney general. Jones soon posted a public defense of Virginias in-state tuition law for illegal alien students, but undercut his own message by misspelling his own title in the graphic: Attoney General.
I'm an attoney! one mocking post read, capturing the derision that followed the glaring error. For someone entrusted with enforcing the law, failing to spell the name of the office correctly is more than a typo; it signals a lack of basic diligence that conservatives have long warned about in progressive governance.
The Virginia GOP delivered a sharper jab, noting it took him a whole day to fix this, suggesting the mistake remained visible far longer than any competent communications shop would allow.
The Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) piled on, observing both the error and the rushed attempt to avoid a repeat of the letterhead debacle.
Jay Jones is struggling, RNLA posted. This time he moved so quickly to change the letterhead from his last embarrassment that he forgot how to spell his new title. The episode quickly turned into a running joke online, reinforcing the perception that Jones is in over his head.
Miyares again weighed in with a good-natured but pointed response that conservatives appreciated. Go easy folks, he wrote. Perhaps someone on the staff was just saying Hey, Tony in a Jersey accent?
Local media also took note of the ridicule, with WJLA reporter Nick Minock highlighting how social media users were lampooning the blunder. People are having fun with Jay Jones Attoney General post. One of the comments on my Facebook page: He got his degree from the Quality Learing Center, Minock reported, referencing the infamous Minnesota daycare.
National Reviews Jim Geraghty offered a broader perspective on Jones digital missteps, alluding to the earlier scandal involving his violent texts. The thing is, misspelling attorney probably isn't even in the worst 200 things that Jay Jones has ever sent electronically, he wrote, a reminder that the spelling error is trivial compared with his past rhetoric.
Some observers even joked that the mistake might reveal more than Jones intended. Perhaps, although admittedly unlikely Jay subconsciously accepts he needs to atone? one comment mused, playing off the attoney blunder.
Fox News political analyst Guy Benson delivered perhaps the most cutting line, tying the gaffe back to Jones disturbing texts about Republicans. In fairness, Jones has made his support for killing Rs quite clear, Benson wrote, a stark reminder that the real scandal is not a typo but a Democrat attorney general whose documented fantasies about political violence were brushed aside by his party and its voters.
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