The Washington Post - 06.09.2019

B4 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 , 2019

sister group, Moms Demand Ac-

tion for Gun Sense in America, on

Sept. 21-22 and Oct. 19-20.

“The mass shooting in Virginia

Beach should have spurred state

lawmakers to take action to pro-

tect Commonwealth families —

but the Republican-led General

Assembly decided to protect the

gun lobby instead,” John Feinb-

latt, president of Everytown for

Gun Safety, said via email. “Every-

town is going all-in on the No-

vember elections.”

Even before Everytown’s an-

nouncement, a spokeswoman for

the NRA played down the group’s

effectiveness in Virginia.

“The NRA is fully engaged in

this election to protect the self-

defense rights of every law-abid-

ing Virginian,” NRA spokeswom-

an Catherine Mortensen said.

“We are focused on educating and

mobilizing our members in sup-

port of candidates who will pro-

tect our fundamental rights....

The Bloomberg and Everytown/

Moms Demand lobbyists may

outspend the NRA, but they will

never outwork us.”

[email protected]

eral Assembly races.

Everytown said the money was

to boost candidates it was endors-

ing in 22 key legislative races,

including several in suburban

districts in Richmond and Hamp-

ton Roads. In Northern Virginia,

the group is supporting Demo-

crat Dan Helmer in his challenge

to Del. Tim Hugo (R-Fairfax); Del.

Wendy Gooditis (D-Clarke) in her

contest against former Republi-

can delegate Randy Minchew;

Del. Danica A. Roem (D-Prince

William) in her race against con-

servative activist Kelly McGinn;

Del. Hala S. Ayala (D-Prince Wil-

liam) in her race against former

Republican delegate Rich Ander-

son; and Del. Elizabeth R. Guz-

man (D-Prince William) in her

contest with Republican D.J. Jor-

dan.

The group is also backing Del.

John J. Bell (D-Loudoun) in his

bid for the state Senate seat being

vacated by Republican Richard J.

Black. Bell’s opponent is Republi-

can Geary Higgins.

Everytown also said it would

hold grass-roots “weekends of

action” in partnership with its

licans are taking a deliberative

approach to gun-control mea-

sures. The crime commission

spent two full days last month

hearing testimony from experts

and lawmakers.

The NRA’s campaign contribu-

tion “pales in comparison to the

millions that Mayor Bloomberg

has already pledged to bring New

York-style gun control to Vir-

ginia. It’s less than one tenth,”

Gilbert said Wednesday via email.

Gilbert, running in a heavily

Republican district, traditionally

distributes money from his cof-

fers to other GOP candidates

around the state.

Everytown is being strategic

with its donations, generally fo-

cusing on candidates in suburban

swing districts that could deter-

mine the balance of power in the

legislature.

On Thursday, the gun-control

group said it would donate

$100,000 to the House Democrat-

ic caucus, $125,000 to the Senate

Democratic caucus, $100,000 to a

state Democratic political action

committee and $113,000 to candi-

dates running in particular Gen-

penditures, advocating for or

against candidates without going

through a candidate’s campaign.

So far in 2019, the NRA has

reported just over $12,000 in

such expenditures, according to

VPAP.

Virginia’s races are drawing

national attention as the only

elections in the country this year

that will determine control of a

state legislature. Republicans are

defending thin majorities of 51 to

48 in the House of Delegates and

20 to 19 in the Senate, with one

vacancy in each chamber.

Guns became a focal point of

the races after a shooter killed 12

people at a Virginia Beach munic-

ipal building on May 31. Gov.

Ralph Northam (D) called a spe-

cial session of the General Assem-

bly in July to take up gun-control

bills, but the Republican leader-

ship adjourned the session after

90 minutes without debating a

single piece of legislation. All bills

were referred to a state crime

commission, which met last

month and is studying the pro-

posed legislation but is not sched-

uled to report back to the legisla-

ture until after the election.

“It’s really shocking how bla-

tantly the NRA controls the

House Republican leadership,”

House Minority Leader Eileen

Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax) said via

email.

Later on Thursday morning,

Filler-Corn announced her politi-

cal action committee would

match the NRA contribution, giv-

ing $200,000 to the House Demo-

cratic Caucus.

She and other Democrats have

criticized Gilbert and House

Speaker Kirk Cox (R-Colonial

Heights) for consulting with the

NRA and allowing the group to

coordinate with gun-rights pro-

testers from Cox’s conference

room during the special session.

“It couldn’t be clearer — the

NRA is rewarding Virginia Re-

publicans for standing with them

instead of their constituents,”

Democratic Legislative Cam-

paign Committee President Jessi-

ca Post said Wednesday in a

statement.

Cox has countered that Repub-

VIRGINIA FROM B1

BY KERY MURAKAMI

When a rider is cited for not
paying the fare to board a bus or
train in Northern Virginia, the
ticket is more likely to be dropped
in the courts than paid.
Only 278 of the 1,306 fare
evasion citations handled by the
Arlington, Fairfax and Alexan-
dria general district courts be-
tween July 1, 2017, and June 30,
2019, were paid, according to
court records. In those districts,
roughly $38,000 in fare evasion
fines have gone unpaid in the
past two years.
Nearly half the cases, 619, are
listed as past due, some by more
than two years. And another 350
were either dropped by the officer
who assigned them or dismissed
by the court — often, Arlington
County Chief Judge R. Frances
O’Brien said, because officers
didn’t show up to court hearings
for tickets they wrote.
The numbers include citations
for unpaid fares on Metro and
other public transit options like
Fairfax Connector. They raise
questions about what conse-
quences there are — and should
be — for not paying to ride at a
time when the District’s fare eva-
sion cases are mired in bureau-
cratic confusion, and Metro esti-
mates it loses $36 million annual-
ly in unpaid fares across its re-
gional system.
Metro police officers in Vir-
ginia give out tickets for fare
evasion, a civil offense, ranging
from $25 to $250. The court is
notified when a new ticket is
produced, and a hearing date is
set. Offenders are given 30 days to
pay the ticket, though they can
seek an extension. Money from
the fines goes to the local jurisdic-
tion’s general fund — not to the
transit provider.
According to a spreadsheet
prepared by the Supreme Court
of Virginia, a significant propor-
tion of fare evasion tickets from
the past two years are going

unpaid in the three Virginia

courts The Washington Post ex-

amined. In Arlington, 47 percent

are past due, while 54 percent in

Alexandria and 53 percent in

Fairfax are delinquent. About a

fifth of the tickets in Arlington

and Alexandria were paid, and a

quarter in Fairfax.

Many fare evasion tickets in

the District also go unpaid. In

June, the city and Metro collected

less than a fifth of the more than

$682,000 the District would have

collected between October 2017

and May 2019 had all the issued

fare evasion fines been paid.

Metro spokeswoman Sherri Ly

said Metro Transit Police officers

are responsible only for issuing

tickets. What happens afterward

is up to jurisdictions.

Ly didn’t respond to an email

asking why officers drop citations

they’ve written. Paul Smedberg, a

former Alexandria City Council

member who now serves as Met-

ro board chair, did not return

emails seeking comment.

That so many tickets go unpaid

will probably frustrate some rid-

ers who do pay their fares and at

times turn to Twitter to complain

about those getting a free ride.

Jurisdictions are grappling with

how to treat these cases, given

that many who don’t pay are

poor.

Unlike in Virginia, fare evasion

is a criminal offense in Maryland.

Meanwhile, the D.C. Council in

December overrode Mayor Muri-

el E. Bowser’s veto to pass a bill

that removes a potential jail sen-

tence of up to 10 days for fare

evasion, leaving a fine of up to

$50 as the only punishment.

The bill’s proponents had said

that criminalizing fare evasion

disproportionately hurts low-

income people and minorities,

citing a study that found 91 per-

cent of those receiving citations

for fare evasion in the District are

African American.

Virginia’s court records do not

include the income or race of

people who do not pay their fares

or fines.

O’Brien declined to speculate

about why so many tickets in

Virginia go unpaid. Presiding

judges for the Fairfax and Alexan-

dria courts were unavailable to

comment.

Many people who do not pay

fares or fines are probably strug-

gling to pay rent or feed their

children, said Amy L. Woolard, an

attorney and policy coordinator

for the Legal Aid Justice Center, a

statewide advocacy group in Vir-

ginia.

Taking strong action against

fare evaders, like suspending

their driver’s licenses, could

“have a snowball effect, and bring

serious consequences for minor

offenses,” Woolard said, such as

losing a job or being unable to

drop off children at day care.

Virginia this year softened the

driver’s license penalty for failing

to pay fare evasion and traffic

tickets. The state now has a

one-year moratorium on sus-

pending licenses after fines or

court fees go unpaid. Critics, in-

cluding Woolard’s group, had ar-

gued the suspensions dispropor-

tionately hurt the poor.

But Makan Shirafkan, a

McLean defense attorney who

has handled fare evasion cases,

predicted that as a result of the

new policy, “we’re going to start

seeing more and more people not

paying this stuff,” he said.

Short of suspending licenses,

Virginia courts can impose a

sentence of up to 60 days in jail,

or sentence people to community

service for not paying traffic or

fare evasion fines, according to

the state’s General District Court

Manual.

Neither happens very often.

Court records for the past-due

fines showed no notations for

additional jail sentences being

handed out. O’Brien said she has

never seen anyone sent to jail for

not paying a fare evasion fine.

O’Brien said it’s also rare in

fare evasion cases for offenders to

opt for community service in-

stead of paying fines.

Judges could be reluctant to

order jail time or community

service, believing that an unpaid

fine on a person’s record is pun-

ishment enough for not paying a

few dollars, Shirafkan said.

Officials from Metro and the

D.C. government have acknowl-

edged that neither institution

checks to see if people ever pay

their fare evasion fines. Each

maintains that it’s the other’s job.

Ly said Friday that the agency

still believes that to be the case.

LaToya Foster, a spokeswoman

for Bowser, didn’t return emails

seeking comment.

The case process is different in

the District. Citations there, un-

like in Virginia, do not automati-

cally generate a court date. Fare

evasion cases only go to D.C.

Superior Court when the D.C.

attorney general decides to pros-

ecute. But to do that, the attorney

general needs Metro to notify his

office of unpaid citations.

With no one checking to see

whether the fines are paid, David

Mayorga, spokesman for D.C. At-

torney General Karl A. Racine,

said the office has no records of

cases of unpaid fare evasion fines

from last year.

— Express

[email protected]

THE REGION

Fines for Metro fare evasion mostly go unpaid in Virginia

Some revenue is lost,

but activists say most

of those cited are poor

ASTRID RIECKEN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

When people pay tickets given out by Metro police officers, the money goes to the local jurisdiction — not to the transit agency.

KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST

Fare evasion is a civil offense in Virginia. The tickets given out by

Metro officers assess penalties from $25 to $250.

National groups spend big in Va. legislative races

OLIVER CONTRERAS FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Gun-rights advocates offer support for the National Rifle Association near its Fairfax headquarters

in July. This week, the NRA made a large donation to a state GOP leader’s political action committee.

N19-0789

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