Heartless Senator Glen Sturtevant Goes EXTREME

Sturtevant votes against raising lowest-in-the-nation grand larcency threshold, popular "ban the box" legislation

---

Richmond, VA - Today, Senator Glen Sturtevant (R-Chesterfield) voted against a landmark piece of legislation – SB 252 – which proposes to “ban the box” forcing those applying for employment with state agencies to declare whether they have ever been convicted of a felony. Today’s vote comes just one day after Senator Sturtevant voted against another landmark piece of legislation – SB 105 – which proposes to lift Virginia’s felony grand larceny threshold (currently tied with New Jersey for lowest in the nation) from $200 to $500. Sturtevant joined only two senators in voting against the bill, which passed 36-3.

“Today, Glen Sturtevant, who likes to charade as a reasonable Republican, showed his true, extreme colors,” DPVA Chairwoman Susan Swecker said. “Not only does Senator Sturtevant believe that it’s appropriate to incarcerate Virginians for stealing a pair of shoes or an iPhone – crowding prisons at taxpayer expense – he also wants to make sure that once they’ve served their sentence they are never able to work again. No one is saying that theft is permissible – but denying someone a second chance over one small mistake is fundamentally contrary to who we are as a Commonwealth."

Swecker pointed out that Sturtevant's votes were not only wrong on the merits, but far to the right of many of his Republican counterparts.

"Senator Sturtevant should be ashamed and embarrassed. His position on the felony threshold was so heartless that eighteen of his Republican colleagues - including Tea Party darlings Dick Black and Mark Obenshain - couldn't stomach joining him. Simply put, his extreme priorities are wrong for his district and wrong for the Commonwealth. 2019, and the end of Sturtevant's career as a senator, can not come soon enough. ”