Office of Attorney General Provides Opinion on Trenum's Replacement

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MarshallPressConference Del. Bob Marshall speaks at the Aug. 4 press conference regarding Gil Trenum's deployment. Marshall disputes the informal opinion provided by the Attorney General's Office.

The Attorney General’s Office provided an unofficial opinion on filling Gil Trenum’s school board seat during his deployment, explaining that the Prince William School Board reserves the right to appoint Trenum’s temporary replacement.

Back in early July, Virginia State Senator Scott Surovell of Fairfax (D-36th) requested the opinion of the Attorney General’s Office as to how to fill Gil Trenum’s seat while he is deployed in Africa with the Navy Reserves.

Surovell received an opinion Aug. 3 drafted by the Attorney General’s Office signed by G. Timothy Oksman, Opinions Counsel with the Attorney General Mark Herring’s Office.

The opinion cites a similar case that the Virginia Supreme Court decided in 2005.

It is the counsel’s opinion that the 2005 case sets the precedent for how to interpret the state code that allows Virginia elected officials to continue to hold office while serving in the military.

In that case, the Commonwealth Attorney of Floyd County was called upon to serve and wanted his deputy prosecutor to take his place and report to him. The local Circuit Court disapproved and appointed his temporary replacement.

The Virginia Supreme Court upheld the Circuit Court’s decision; therefore, the Commonwealth Attorney of Floyd County could not appoint his own replacement.

The Opinions Counsel interprets this to mean that the Prince William School Board alone has the discretion to appoint a temporary replacement for Brentsville School Board member Gil Trenum while he is on deployment.

He notes that according to the 2005 case, and the applicable Virginia statute, Trenum will be able to resume his position upon his return and fulfill the remainder of his term.

The counsel’s letter also explains that that code that allows for an elected official to hold office while deployed is vague. It does not prescribe how he can maintain that office; or who decides who should take his place temporarily or whether his seat should remain vacant in his absence.

However, the code states that the board should choose a replacement until a time that a special election must be held. Since that statute is more concrete, Oksman argues that it should be referred in this case.

“It is a well-established canon of statutory construction that if one statute addresses a subject in a general way and another statue speaks to the same statute in specifics, the latter prevails,” wrote Oksman in his opinion.

Despite the press conference held by several members of the House of Delegates and others, Aug. 4, urging the school board to accept one of Trenum’s recommended replacements in deference to his military service, Surovell believes the decision is not a political one, but “solely a matter of process.”

The response letter from Gideon Asen LLC states upfront that the informal opinion cannot assume the same weight as an official opinion written by the Attorney General; rather, the letter expresses the views of one of the counsels to the Attorney General.

Surovell acknowledges this in his blog post on The Dixie Pig. He said that he was looking for a “swift” answer as the official opinion from the Attorney General can take months.

However, now that they have the process clarified via the unofficial opinion, Surovell recommends the Prince William School Board choose Trenum’s replacement.

“It is my hope this opinion has clarified the process so that the school board can move on to their role in this process,” Surovell said.

He said it is completely the school board's decision whether they choose one of the people whom Trenum recommends or anyone else from the Brentsville District who would like to serve.

However, it is unlikely state and local officials who attended the press conference Thursday will concede the issue based upon an informal opinion.

Already Del. Bob Marshall (R-11th) said he believes that Oksman did not have all the facts in the case when he wrote his opinion.

Marshall said that the informal opinion states that Trenum expects to have veto power while he is away, but that is not something that he has requested. Trenum has only requested that the board choose his replacement from one of three individuals whom he trusts and who has volunteered to serve.

Additionally, Marshall said  that Trenum gave no formal notice of his deployment as giving such notice would which legally would trigger the board choosing his replacement; however, Surovell’s letter assumes he did.

Trenum made a point of stating that his announcement was just to bring about awareness in the community and was not to be interpreted as official notice. It will be up to the Attorney General to decide if Trenum’s announcement constitutes an official notice.

Finally, Marshall believes that the Oksman’s opinion directly contradicts the advice Trenum received from the Legislative Service staff attorney.

“It appears that Del. Anderson’s concerns voiced today over a convoluted opinion from the AG”s Office has regrettably come to pass,” Marshall wrote in a letter to Bristow Beat.

Now get your top attorney in Chicago to fight for you regardless of the size of your case.

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