The president of the Virginia Police Benevolent Association issued a lengthy, fiery statement on Monday blasting an op-ed published on a MAGA law-enforcement blog that painted a partisan picture of the VAPBA’s endorsement of Abigail Spanberger in the 2025 gubernatorial race.
VABPA President Joe Woloszyn accused Kyle Reyes, who identifies as the owner of the Law Enforcement Today blog, of making statements about the Spanberger endorsement that are “not only false, but defamatory,” which, I mean, them’s fighting words right there.
Interjecting here, I’d say, being brutally honest, consider the source.
The ad at the top of the article from Reyes on his Law Enforcement Today thingy promotes the return of “The Dan Bongino Show.”
The top story on the home page of the site is about a “rock-hurling illegal alien.”
Another story further down tells us that “Maryland’s proposed mask ban will get cops and their families killed.”
You have to scroll past five more ads for “The Dan Bongino Show” to get to that article about how ICE agents should be allowed to cover their identities while roughing people up.
Law Enforcement Today has an agenda, which, hey, we’re in America, they can have an agenda.
Woloszyn’s point, on behalf of VAPBA, is, you can’t just make stuff up.
To wit, at the top, Reyes wrote in his piece that “(t)he endorsement was not announced honestly. It was buried. Officers were not consulted, not polled, not even informed.”
Woloszyn, a police officer in Fairfax County, said these claims from Reyes are “categorically false,” and he detailed the VPBA endorsement process, which doesn’t work the way this Reyes guy said it does.
“VAPBA followed the longstanding (Southern States Police Benevolent Association) policy governing political screenings and endorsements. That policy requires the establishment of a screening committee to interview candidates,” Woloszyn said.
“Based on those interviews, candidates are scored by the committee, and endorsement requires at least 60 percent of the votes cast. The 2025 VAPBA screening committee consisted of more than a dozen VAPBA members who are actively employed as law-enforcement officers.”
The Reyes article also highlighted complaints from five unnamed law-enforcement officers to make the claim that there was “outrage” among “rank-and-file officers, supervisors, chiefs, and families realizing in real time that the organization collecting their dues no longer represents them.”
“Reyes further claims that VAPBA ignored members who ‘forcefully, clearly, and in overwhelming numbers’ pushed back against the decision. While we acknowledge that some members raised questions or expressed disagreement, the pushback was neither forceful nor overwhelming. We responded to every member who contacted us, explained our process, and answered their questions,” Woloszyn said.
Reyes, next, inadvertently cajoled Woloszyn to air some dirty laundry regarding Glenn Youngkin, who had gotten the VAPBA endorsement in the 2021 cycle, writing that the association was “conspicuously absent from Governor Youngkin’s events,” and that the “absence was not coincidence or scheduling conflict.”
Woloszyn confirmed as much, but made clear that the reason for the “absence” wasn’t on VAPBA’s side.
“VAPBA proudly endorsed Gov. Youngkin in 2021. What followed was four years of being ignored by both the governor and his administration. We did not skip his events – we simply were not invited,” Woloszyn said.
In contrast, Spanberger, per Woloszyn, “maintained an open and ongoing dialogue” with VAPBA dating to her first run for Congress in 2018, “even though we did not endorse her during her second term.”
“Gov. Spanberger invited VAPBA to participate in her inaugural parade, appointed a VAPBA staff representative, Rich Goszka, to her transition team, and sought our input on qualified candidates for leadership roles within her administration,” said Woloszyn, adding praise for her work in Congress on the Social Security Fairness Act, which eliminated the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset, which had reduced or eliminated Social Security benefits for retired police officers, firefighters, teachers, letter carriers, and federal, state and local government employees.
ICYMI
“As a result, she has put more money into the pockets of countless law enforcement officers and other government employees when they reach retirement age. That is what meaningful engagement looks like,” Woloszyn said.
I mean, seems pretty clear to me why the VAPBA would have wanted to endorse Abigail Spanberger.
She worked with them even when they didn’t endorse her, she wrote and shepherded into law legislation that materially benefits law enforcement.
The other side, for its part, ignored the VAPBA after getting its endorsement in 2021.
Seems to me that Republicans just expected to get the endorsement, that they didn’t think they had to work for it.
To her credit, per Woloszyn, Spanberger has already made good on her pledge to continue working with the association.
None of what we’re being told here fits the MAGA guy’s agenda, but that’s his agenda.
“SSPBA and VAPBA have represented law enforcement officers since 1987,” Woloszyn said. “Over that time, we have assisted many thousands of officers, and we are proud of that record. We will put our commitment to law enforcement up against any organization. We make no apologies for standing up for our members – that is our mission and the reason we exist.
“We have nothing to hide. The more appropriate question is what Mr. Reyes has done for law enforcement,” Woloszyn said.