Introduction
This election cycle has Virginia’s Republicans reciting “The Virginia Way.”
This episode examines how The Virginia Way evolved from a post-Civil War social code into a modern political strategy — one that still governs how Virginia handles fraud, oversight, and race.
The EnRichmond Collapse: Charity Meets Corruption
When the EnRichmond Foundation fell apart, it took down 86 nonprofits, including two historic African American cemeteries that had received conservation grants.
Attorney Kerry Hutcherson — the same attorney tied to LASR Construction Services LLC — was brought in to dissolve the foundation and return the funds. Within weeks, he resigned, citing “confusion.”
Attorney General Jason Miyares was responsible for prosecuting the case. The FBI and DOJ reviewed it — then announced that no one would be prosecuted. The money was gone. The nonprofits were left with nothing.
Hutcherson had previously worked for the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, which now manages those same cemeteries. State property. State funding. Same relationships.
Miyares’ inaction didn’t just fail a handful of nonprofits — it failed the very Virginians those organizations served: families preserving culture, community, and history.
The Law Firm That Keeps Resurfacing
Hutcherson may have left RudyCoyner Attorneys at Law, but traces remain. His name still sits beneath theirs on Google Maps, even as his bio has vanished — replaced with one celebrating Delegate Carrie Coyner:
Our reputation is built on the individual successes of our lawyers.”
An odd line for a firm tied to collapsed charities, unlicensed construction entities, and developments gone dark.
Coyner, a mandated reporter who withheld violent text messages for three years, publicly says she strives to “practice the Virginia Way.”
In an interview with The Daily Wire, Miyares echoed her, claiming that “even if Washington isn’t civil, Richmond can be.”
They likely mean well — but neither seems to know what the phrase really means.
The Origins of the Virginia Way
The modern version of The Virginia Way traces back to Douglas Southall Freeman, one of the most influential Virginians of the 20th century.
Freeman was a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian, radio host, and the son of a Confederate soldier. He was also a eugenicist who preached “clean blood” and “right thinking.”
Freeman sympathized with the Ku Klux Klan’s ideology, opposing only its violence. He believed in maintaining racial hierarchy through etiquette rather than law — a system that preserved segregation under the guise of civility.
His multi-volume Robert E. Lee biography reframed the Confederacy as a noble cause, while his radio programs softened the horror of racial violence into tales of southern honor.
It was Freeman’s storytelling that paved the way for the Confederate monuments of Monument Avenue, cementing a polite mythology of white grievance that still shapes Virginia’s politics.
Politeness as Policy
Freeman’s Virginia Way became a manual for power without accountability. It taught elites to hide racial and political bias behind process and tone.
You can see its fingerprints everywhere:
- Fraud rebranded as “contract disputes.”
- Whistleblowers dismissed as “agitators.”
- Agencies like DPOR are rewriting records to protect “members.”
When Miyares or Coyner invoke the Virginia Way today, they’re not speaking about civility. They’re unknowingly echoing a framework built to protect those in power from consequence.
Freeman’s influence is why interracial couples like Richard and Mildred Loving had to take their case to the U.S. Supreme Court just to marry in their home state.
The Modern Echo
The same pattern persists: oversight agencies “confused,” officials unpunished, and accountability lost in translation.
That’s The Virginia Way — a playbook where silence is the response when prosecutors can’t seem to hold white collar criminals to the law. Decisions are made behind closed doors about legal procedure without ever filing charges or involving the courts.
The EnRichmond collapse isn’t an exception; it’s evidence. The system functions exactly as designed.
Consumer Power Is the Counterweight
Real change won’t come from the same institutions that sustain polite control. It comes from consumers — the voters, taxpayers, and homeowners who fund it all.
Every purchase is a ballot. Boycotts and conscious spending speak louder than any speech about “civility.”
What we witnessed this election cycle was one side attempting to invalidate votes with information they held for three years because the track record is not election-worthy.
Let’s spend less. Let’s be subversive consumerists. They’re not going to change unless we vote with our dollars.”
Listen to the Episode
🎧 Polite Control: The Virginia Way Part 2
Available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
