I am not going to Google all of the news stories around this and provide the usual links or quotes or other validations but there are some included here anywahy…I just couldn’t help myself. Most of us have seen enough of this nonsense and have a pretty good handle on what is going on.
A conservative blog site posted a photograph from a medical school yearbook that featured a page dedicated to now Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. The page included an inflammatory photograph of two individuals…one in black face and one in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. Initially the governor issued an apology for being part of the photograph but never identified which character he was in the photograph. My initial reaction was to leave this be…he apologized and I felt it should be handled by the Democratic Party, the voters of Virginia and the governor himself. I expected that he would do the right thing and resign. Whooooops!
The day after his apology he said he wasn’t in the photograph and wasn’t going to resign. But does recall donning black face to portray Michael Jackson in a dance contest. This was a flip flop of Trumpian proportions and made less than no sense to me. So I started to work out this blog post in my head.
Now…my memory isn’t what it used to be and there’s a lot of history behind me at this point…but I am sure that if I donned black face or a KKK uniform…I’d remember. Particularly if I included that photo on my personal page in my medical school yearbook. I am not buying the defense that he didn’t buy a copy and so wasn’t aware of the content. I am not buying that at all. Gov. Northam needs to resign. The failure to take full ownership of his actions…and the utter ridiculous steps at an apology and the laughable walking it back…that decision making process alone should disqualify him from being governor.
[I am surprised that no intrepid media outlet has found a year book editor to clear up how this photo was included. Or the photographer or the other person or both persons in the photo. Of course they probably don’t need the whirlwind of publicity either. But you would think someone would want the notoriety…and of course how did that photo get to be included on that page in that yearbook in the first place?]
There was some early discussion about impeachment…but his actions although indefensible don’t rise to the level of a crime. I haven’t seen any mention of recall so maybe Virginia doesn’t have that option (well maybe they do: a link that is breaking my intention stated above). But he needs to resign.
So originally there was hope…the governor would resign…the lieutenant governor would assume the governorship…a black politician who could help heal the wound…and all hell broke loose.
Almost immediately, Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax was accused of sexual assault at the Democratic National Convention back in 2004. As we’ve seen very often we have a credible woman accuser and a man denying the accusation. So it looked like it was going to be which party was deemed the most credible until…a second woman came forward with another accusation…so now we are seeing a trend. LG Fairfax needs to resign too…particularly since there is actual talk of impeaching him. Sexual assault of course is criminal and possible grounds for impeachment. But considering the problems with the governor and now lieutenant governor it would be best for the State of Virginia for both of these men to leave.
So with the governor and lieutenant governor gone…next in line of succession is the attorney general of Virginia, Mark R. Herring.
Now AG Herring has officially called for the resignation of Governor Northam and supported the promotion of LG Fairfax to the governor role. And then took a right turn and announced that he too had donned black face to attend a party in character as one of his favorite rappers. [Insert deep breath here] I have to give him props for getting out in front of something that is likely to come out anyway…I imagine every media outlet and blog site in Virginia is vetting all of their statewide officials for dirt. But really? Why didn’t you tender your resignation…if the governor can’t be trusted to govern Virginia…why would you be trusted to run the attorney general’s office. sigh!
As I write this, Governor Northam refuses to resign and states the he is determined to complete the last three years of his term and work toward racial ‘equity’. The Democratic Party of Virginia is calling on LG Fairfax to resign. No other calls for AG Herring to resign…yet.
All three of these officials are Democrats…the next in line to assume the governor’s chair…if all three leave government…would be Speaker of the House of Delegates, Republican Kirk Cox.
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