Virginia megathread

[henster]

Why do people think Fairfax will just dutifully fall on the sword in the face of any accusation? Can't imagine him resigning short of him being charged, we all thought Northam was going to go quietly without a fight but look at him now.

[henster]

Mark Herring is clearly a 5-D intergalactic multi dimensional chess master, Governor Herring is clearly the only legitimate outcome.

Kidding aside Fairfax is handling this horribly, though I'm skeptical of these allegations so far.

Right - I really don't know what to make of these accusations, but Fairfax's response is giving Northam a very good reason to not resign.

Northam needs to go because he can no longer effectively govern he's persona non grata right now. No one wants to work with him or engage him and therefore has no political capitol to enact policy.

[henster]

And people way overestimate how much voters care about this stuff. Even after Franken allegations a majority of Minnesotans in several polls wanted him to stay. Menendez had court docs alleging he slept with underage prostitutes used against him and he won, Keith Ellison had an ex accuse of battery and won. And not to mention Trump himself, it seems like most voters are just numb to this kind of stuff atp.

[henster]

I think one thing this story has taught me is that we need to slow down our reactions. We have become a society that demands things to change instantly without giving time to analyze all the facts. I myself am at fault in being a part of a society that pushes this narrative. If these allegations are true, the Lt. Gov. must resign. But we need to have some time to allow more information to evolve given that we still know so little. The idea that a massive conspiracy is happening right now needs to be thrown aside until evidence is given. Sensationalizing situations like this isn't helpful.

The thing that gets me is that she went to several media outlets a year ago none of them ran with it. If I'm her, really not wanting to see my assaulter rise to prominence further I'd immediately go public. Whether it be a press conference, twitter, video, FB post whatever but she let it go... Now a year later she levies the accusation except in a private Facebook post that she intended to be passed around. And this post has no names only inneundo which implicates her assaulter but doesn't directly name him. The way she's going about this is what's bothering me the most.

[henster]

I think VA Dems would be playing with fire if they try to force out their only black statewide elected official. How would that look especially if Northam were to pick his replacement?

[henster]

https://twitter.com/jaredlholt/status/1092868291566157825

The accuser is doing her best to discredit herself, leaking to a shady RW website that already took down another Dem. Then having clowns like Wohl get involved, I just can’t see this as anything other than a hit job at this point.

[henster]

I seriously have no idea whats going on.

https://twitter.com/GeoffRBennett/status/1092943819694370816

Anybody remember Gil Cisneros? The accusation against him which nearly derailed his campaign until the accuser eventually recanted. Somewhat similar story about a hotel it was he said she said. The more Dems encourage this the more this will happen to the point where the accuser may be a complete stranger having never met the accused but it will be damaging enough.

[henster]

https://twitter.com/WVUCavalier/status/1092246798436102146

All the knives are coming out.

Even if this does turn out to be true, I called people that in middle school and never would’ve even considered the possibility it could mean anything other than “loser.”  I’d never use the word today now that I know how hurtful it is to members of the LGBT community, but I don’t think using the word in the early to mid 2000s automatically makes someone a homophobe.  Granted, I’m a cisgendered heterosexual whose prejudice against transgender folks was something that took a good eight years to truly overcome, but that’s my perspective.  Take that for what it’s worth.  

Regardless, this certainly isn’t even remotely as bad as what Northam or Fairfax [setting aside the credibility questions here] and the idea that Herring should step down over it is silly.  Also this sounds like a random some dude, not really sure why I should take him at his word.

I thought the exact same thing about using the term in Middle School. In the early 80s it was ubiquitous. And usually it was a generic designation of being a loser, weird, a******, whatever. Still hateful and would never repeat it today, same as you.

But that said, Mark Herring was hardly in Middle School. He was a candidate for State Attorney General.

He was actually a member of the Loudon County Board of Supervisors at the time, but point taken.  Even so, I don’t think this is bad enough *if true* [which is far from certain] to warrant more than an apology.

Concur, IF it is also with a suitable (and frankly easy) explanation for how his views have changed during the intervening 15 years.

Well, that goes without saying.  But this is an easy fix and not something he needs to resign over in and of itself.

Do people seriously think Herring should resign over that? WTH. It's pretty disheartening how so many Dems are so ready and willing to throw our leaders under the bus for anything.

[henster]

I thought he was trying to get ahead of an impending story. But now it looks like he outed himself for no reason. Why air your dirty laundry if you don't need to...sigh.

[henster]

There's never going to be justice in these type of cases unless the victim files a police report immediately. Otherwise we end up here.

[henster]

She confirmed she told no one about the assault until 2017. She worked in crisis centers and frequently talked about abuses for many years and never mentioned this, I just find it all hard to believe. This is truly he said/she said and there is no way to prove this one way or the other.

[henster]

She says she won't press charges and isn't doing interviews... So I see now reason why Fairfax has to go.

[henster]

The only resolution at this point.

- Fairfax resigns and Northam replaces him with a female POC.

- Northam resigns a month later and the new Lt Gov assumes power.

- New Lt. Gov is picked who should be another female POC and there would be a special election in '19.

- Herring should stay put since if he resigned the GOP would pick his replacement, but his political
  career is over.

[henster]

The only resolution at this point.

- Fairfax resigns and Northam replaces him with a female POC.

- Northam resigns a month later and the new Lt Gov assumes power.

- New Lt. Gov is picked who should be another female POC and there would be a special election in '19.

- Herring should stay put since if he resigned the GOP would pick his replacement, but his political
  career is over.

What is your obsession with female POCs?

In light of the #MeToo and racism scandals I think it would be best for optics to have them all replaced by female POCs. It at least ensures it won't happen again.

[henster]

Herring resigning would be far more hurtful than his actions from 30 years as his successor would be a Republican. The AG is one of the most powerful positions in Virginia, we already how AGs can inflict damage looking at the ACA lawsuit they helped concoct.

[henster]

Does nobody remember when somebody tried to MeToo Bobby Scott a year ago?

https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/reese-everson-accuses-bobby-scott-of-sexual-harassment

[henster]

Bob Menendez and Scott DesJarlais are still in office. And I think what Menendez did was more egregious considering there's court documents of his transgressions.

[henster]

Hearing around from my non political circles, people who just watch local news... There's a lot of skepticism around the Fairfax stuff. 'Why did she wait so long', 'How can you force oral', 'Why didn't she bite?' Think a lot more people are more nuanced on the MeToo stuff than most people in the media think.

[henster]

Bob Menendez and Scott DesJarlais are still in office. And I think what Menendez did was more egregious considering there's court documents of his transgressions.

How desensitized are you to forcible rape? Contact with a minor is bad too nearing such a level, and I won't pretend to know all the details of the Menendez case, but it's not nearly this bad. Carrying on a relationship with a patient causes some ethical concerns, but it's not RAPE. The Brett Kavanaugh allegations (with significantly more doubts) if true do not come remotely close to RAPE. Almost all of the 27 or whatever allegations of minutaie against Trump may have to do with nonconsensual kissing or clothed touching, but they are not LITERAL RAPE. Sexual assault is extremely bad and men need to be more considerate about these issues, but the allegations against Fairfax are monstrous, and there is not a similar precedent in this era for something like this.

Uh, I'm not excusing or trying to downplay rape. It is horrific and anyone who experiences it should immediately go to the police and make sure the perpetrator is held accountable.

[henster]

Still no photo of Herring and the days almost up, so I'm guessing it may not exist at all.

[henster]

Here is a solution,

The VA legislature should just request that he testify under oath about these allegations to them.

Well the General Assembly is about to adjourn in a couple of weeks until 2020 and only the Gov can call a special session.

[henster]

Unless one of the two sides presents some kind of evidence I don't see how anyone can claim to know what the truth is.

Everything Fairfax has done suggests he did what he’s been accused of.  Fairfax needs to go even if it means Republicans pick up all three statewide offices.

Behavior isn't concrete proof. Can you at least wait for other women to come out and make similar allegations before you convict the guy.

This isn’t a criminal proceeding.  I find Dr. Tyson’s allegations more credible than Fairfax’s denial and as such see no reason why he shouldn’t resign immediately.  And we both know you’d be humming a different tune if these were allegations against Mike Pence by a conservative activist from the 2012 RNC and Donald Trump has just been impeached.  Fairfax shouldn’t be treated with kid gloves just b/c he’s a Democrat.

I'm just wary in this case because the media couldn't corroborate her story OR find any pattern of similar behavior from Fairfax.
If every politician is forced to resign when a single woman accuses him without proof then we open the door to blackmail and other unpleasant stuff. Remember that many people here had the same attitude with Cisneros and the guy was eventually innocent. This isn't like Kihuen or Conyers where the evidence was overwhelming.

Just my two cents.   

Don’t think it’s fair to judge Fairfax’s behavior because Tyson has only given a written statement so far. Never seen her on video to make any clear judgement on her, she may present herself as erratic as Fairfax has been. And the fact that she’s refusing to do any interviews doesn’t really help her case and it’s unfair to Fairfax. From the cryptic private FB post shared around and posted to RW media and now just a written statement, don’t like how she’s chosen to go about this.

[henster]

I can't see the influential black groups in VA abandoning Fairfax which probably puts him in the best situation. And there will be reluctance for white Dems to force out the only black statewide official.

[henster]

https://twitter.com/nick_rathod/status/1093979489934237698

I was a supporter of Fairfax but he just can't survive two.

[henster]

Northam is coming away from all of this looking pretty good, the mess VA Dems would've had with Fairfax as Gov would've been far bigger than Northam's scandal. Hopefully he uses the opportunity to appoint a black female to the LG.