By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published on February 6, 2019
This one photograph says it all. Governor Ralph Northam (center), Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax (right), and Attorney General Mark Herring (left) are embroiled in the searing flames of political controversies in Virginia at the same time.
All three men are Democrats.
Ralph Northam and Mark Herring are caught up in racial controversies. Last week, Northam confessed that he was one of two men in a medical school yearbook photograph. One of the men was colored in blackface and the other one was dressed in full Ku Klux Klan regalia. Northam withdrew his voluntary confession the next day.
This week, Herring confessed that he too participated in a demeaning and racially insensitive blackface incident in college. He has apologized and asked for forgiveness.
Justin Fairfax is accused of a sexual assault. Today, Vanessa Tyson, the alleged victim in Fairfax's sexual assault case, released a detailed statement about the incident. Her statement must be taken seriously and investigated fully. We cannot grill Judge Brett Kavanaugh over sexual assault allegations in his case and give Justin Fairfax a pass for similar conduct.
This is one hot mess. At the end of the day, none of these men may be fit to lead Virginia out of this growing political crisis.
PHOTO: Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring (left), Governor Ralph Northam (center), and Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax (right).
