Posted on 02/08/2019 4:31:27 PM PST by yesthatjallen
Virginia House of Delegates Member Patrick Hope (D) announced Friday he intends to introduce articles of impeachment for Justin Fairfax unless the Democratic lieutenant governor resigns by Monday following new allegations of sexual assault.
“On Monday, I will be introducing articles of impeachment for Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax if he has not resigned before then,” Hope tweeted.
Hope issued the declaration hours after a second woman came forward on Friday to publicly accuse Fairfax of sexual assault.
A lawyer for Meredith Watson released a statement saying Fairfax raped her in 2000 when they were both students at Duke University, adding that the alleged attack was “premeditated and aggressive.”
Vanessa Tyson was the first woman to accuse Fairfax of misconduct earlier this week, saying the lieutenant governor sexually assaulted her in 2004 at the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
“What began as consensual kissing quickly turned into a sexual assault,” Tyson, a college professor from California, said in a statement Wednesday. “Mr. Fairfax forced me to perform oral sex on him.”
Fairfax has denied both allegations. He issued a statement Friday claiming they were part of “a vicious and coordinated smear campaign” and vowing, “I will not resign.”
Watson’s allegations have opened the floodgate to a host of calls for the lieutenant governor’s ouster from members of his own party.
"We believe Dr. Vanessa Tyson. We found her account compelling and highly credible. The central issue at the heart of her account is consent, and there can be no better authority to decide whether it was given than Dr. Tyson herself," several Virginia Democratic lawmakers said in a statement Friday night.
"Meredith Watson's statement describes another extremely disturbing incident, which lends further credence to Dr. Tyson's story,” Virginia Democratic Reps. Don Beyer, Abigail Spanberger, Elaine Luria, Jennifer Wexton and Gerry Connolly added in the joint statement.
“Given recent developments, I believe that it is best for the Commonwealth of Virginia if Justin Fairfax dealt with these accusations as a private citizen. He can no longer serve us as the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia,” Rep. Donald McEachin (D-Va.) tweeted.
The scandal surrounding Fairfax comes as another embroils Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) and Attorney General Mark Herring (D) over their past use of blackface.
Nope.
Those were the old rules. The democrats torpedoed the old rules.
The new rules, there are no rules. F ‘em.
I always thought the abortion issue would catch up with the Dems someday, and it did! It was the match that lit the implosion among the RATs in Virginia. Karma!!!
If Northam isn’t the guy in the picture,
then why did he fully admit that he was, last Saturday?
The race card will explode in their (black) faces!
Sorry.
That is true but irrelevant.
Gov fills any vacant office by appointment.
The office would quickly be filled.
(Of course lawyers will be going to Obama’s Fourth Circuit for nutcase rulings. That may be fun.)
Hopefully big things coming for the Republicans this year. Pick up 10 or 15 seats would be nice.
+1
If false accusation weren’t a problem it wouldn’t be listed in Ten Commandments.
I thought he claimed that wasnt him.
See this is why his response to this has been weird.
I’m know fan of democrats, the blackface thing was from a different time and place. 36-40 years ago.
Va House of Delegates has an election in Nov 2019.
Impeach for black face but Kennedy Award for infanticide.
Only a matter of time before he raped Julie Swetnick too.
Besides, Virginia is for Lovers!
§ 2.2-2830. Governor to fill vacancy in any state office where no other provision is made by law ... Cuccinelli’s article makes it sound like there is a very specific provision for Lt. Governor vacancy (President Pro Tem of the Virginia Senate & specific wording “assumes duties” but not the “office”) - I wish Cuccinelli had provided a reference.
I guess we’ll find out how it works - I think Fairfax is (burnt) toast.
Fairfax hasn’t been CONVICTED of the rape(s)...only accused.
When/if he’s been convicted they can impeach him but he’s entitled to due process while he maintains his innocence.
Now, should he remain as Lt. Governor...a resounding hell no. Should the baby killer remain, hell no. Should the Delegates Speaker become governor because the AG is a dirtbag too, probably, but he’s not exactly squeaky clean either.
The “will of the voters” has been expressed. These three dirtbags were seated, while not being properly vetted before the election because the media chose sides instead of doing their jobs The voters have to face the consequences of making bad choices.
White DemoncRats going after the Black Guy. Not good Optics.
Of course pushing for Infanticide and wearing Blackface aren’t Impeachable Offenses.
When Cooch pointed out ‘ “assumes duties” but not the “office” ‘ ... that was a ‘tell’ that he was putting the best face on it. Which is alright by me.
LOve Cooch, and recommend The Bull Elephant highly!
Oddly, the best summary of succession, with cites, is on the awful RINO Bearing Drift:
https://bearingdrift.com/2019/02/06/gaming-out-line-of-succession-scenarios/
Thanks for the link!
You are certain right about that. I believe that a "Presumption of Guilt" is a far better policy to apply to Democrat politicians. It might be prudent to consider the same for Republicans too. At the higher level of politics, it appears that all the participants are dirty, and they hold each other in check with mutually assured destruction of revealing blackmail-grade secrets.
"It's the seriousness of the charge that matters".
The Democrats established these rules. The Democrats usually win with these rules. So we are all forced to play the same game now. Yes, everybody is going to hate the results. It may take a generation of conflict for the lessons to sink in.
I have a great fondness for "Rule-of-Law". But those days have long passed into times of myth and legend. What we have now (and maybe for another generation) is "Pretense-of-Law". One must adapt to the times.
For things to get better, we cannot rely on good intentions and noble principles of the authorities. High-dollar politics attracts high-functioning sociopaths and stupid people who have clever sociopathic backers. It has always been so.
We must have a system that forces bad politicians to do good things and quickly removes the ones who don't do good things. Limiting the powers of Government (and large corporations that act like Governments) would reduce the amount that sociopathic rulers can steal, and reduce the damage they can cause.
I am all for term limits. "Two terms in office, followed by a term in prison" sounds about right for most politicians.
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