Virginia Politics

Boy, talk about a trifecta, a perfect storm, or what ever analogy you want to use to apply to this situation. Here's a short recap:
First off, the black face controversy. Up until a few months ago, I hadn't heard of it. Oh, sure, I knew of the minstrel era, Al Jolson, etc, but I never heard of it being used by whites in college frat houses, clubs, costume parties, Halloween, etc. Beside it being racially insensitive, I don't see the humor in it and it's unclear to me what the motivation was. I've heard some say that due to these recent relavations, that the old Jim Crow south is still alive and well.
The sitting Virginia Governor has botched it big time. When the scandal first arose, he admitted it was him and immediately apologised, but a few days later, he reversed course and denied that it was him in the picture, and photo experts cannot identify the man in the picture. He refuses calls on him to resign. Then oddly enough, one of those that was calling on him to resign, the sitting AG, had his own black face incident arise. Unlike the Gov who has denied being the person in the photo, has admitted to it yet even though he has called on the Gov to resign, says that he won't resign himself. Both are Dems and the party wants badly to wash their hands of the incident.
Next comes the sitting Lt. Gov, who would be 2nd in line to the Governor's mansion. He had an old accuser come out of the woodwork and accuse him not of sexual misconduct or attempted sexual assault as was the case in the Kavanaugh hearings, but of forced sex, ie rape. The Lt. Gov vehemently denies it, admits to having had sex with the woman but swears it was consensual, another he said, she said. Then a few days later, a 2nd woman, unrelated to the first, has come forward and accuses him of raping her. Both women supposedly told others about the incident and are willing to testify against the Lt. Gov. A bill to impeach the Lt. Gov will be introduced to the Virginia legislature this week.
My take on all of this? IMO the black face scandal, although reprehensible and insensitive, should not be an act worthy of destroying their careers, and had it not been for the fact that the Gov has changed his story, I more than likely would not be calling on either of them to resign. I'd rather see the voters exercise their opinions and vote them out of office, even if it were to take some sort of recall election to do so.
The Lt. Gov.'s scandal is much worse as we're talking about an actual crime. We still need to consider him innocent until proven guilty, but the charges are very serious and must be investigated. I don't know what the statute of limitations are in Virginia and if he's still subject to criminal prosecution, but it would seem that an impeachment inquiry would be an approprite measure that would honor the rights of the accused to be judged as innocent until proven guilty as well as give the 'victims' their day in court.
The alledged rape charge against the Lt. Gov. has the potential to extend to one of the most storied men's CBB program as he was a member of the Duke University basketball team. Their head coach is a slam dunk HOF'er, not unlike Joe Paterno at Penn State. Part of the accuser's story is that she tried to report the rape but was rebuffed by college officials. Duke coach "K" denies any knowledge of it.
Long post, and that's the condensed version!
First off, the black face controversy. Up until a few months ago, I hadn't heard of it. Oh, sure, I knew of the minstrel era, Al Jolson, etc, but I never heard of it being used by whites in college frat houses, clubs, costume parties, Halloween, etc. Beside it being racially insensitive, I don't see the humor in it and it's unclear to me what the motivation was. I've heard some say that due to these recent relavations, that the old Jim Crow south is still alive and well.
The sitting Virginia Governor has botched it big time. When the scandal first arose, he admitted it was him and immediately apologised, but a few days later, he reversed course and denied that it was him in the picture, and photo experts cannot identify the man in the picture. He refuses calls on him to resign. Then oddly enough, one of those that was calling on him to resign, the sitting AG, had his own black face incident arise. Unlike the Gov who has denied being the person in the photo, has admitted to it yet even though he has called on the Gov to resign, says that he won't resign himself. Both are Dems and the party wants badly to wash their hands of the incident.
Next comes the sitting Lt. Gov, who would be 2nd in line to the Governor's mansion. He had an old accuser come out of the woodwork and accuse him not of sexual misconduct or attempted sexual assault as was the case in the Kavanaugh hearings, but of forced sex, ie rape. The Lt. Gov vehemently denies it, admits to having had sex with the woman but swears it was consensual, another he said, she said. Then a few days later, a 2nd woman, unrelated to the first, has come forward and accuses him of raping her. Both women supposedly told others about the incident and are willing to testify against the Lt. Gov. A bill to impeach the Lt. Gov will be introduced to the Virginia legislature this week.
My take on all of this? IMO the black face scandal, although reprehensible and insensitive, should not be an act worthy of destroying their careers, and had it not been for the fact that the Gov has changed his story, I more than likely would not be calling on either of them to resign. I'd rather see the voters exercise their opinions and vote them out of office, even if it were to take some sort of recall election to do so.
The Lt. Gov.'s scandal is much worse as we're talking about an actual crime. We still need to consider him innocent until proven guilty, but the charges are very serious and must be investigated. I don't know what the statute of limitations are in Virginia and if he's still subject to criminal prosecution, but it would seem that an impeachment inquiry would be an approprite measure that would honor the rights of the accused to be judged as innocent until proven guilty as well as give the 'victims' their day in court.
The alledged rape charge against the Lt. Gov. has the potential to extend to one of the most storied men's CBB program as he was a member of the Duke University basketball team. Their head coach is a slam dunk HOF'er, not unlike Joe Paterno at Penn State. Part of the accuser's story is that she tried to report the rape but was rebuffed by college officials. Duke coach "K" denies any knowledge of it.
Long post, and that's the condensed version!