The Kafkaesque Situation in Virginia

When do we give politicians and public figures the benefit of the doubt? When do we forgive them for their past transgressions? And when do force them to step down? These are questions we’re asking today and they are the questions the people of Virginia are wrestling with right now.

The governor of the state, Ralph Northam, has been embroiled in a scandal since earlier this month when photos of his medical school yearbook surfaced, showing one person in blackface, another in a Klu Klux Klan robe.

There were calls for him to resign, and for Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, a black politician who was next in line, to take over. But now he’s involved in his own scandal.

On February 6, Dr. Vanessa Tyson released a statement accusing the lieutenant governor of sexual assault. Her allegation dates back to the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.

“After the assault, I suffered from both deep humiliation and shame,” Tyson wrote. “I did not speak about it for years.” Soon after, another woman, Meredith Watson, has also accused Fairfax of sexual assault.

Fairfax has denied any wrongdoing and called for an FBI investigation into the allegations.

And third in line for Governor, Attorney General Mark Herring, who after the Northam and Fairfax revelations, admitted that he wore blackface at a college party in the 1980s.

How do we decide when and how to hold politicians accountable?

Here to help us work through these questions are Jamelle Bouie, an opinion columnist for The New York Times and Joan Walsh, the National Affairs Correspondent for The Nation.