Of all the Virginia officials in trouble, Justin Fairfax may be the one on the way out
It’s hard to say what will happen politically in Virginia these days, there have been so many surprises lately. But it seems that of all the accused public officials in the state, it’s Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax who may be the one to go. Even the Democrats are asking him to resign, and yet when the news of Governor Northam’s youthful blackface escapades (or at least, a photo of someone’s escapade on his med school yearbook page) surfaced, it was widely held that Fairfax would be an excellent replacement.
But then a credible allegation (see this for my discussion of the word “credible”) of sexual assault surfaced against Fairfax. Now, “credible” doesn’t mean “true”—it merely means “possibly true.” But then a similar accusation against the lieutenant governor was made by another woman, and this one seems to have turned the tide against Fairfax:
The allegations against Justin Fairfax are serious and credible. It is clear to me that he can no longer effectively serve the people of Virginia as Lieutenant Governor. I call for his immediate resignation.
— Terry McAuliffe (@TerryMcAuliffe) February 8, 2019
The thing that makes the accusation of the second woman, Meredith Watson, especially strong is that she apparently wrote about it to a friend in an email dated 2016, long before the accusation by Fairfax’s other accuser Vanessa Tyson became public, and that they seem to be describing incidents that were similar. Here’s more about Watson’s email:
The statement also says Watson told her friends about the incident in a “series of emails and Facebook messages” that are in the firm’s possession. In one of those emails, obtained by The Daily Beast, Watson told a Duke alumni who invited her to a 2016 Fairfax fundraiser that Fairfax raped her…
“Justin raped me in college and I don’t want to hear anything about him,” Watson responded to the email on Oct. 25, 2016. “Please, please, please remove me from any future emails about him please.”
In Facebook messages also obtained by The Daily Beast, Watson sent someone a link to an article about Fairfax running for the state’s lieutenant governor spot in March 2017. “This is absolutely disgusting! This dude raped me,” she wrote.
Watson then went onto say that she wanted “to say something” because she thought he “shouldn’t be running for office but she didn’t know what to do. When the individual suggested she speak out, Watson expressed doubt.
“But let’s face it, rape accusations barely carry any weight” without a name attached, she wrote.
The firm, Smith Mullin, also claims they have corroborating statements from Watson’s former classmates.
I am not, and never have been, in the camp of “believe the woman.” And even now, it is possible that both of Fairfax’s accusers are lying, and that they had some sort of motive to lie to friends earlier. But an email with a date is evidence of a different order—it establishes the strong likelihood that Watson made the claim before she had ever heard Tyson’s claim—unless of course they knew each other and had been in communication in some way.
That latter sort of possibility is one of the reasons we ordinarily have trials to establish guilt or innocence. A story can seem airtight on the surface and yet fall apart on investigation. But in the court of public opinion—which is where this is being tried—the story of this particular accuser and the documentation behind it makes a much stronger case than the accusations against someone like Kavanaugh, for example, which were remarkably weak.
As I wrote back in 2014 in a more general discussion about evaluating such he-said/she-said accusations:
I don’t care how many women pile on with similar stories; it’s the quality and timing of their stories that matter. Yes, women (and men, and children) sometimes lie, and not all that infrequently either. They also often tell the truth. However, I would be more convinced it was the truth if the people telling these rape stories were coming forward before the other stories had been publicized.
Timing and documentation of that timing are of the utmost importance in evaluating such stories. And with the Fairfax accusations, we have something that many of the other cases lack: an early and documented second accuser unlikely to have been influenced by the first.
Does that mean that both accusers are telling the truth? No. They could both be lying, and it could be a coincidence that their stories seem similar. They could both be mistaken. Their memories could be flawed, or if not their memories then their perceptions at the time. They may not have communicated their reluctance for such sexual contact, even though they think they did.
As I indicated earlier, those are the sorts of questions lawyers could explore in a court, with many protections for the defendant. But I don’t think this will ever come to that, and in the absence of a full exploration of the evidence, I’d say it appears more likely than not that Fairfax committed these acts, although he strongly denies them. That opinion of mine rests almost entirely on the timing and documentation of Watson’s (the second accuser’s) accusations.
One of the most troubling aspects of the coverage of these stories by leftists is the attempt to create a kind of equivalence between non-criminal actions from many decades ago which were clearly in poor taste and offensive to many (if not most) people and sexual assault (admittedly not proven but based on credible accounts). The idea that racism (a very problematic concept to define, not to mention a word which is frequently used merely as a weapon) is fully as egregious an offense as rape is ludicrous as well as dangerous.
I understand there is a third woman in the wings with another accusation.
I think I read somewhere that Ms. Watson had talked about this event when it occurred, to a female classmate, and that the woman confirms the conversation, as well as these later email discussions.
When the link to this one hit the Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds’ comment was that he’d hear rumors of other women, and Ms. Watson wasn’t one of the names he’d heard.
As Neo says, these accusations may both be false, but they are both much more credible than any of the accusations against Kavanaugh.
it is appalling how far the left would go to pull a “to kill a mockingbird” to destroy a black man just to protect a prominent KKK racist white democrat. Disgusting.
funny how the leftist media suppressed all these accusations until he became a threat to the throne occupying by a white KKK rope wearing democrat
I meant to mention also that in the case of Ford and Kavanaugh, Ford had tremendous animus towards Kavanaugh’s side politically. This does not appear to be the case for Fairfax’s accusers, who as far as I know are on the same political side as Fairfax.
That’s another difference between the two cases.
the word rape can mean many things in the context of casual online conversation. rape could actually be used by some lunatic woman to describe a situation where she was rejected a romantic relationship by a man after some causal consensual one night stand. The man wanted to remain friends with benefits, the woman wanted more and called it rape after the rejection.
Dave, that doesn’t seem to be the case with either of these Fairfax accusers.
In the linked Daily Beast piece:
If Fairfax had done and said that, he’d rightfully be called a monster, but I would think that would have leaked into his other behavior over the years. In any case, it puts a dent in Watson’s credibility for me.
I dunno, Ann. The women who are accusing Fairfax are black, as was, presumably, the Duke basketball player she claimed raped her. She said the administration didn’t want to investigate. I can imagine that being true.
But none of this “proves” he did these things. As Neo says, this is a political matter at this point, not a legal one.
rape could actually be used by some lunatic woman to describe a situation where she was rejected a romantic relationship by a man after some causal consensual one night stand.
I think that is a major share of college date “rape” allegations. Also black male college students are disproportionately the accused in these college date rape cases.
Ann,
Maybe his monstrous side did leak into his other behavior over the years. I’ve never been surprised at the great lengths that politicians will go to in order to protect their image, in the face of their bad behavior. What has surprised me in more recent years, is the success they have in hiding it. Lies, lawyers, pay-offs, threats, false affidavits; the list is long and one is bound to work.
The problem occurs when the bad behavior become more brazen and the knowledge of it more wide spread.
The NYTimes had an excellent piece (how rarely do I say that!) on the dilemma Virginia Democrats face; this is a salient example of identity politics eating itself. We will see many, many more examples in the near future.
If Fairfax doesn’t resign and is not impeached it’s an affront to feminist interests.
If Fairfax does resign or is impeached, but Northam and Herring remain, the racial optics are terrible. Though their actions are not illegal and far less serious than his, they’ve both admitted to wearing blackface. He has denied the assaults and denied any impropriety whatsoever. So, a black official is forced out though he denies any wrongdoing while two white officials remain after admitting wrongdoing (and racially charged wrongdoing at that).
Given all this, Fairfax could reasonably argue he should not resign unless and until Northam and Herring do. And I think Democrats would be fine with that if only the next in line were a Democrat. But alas, there stands Kirk Cox.
I say let them all stay on their jobs, if every racist and rapist has to go there would be no democrats let, no one want a one party system right?
How does lying about your race to steal benefits reserved for minorities not constitute a fraud and against the law? All democrats are criminals, they just haven’t been caught yet. Sorry for not giving them the benefit of doubt, tolerance should only be reserved for tolerant folks.
“It is clear to me that he can no longer effectively serve the people of Virginia as Lieutenant Governor.”
How does the Lt. Gov serve and govern in in VA? The position is largely ceremonial in MA.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/02/the-virginia-dem-meltdown-continues.php
A Smith Steve Skubinna • 11 hours ago
Like the old joke says: Leftists want conservatives to shut up. But conservatives want leftists to just keep on talkin’.
I think this is all tactical.
Let’s assume that the internal pressure is building for Northam and Herring to resign (making the black guy the only one to resign would be bad optics, etc.). So the Governor and AG will probably have to resign eventually.
If the order of retirement is Northam, Fairfax, Herring, then the Republican! Speaker becomes governor.
But if the order is Fairfax, Northam, Herring, then Northam gets to appoint a new Democratic LtGov — presumably one who is heavily screened for any killer past issues — and then Northam and Herring can retire and safely keep the seat in the party.
The complaints contra Northam and Herring are humbug and are properly forgotten. Those against Fairfax are worth investigating. There need be no hurry in so doing. You can have a commission of inquiry staffed with retired judges who could examine witnesses in executive session, publishing the transcripts later. The Lt. Governor doesn’t have many functions that cannot be performed by others and Fairfax has a law practice to which to attend.
Ooh, clever, Bryan Lovely. But Northam appears to be digging in. As he said when this first broke, he doesn’t fancy resigning to be labeled a racist for the rest of his life. (Being a supporter of an infanticide bill isn’t as bad, apparently.)
I don’t believe Northam will resign, he did not commit actions that are criminal, and don’t think the Dems can make him.
Heck, he might even change parties and claim to be a Rep to get some support — tho I don’t know if the VA Rep party would really “want” him.
Fairfax, after Kavanaugh, has to go. Women with times & places and some prior discussion with friends. A VA state delegate, Patrick Hope, is preparing impeachment papers:
“I believe these women, he needs to resign immediately,” Hope said. “There’s no question that violent sexual assault is a ‘high crime.’”
There might well be other women with more stories of Alpha-jerk Fairfax having “semi-consensual” sex, as one-night stands without calling back.
It would be good to get a more honest discussion of “consent”. It seems to me, if one person is offering their penis, an “open mouth” is consent, even without actively saying yes. An alternative for the first woman would have been to collapse on the floor, and then say “I can’t do this”, or somesuch.
I’d guess the two memories of the events no longer match, and like Rashomon, we will never know “the truth”. They could even both pass lie detector tests with different versions of what happened.
It would be good to establish that “opening the mouth” is sufficient for consent — so women could be taught a non-verbal way of “saying no”. When pressed or held, fall on floor and keep mouth closed.
As I write this, I imagine the first one, who doesn’t like oral sex at all (according to an ex-boyfriend), after heavy kissing and getting Fairfax excited, being a bit surprised to be pushed down so she was eye-mouth level with an erection.
What to do?
She should have shook her head no, then gone lower with head and said “No, I’m not ready for this”. Why didn’t she? Probably because she was still hoping for romance with a possible Mr. Right, an up and coming intelligent and nice looking, hot kissing Alpha guy was getting her pretty hot, too, tho not quite ready for this. Instead, another Dem Alpha-jerk.
Notice prior promiscuity or not has not been a big topic — that, at least, is definitely social progress.
Now I’m wondering how often Dem male leaders push their dates to give them oral sex — so there’s no need for the man to give much sexual satisfaction back.
Finally, if a woman is in bed with a guy and doesn’t want to go all the way, she should keep her panties on. Not take them off. Not lift up her bottom to let him take them off. Keep her panties on.
Every man is vulnerable for being accused of rape unless you hold a recording of the woman explicitly telling you “please have sexual intercourse with me”. That might keep you safe for a little while until the democrats escalate and introduce the notion that mental rejection trumps verbal consent, and as long as men couldn’t prove women were mentally consenting evidence of verbal consent can not exonerate.
@Dave,
Too late. During the #metoo height last year, an acquaintance of mine wrote on Facebook that verbal assent might only be due to internal fear (of whatever) and not consent at all. I refrained from pointing out that she had just warned everyone that she could not be trusted to give any consent ever. And by extension, if men cannot trust verbal consent to be valid, then why should they bother with checking for consent at all?
Bryan, you are probably right about the preferred tactical order, but the Dems may not be able to pull it off under the push of public pressure, which is their own petard doing the hoisting.
As for consent: I was envsioning a system where there is a down-loadable form which both people sign and date, then hold it up together and each take selfies on their phone to prove they really did sign and the other didn’t forge their name.
Kind of like the old medieval contracts (pre-Xerox) where each party took half of the parchment and the two pieces had to match to make the contract verified in a dispute.
Doesn’t matter. “I only signed it and smiled for the camera because I was actually frightened of his masculine propensity for violence and I had to fake it to survive.” [blech]
“Fairfax, after Kavanaugh, has to go.”
Possibly, but I wouldn’t count on it.
Reasons:
– Fairfax is a Democrat.
– Fairfax is NOT a Caucasian.
– Forcing Fairfax to quit would empower the Anti-Christ, the Devil and the enemies of everything human (keeping in mind that infanticide has become, for a certain group of people, a criterion for “humanity”).
(IOW, forcing him to quite would reek of racism, Trumpism, white supremacism and Republicanism. I.e. It’s totally Anti-American, as construed by some…but I’m repeating myself…)
And if one remains unconvinced of all the above, then just take a look at what happened to Keith Ellison.
That’s right, Keith Ellison is the template here.
QED
(Disclaimer: I sincerely hope I’m terribly wrong about this….)
Barry may have it right here. Ellison was even more credibly accused than Fairfax (whose accusers are credible), and more recently. He was elected MN Attorney General after the scandals hit the news.
I refrained from pointing out that she had just warned everyone that she could not be trusted to give any consent ever.
Good point. Also remember The Hot Crazy Matrix.
who’s to say Fairfax was not the victim? If according to the feminists gender is just a social construct that men and women are identical with equal capabilities, then the chances that Fairfax didn’t give consent and was a victim is the same as the women’s.
The problem with Marxism is that if critical theory is applied equally it destroys the left’s ideologies just as much as the right’s, that is why free speech must be restricted since it falls apart the moment someone is allowed to raise question about it. They have to make sure the barrel can only be pointed at the right but never the left.
“…not the victim?…”
Ah, but the beauty of it all—-and it is indeed glorious—-is that while the allegations (by several women) that Fairfax is a perp may in fact be more than allegations, in prog-speak (and triple-think), Fairfax is ALSO a victim (i.e., A victim, not THE victim).
(And it matters not if any of the women making the allegations happen, themselves NOT to be Caucasian…. For they have been trumped.)
The fact that as A victim of centuries of slavery, Jim Crow—ah, what the heck, let’s just call it AMERIKKKA—Fairfax MUST be forgiven. Or if not forgiven, then understood, taken in context, empathized with.
Screw it, let’s call it forgiven.
To be sure, if Fairfax WERE a Republican, he would most certainly NOT be forgiven. NOSSSIRREE In fact, he would be an out-and-out victimizer.
(He would, no question, be Clarence Thomas-ed. Brett Kavanugh-ed, run out of town. )
Ah prog-speak. Where would we be without it?…..
Ah sheer, unalloyed, pure hypocrisy. Where would we be without IT?