Va. governor weighs future as next in line denies sexual misconduct
RICHMOND, Va. — A political death watch took shape at Virginia’s Capitol as Gov. Ralph Northam consulted with top administration officials Monday about whether to resign amid a furor over a racist photo in his 1984 yearbook.
Practically all of the state’s Democratic establishment — and Republican leaders, too — turned against the 59-year-old Democrat after the picture surfaced late last week of someone in blackface next to another person in a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe. The photo was on Mr. Northam’s medical school yearbook page.
The sense of crisis deepened Monday as the politician next in line to be governor, Democratic Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, denied an uncorroborated allegation of sexual misconduct first reported by a conservative website. Mr. Fairfax told reporters that the 2004 encounter with a woman was consensual, and he called the accusation a political “smear.”
Protest chants, meanwhile, echoed around Capitol Square. Lobbyists complained they were unable to get legislators to focus on bills. Security guards joked about who was going to be
the next governor. Cafeteria workers and members of the cleaning staff shook their heads in wonder. And banks of news cameras were set up outside the governor’s Executive Mansion.
Mr. Northam stayed out of sight as he met with his Cabinet and senior staff to hear their assessment of whether it was feasible for him to stay in office, according to a top administration official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The meetings included frank conversations about the difficulties of governing under such circumstances, the person said.
Calls from lawmakers for Mr. Northam’s resignation seemed to ease Monday. State Del. LaMont Bagby, head of the Legislative Black Caucus, said there was little left to say: “I’m going to let him breathe a little bit, give him space to make the right decision.”
The waiting game played out on what was already one of the legislature’s busiest days of the session, with the House and Senate each seeking to complete legislation to send to the other chamber.
Finance Secretary Aubrey Layne said he told Mr. Northam that the state cannot afford a prolonged period of uncertainty over his future. Mr. Northam’s office is in the middle of negotiations with GOP lawmakers over a major tax overhaul and changes to the state budget. The Republicans
control both houses of the legislature.
“One way or the other, it needs to be resolved,” Mr. Layne said.
The furor over the photo erupted on Friday, when Mr. Northam first admitted he was in the picture without saying which costume he was wearing, and apologized.
But a day later, he denied he was in the photo, while also acknowledging he once put on blackface to imitate Michael Jackson at a dance contest in Texas decades ago.
The scandal threatens to cripple Mr. Northam’s ability to govern. In a sign Monday of the challenges he could face, Katherine Rowe, president of the College of William & Mary, canceled an appearance by Mr. Northam at an event this Friday because his presence would “fundamentally disrupt the sense of campus unity we aspire to.”
Mr. Northam, a pediatric neurologist who graduated from Eastern Virginia Medical School and came to politics late in life, is one year into his four-year term. If he resigns, Mr. Fairfax will become the second African-American governor in Virginia history.