Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam met quietly on Monday with top administration officials but gave no public signal that he intends to step down despite mounting pressure to resign over a racist photo in his 1984 medical school yearbook.
RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam met quietly on Monday with top administration officials but gave no public signal that he intends to step down despite mounting pressure to resign over a racist photo in his 1984 medical school yearbook.
The Democrat was staying out of sight early Monday as he met with his Cabinet and senior staff, following a meeting the previous night with minority officials in his administration.
The meetings come amid nearly unanimous calls from within his own party to resign over the yearbook photo that shows someone in blackface and another person in a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe. He first admitted he was in the picture, and then denied it over the weekend, but also acknowledged putting on blackface to imitate Michael Jackson at a dance contest decades ago.
The chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus declared that Northam « still does not understand the seriousness of his actions. »
« I think he’s been completely dishonest and disingenuous, » Rep. Karen Bass, D-California, said on NBC’s « Meet the Press. » »He knew this picture was there, and he could’ve come clean and talked to African-Americans that he’s close to decades ago. »
The scandal threatens to cripple Northam’s ability to govern. He has lost the support of virtually all of the state’s Democratic establishment. Top Republicans in the Virginia General Assembly also urged Northam to step down, as did many declared and potential Democratic presidential candidates.
Virginia governors can be removed for « malfeasance in office, corruption, neglect of duty, or other high crime or misdemeanor » under the state constitution, but top Democrats said they don’t believe it will come to that.
