The Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) is demanding that Democrats who have called on Governor Ralph Northam (D) to resign should donate political money he has given to them to a national slavery museum or a charity chosen by former Virginia Governor Doug Wilder (D), the nation’s first elected African-American governor.
“It is incredibly hypocritical to call for Governor Northam’s resignation while at the same time spend all of his donations,” said RPV Chairman Jack Wilson in a press release. “The Republican Party of Virginia demands those that have received money from Northam donate it to building the United States National Slavery Museum or another worthy cause designated by Governor Wilder.”
Wilder, who served as the Commonwealth’s governor from 1990 to 1994, and also served from 2005 to 2009 as Richmond’s first directly-elected mayor, pushed for a national slavery museum in the past, but it did not come to fruition.
Northam and his political action committees, The Way Ahead and Stronger Together, have given more than $2 million to the Democratic Party of Virginia alone.
RPV’s list of the biggest contributions made with the “tainted funds” are:
Democratic Party of Virginia: $2,227,518
House Democratic Caucus: $100,000
Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus: $154,464
Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (VA-10): $11,000
State Senator Dick Saslaw (D-Fairfax): $10,000
Nearly all Democratic elected officials in Virginia – the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, and U.S. Representatives Bobby Scott (VA-3), Gerry Connolly (VA-11), Don Beyer (VA-8), Donald McEachin (VA-4), Elaine Luria (VA-2), Abigail Spanberger (VA-7), and Jennifer Wexton (VA-10) – have called for Northam’s resignation after the scandal began less than two weeks ago.
Photos surfaced of the governor reportedly appearing in his 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) yearbook either in blackface or in KKK robes. The governor first confirmed that he was in the first photo – not saying which one – then backpedaled the day following at a very odd press conference, which included an attempt to “moonwalk” in front of a crowd of stunned reporters.
Moreover, another yearbook photo of Northam was discovered, this time from when he was a cadet at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in the early 1980s, where the nickname “Coonman,” a racial epithet, was found under his picture.