Virginia House Democrats are starting to sound a lot like a Meghan Trainor song. NO.
House Minority Leader Eileen Filler-Corn shot down yet another effort by House Republicans to hold bipartisan hearings on allegations against Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax this week.
Calling a the attempt to give two alleged victims of sexual assault a “partisan sideshow,” Filler-Corn said Democrats would have no part of any hearings on allegations against Fairfax during the July 9 Special Session on gun control.
Two women, Dr. Vanessa Tyson and Meredith Watson, have both accused Fairfax of assaulting them. Watson accuses Fairfax of assaulting her in college, while Tyson says she was assaulted during the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.
Both women have asked for bipartisan hearings before the General Assembly to tell their story. Republican legislators have made multiple offers to House Democrats to hold such a hearing, and have invited them to draft rules and procedures for the hearing.
Del. Rob Bell, R-Albermarle, chairman of the House Courts of Justice Committee, wrote to Filler-Corn this week asking for her party’s cooperation in holding hearings.
“We respectfully ask that the Democratic Caucus agree to something — anything — that would allow bipartisan public hearings to take place,” Bell wrote.
Filler-Corn’s response was the same: No.
“House Republicans have failed to address any of the points of clarification we requested, and indeed, have only proven our concern that this hearing would be a partisan political exercise,” Filler-Corn wrote.
“As such, we will not participate in House Republicans’ political games, nor will we turn such serious allegations into a partisan sideshow.”
Fairfax reignited interest in the charges earlier this month when he wrote to police in Massachusetts and North Carolina, asking them to open a formal investigation into the allegations against him, and accusing one of the women of attempting to blackmail him.
The Lt. Governor said through a spokesman that he had no interest in legislative hearings.
“A Republican show trial during an election year is not an investigation that will reveal the truth,” he said in a statement. “Speaker [Kirk] Cox and Del. Rob Bell’s goals are to embarrass the Democratic party in an election year and avoid talking about reducing gun violence and the NRA’s control over the GOP.”
The special session convenes on July 9.