Robinson: Investigate Virginia’s leaders

Fairfax is accused by one woman of sexual assault while both were attending the 2004 Democratic National Convention and by another woman of rape while she and Fairfax were undergraduates at Duke University. He vehemently denies both allegations, claiming the encounters were consensual. Both women have said they are willing to testify publicly; Fairfax says he has nothing to hide.

The Fairfax allegations, however, have to be seen in the context of the Northam and Herring admissions.

Northam is in trouble because a hideously racist image — of a young man in blackface and another wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe — was found to have appeared on his 1984 medical school yearbook page.

Herring is in trouble because he, too, acknowledged once wearing blackface. It might be a good idea, at this point, to poll white Virginia officials and ask who hasn’t worn blackface.

A Washington Post poll showed that while white Virginians were almost evenly split on whether Northam should step down, African-Americans thought by a wide margin that he should remain in office. Northam’s progressive policies have been popular, and African-Americans in the South are jaded about the possibility that there might be racial skeletons rattling around any politician’s closet.

But my guess is that if pollsters asked whether Fairfax should be impeached or forced to resign while Northam and Herring are allowed to stay, the result would be quite different.

Fairfax is African-American; he bears the name of Virginia’s most populous county, where his ancestors were once enslaved. If two white officials caught up in scandal are given a pass while a black official caught up in scandal is forced out, the Virginia Democratic Party will have a lot of explaining to do.

Virginia is a purple state that has been trending decidedly blue. President Trump’s transparent attempt to pour salt into the wounds — “African Americans are very angry at the double standard on full display in Virginia!” he tweeted Sunday — is a preview of what Democrats would surely face in 2020.

Virtually every prominent Virginia Democrat has called on Northam to resign, but he says he’s staying put. That gives Fairfax and Herring every incentive to stay put, too.

It seems to me that the only way forward is some kind of investigative process by the state legislature, commenced as soon as possible, that looks into the acknowledged or alleged transgressions of all three officials. Then there would be a more solid basis for impeachment or absolution.

Let Virginians hear all about Northam’s and Herring’s histories with race. Let the public hear directly from both Fairfax and his accusers. Put everybody under oath, and let the cameras roll.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Without it, the open wounds in Richmond can only fester.