I said Saturday, whoever's behind this photo's release ... likely has a bigger plan. And that plan is almost certainly NOT taking out a (raging racist, according to 90% of DU) White Governor ... in order to send a Black Democrat to the VA Governor's mansion ... in his stead.

Not saying they'd succeed ... after all even the third in line, the AG of VA, is also a Dem, I guess the name is Herring ... but I am sayin' ... I was pretty sure they ALSO had something on Fairfax (real, or not ... but SOMEthing they felt they could use) ... and I said so here on Saturday.

Then lo and behold, Monday rolled around ...

And they are very predictable.

I also mentioned I HOPE it turns out Fairfax's people are actually behind this release (before we found out the truth on Sunday) ... cuz nobody could really 'blame him', right? And that would mean there is no larger RWNJ plan in play here.

Again, I really don't even if Northam steps down they're going to succeed in wresting the Governorship away from a Democrat, but there is, I believe, a premeditated plan to TRY ... that's playing out before us.

This shit is so predictable, by now you'd think 90% of us would see it. This line of attack is so old there's a rind on it three inches thick.

The tattle-tale signs are everywhere.

It's an attempted coup.

WTF??? First he says it's the gov, and now he says it's mayor Stoney??? Why doesn't he keep his mouth shut? Best defense is a good offense.

I agree with everyone who has felt that Northam should resign, but I now worry about our state.
Northam can not wreck the Dem party here in VA. Yes, someone was not vetted thoroughly and it stinks. It is up to us here in Va to consider how to proceed in light of the allegations now being made against Fairfax. The repubs want to fuc* us and I worry about the people who will be hurt if they succeed. Larry Sabato says he has asked 10 well known scholars about the process available to Repubs and has gotten 10 different answers. Guess who gets hurt if they get the governor's office?? POC, women, disabled and gays. You think they aren’t clapping their hands with glee over the thought of rolling back redistricting?? We gain 2 seats, as I understand it. When I saw the pictures I was sick. But I can’t put lives at risk when he has not been the same person in office.

Civil statute of limitations is 3 years if I interpreted MA laws correctly

Criminal statute of limitations is 15 years if I interpreted MA laws correctly - which might have already ended or will end this year.

But the legal bar for establishing a crime - beyond reasonable doubt - is higher. And she was not even able to establish her claim well enough that the Washington Post could go to press with it. So the chances of her establishing a crime was committed is between very, very slim and none.

Therefore, she has probably retained this firm to protect herself from Fairfax's statement where he said that he "will take appropriate legal action against those attempting to spread this defamatory and false allegation"

Since she cannot do anything legally, he should have said nothing because then the media would have no basis to publish the story. His statement in response allows the media to get down in the dirt - and it has.

His best move now is to just shut up. He can claim - "this is a legal matter and my attorneys have told me not to discuss it". Since she cannot do anything legally, it will probably die.

If he really did what she claimed, I cannot say that I would feel too good about that result. But since there is no evidence and no plausible legal recourse, the man is innocent until proven otherwise.

The difference between this and Kavanaugh is that there seemed to be legal/investigative avenues that could have been explored to determine whether the allegations against Kavanaugh had merit and whether he lied. There was a lot more to examine with the Kavanaugh allegations than we have or are likely to ever have here.

The only way I see this materially changing is if more women come forward against Fairfax with credible claims.

I'm inclined to agree that the timing and method of the resurfacing of this allegation is very suspect and I would look at the Northam camp pretty closely.

Therefore, she has probably retained this firm to protect herself from Fairfax's statement where he said that he "will take appropriate legal action against those attempting to spread this defamatory and false allegation"

The way Big League politics got onto it was the accuser posted a message on FB saying something like she's going to have to live in a state where her sexual abuser is the Governor. The accuser's friend took a screen shot of the post and sent it to Big League Politics through DM with the accuser's approval. I wonder why he thinks other Dems in Virginia are trying to take him down? I know Stoney was planning to run for Governor in 2021 but I think it's entirely possible her friend contacted Big League because MSM wouldn't print without corroboration and no Dem politicians were involved at all.

So Herring, Stoney, Northam and the GOP all have motivation to throw mud on Fairfax.

The husband of the other woman in the Facebook post worked for Stoney.

The timing of this coming out and how it came out smells

anonymous of course. Bu,t first Northam goes and then the GOP forces a special election this year and elects a Republica Lt Governor ;they might do it...then Fairfax is forced out and the Republican Lt Governor is now governor. The only way to stop them is to keep Northam...maybe he can prove it wasn't him or seek redemption....either way we would be way worse off to let the GOP get their dirty hands on the governor's office.

...why are we still so clumsy at this?

If it's inconclusive or remains unsubstantiated, the accusation fails. These pols are still ultimately accountable to voters.

Of course, it does matter how these pols respond to allegations.

There's still almost three years left before the next gubernatorial election in Virginia. Thank goodness all this bullshit didn't happen later or the Democratic Party would be fucked in this state.

November 2019. The Democrats should be in a strong position to recapture both the House and the Senate, or at least one of the chambers.

But unless and until this mess is settled out, all bets are off.

She just remembered it last week, and thought it was time to do something about it.

She will swear by the Great Pumpkin. My guess is that the perjury prevention coaching was pro bono.

where she said she just remembered it happening last week?

Seeing as how nothing appeared until now, although another poster says she came forward last year, and the Post decided not to run with it without some corroboration. I still find the timing of the publicity to be terribly convenient, and I still don't know the first thing about the accuser. Name, age, marital status, occupation, financial status, political affiliation, reason for waiting until now, etc etc etc. Presumably you have links for all those, correct? "A California woman" covers quite a few individuals.

Very reminiscent of the Kavanaugh bullshit.

They refused to publish because they needed witnesses and there were none.

Just trying to figure the timing. I'm sure the press has been contacted by hundreds of women who are "just getting around" to coming forward with their accusations of sexual harassment by Democratic politicians. The Washington Post would probably look like the National Enquirer if they rushed to publish all of them.

The woman approached The Post after Fairfax (D) won election in November 2017 and before he was inaugurated in January 2018, saying she felt as though she had an obligation to speak out.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/va-lt-gov-justin-fairfax-denies-sex-assault-allegation-from-2004/2019/02/04/05fb0f6c-272b-11e9-ad53-824486280311_story.html?utm_term=.740289485475

Who IS paying them?

My guess is that may well be the case here.

Bottom line is, they took this accuser on as a client, whether for free or for money. One of two things exists, either they believe her story enough to at least be willing to take the hit to their reputation if it comes out as a Republican smear job, or this firm simply will take any high profile case just for the publicity it brings.

If you believe the former, then you have to give Fairfax's accuser as much credibility as you did with Dr. Blasey Ford, and if you believe the latter, then you have to discount Blasey Ford's testimony in the Kavanaugh case.