Quote from the 13News Now article: “The lawsuit claims Newins demanded the couple pay one thousand dollars in rent each month and isolated them by withholding the great uncle’s cell phone and her great aunt’s hearing aid and glasses.
Davis alleges Newins then sold two of her great [sic] uncle’s cars, bought herself a BMW and spent over $50,000 of the couple’s money to renovate their Kempsville Road home (to produce rental income). According to the lawsuit, Newins also charged more than $30,000 to their debit and credit cards for other expenses.”
In a show of integrity and “people over party” that has been missing in this country, 7 prominent Chesapeake Republican elected officials have removed their support of Amanda Newins. Sheriff Jim O’Sullivan, Commonwealth’s Attorney Matthew Hamel, Clerk of the Circuit Court Alan Krasnoff and City Council members Stephen Best, Don Carey, and Robert Ike put out a statement on Friday, September 16th stating their hope for a “meaningful response from Ms. Newins and our local party chairman, Nicholas Proffitt, but their silence has been deafening. As elected officials who have spent years working to ensure the safety and wellbeing of Chesapeake’s senior citizens, we cannot remain silent in the face of these allegations of persistent elder abuse.” (Source: Virginian-Pilot)
Then on Monday, September 19th, 6 more Republican elected officials in Chesapeake have removed their support. City Treasurer Barbara Carroway and five members of the School Board (Sam Boone, Thomas Mercer [vice-chair], Harry Murphy [chair], Louis Tayon, and Michael Woods also released a statement disavowing support for Amanda Newins. (Source: Wavy10)
Non-existent has been any response to these allegations from Republican Congressional Candidate for VA-CD2, State Senator Jen Kiggans. Kiggans has been an outspoken supporter of Amanda Newins, as can be seen on her Facebook page and in a recent post by Newins listing those that still supported her:
Posted to Senator Kiggans’s Facebook page on May 7th, 2022.
Posted to Amanda Newins’s Facebook page on September 16, 2022.
Donation from Sen. Kiggans to Amanda Newins’s campaign on 7/16/22.
Senator Kiggans, according to her profile on her campaign website, is a geriatric nurse practitioner. Yet, according to Amanda Newins’s Facebook page, she still stands with candidate Newins even amidst these allegations. We are at a critical crossroads in this country with our democracy and people continuing to stand with their party over the people they are elected to serve.
In stark contrast, Congresswoman Elaine Luria, whom Kiggans is running against in VA-CD2, sits on the January 6th Commission because she feels preserving our democracy in the face of these “party over people” politics is so important that she has stated, “If I don’t get re-elected because of this, that’s OK.” (Source: New York Times)
Meanwhile, Jen Kiggans and the Republican Party of Chesapeake (including all 11 of their endorsed candidates for City Council and School Board for the November 8th election) have been absolutely silent about this issue. The only Republicans who have stood up and said something are ones who are not running for office this election cycle. While I acknowledge and appreciate the integrity of those 13 officials for speaking up, it is disheartening that their fellow Republicans have not.
The Democratic Party of Virginia added their own worries about Jen Kiggans continuing to support Amanda Newins. “As a geriatric nurse, Jen Kiggans should be caring for elderly people supporting people who are abusing them,” said Spokesperson Gianni Snidle. (Source: VADems)
As a candidate for Chesapeake School Board myself (donate here, if so inclined), I find it appalling that we have such a large group of people who are more concerned with how this may affect their chances of election than they are these very horrific allegations against one of their running mates. Instead, most have doubled-down on their support of this candidate.
Please remember that these fights for the future of our democracy are happening at all levels of government. We need to combat these “party over people” candidates at the local, state, and federal levels and ensure we have people with integrity, regardless of political party, in positions of governing. All politics, after all, is local.
