Photo by Jay Paul
Ten of the 28 candidates running for Richmond City Council are on record as opposing Joe Morrissey's mayoral bid.
In a series of candidate questionnaires published over the last week and a half, the Richmond Times-Dispatch asked council hopefuls whether they supported or opposed any of the seven candidates running for mayor. While many candidates offered no answer, 10 candidates, including at least one in districts 1 to 5, said they opposed the former commonwealth’s attorney and state delegate.
Two council candidates – Andreas Addison (1st District) and Charlie Diradour (2nd District) – had condemned Morrissey several weeks ago. They are joined by: Rebecca Keel (2nd District), Chris Hilbert (3rd District), Tim Grimes (4th), Kristen Larson (4th), Larry Olanrewaju (4th), Jeff Thomas (4th), Parker Agelasto (5th) and Montigue MaGruder (5th).
Agelasto, the 5th District incumbent who is facing two challengers, says Morrissey would be a detriment, not an asset, to City Hall because he does not have a track record of “building coalitions.”
“We need to be able to go to the General Assembly as a united city where the City Council, School Board and administration are on the same page,” Agelasto says. “Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll be able to do that with Joe Morrissey as our mayor.”
Chris Hilbert, a longtime councilman in the North Side 3rd District, echoed Agelasto’s concerns that a Morrissey administration would alienate the state legislature, as well as the governor. Hilbert added, “As highlighted by the last few days, the last thing we need at City Hall is more drama. It seems as though that follows Mr. Morrissey on a fairly regular basis.”
On Friday, the Richmond Times-Dispatch broke news of a new salacious scandal involving Morrissey. A woman who sought legal representation from his law firm told the newspaper that Morrissey exposed himself to her, then sent her sexually suggestive text messages after she refused his advances. The woman said she received the texts at a time when Morrissey’s then-fiancée and now wife, Myrna, was pregnant with the couple’s second child, the newspaper reported. In a statement, Morrissey acknowledged that “flirtatious texts” were exchanged, but denied having exposed himself to the woman.
The woman also told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that Morrissey’s firm pressured her to take a plea agreement that landed her in a Henrico County jail. A judge released her last week after she retained new lawyers. At a news conference held on Saturday, Morrissey and an attorney he retained vehemently denied any wrongdoing and asked the newspaper to retract its story and apologize. The newspaper’s top editor, Paige Mudd, said the newspaper stands by its reporting.
Morrissey had not responded to requests for comment by the time this story was published.
Agelasto and Hilbert are incumbents in what are shaping up to be the two most competitive districts in the mayor’s race come Election Day. An October poll showed Morrissey with slight leads in both the 3rd and 5th districts, which would all but guarantee him winning the election outright.
No candidates in districts 6 through 9 told the newspaper they oppose Morrissey. Coincidentally, those are the districts where the front-runner’s support is strongest, polls showed. Two council candidates – Dorian Daniels (3rd District) and Marcus Squires (9th district) – said they support Morrissey for mayor.
