CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) – Six more city officials are withdrawing their support for Amanda Newins, candidate for city council, who is being sued by her great aunt for elder abuse.
In a statement obtained Sunday evening by 10 On Your Side, Chesapeake’s treasurer, school board chair and vice-chair, along with three school board members say they can no longer support or endorse Newins.
In their statement, the officials said “effective immediately, we are withdrawing our support for and endorsement of Ms. Newins and we stand together with (City Council members) Steve Best, Don Carey, Robert Ike, (Commonwealth’s Attorney) Matt Hamel, (Clerk of Courts) Alan Krasnoff, and (Sheriff) Jim O’Sullivan,” referring to an earlier statement issued Friday afternoon by those office holders.
Chesapeake Republican Party Nicholas Proffitt responded to the statement Sunday night. “This does not come as a surprise to me. Sam Boone, Tom Mercer, Harry Murphy, Louis Tayon, and Michael Woods have never endorsed either Amanda Newins or the Endorsed Republican Ticket. Furthermore, they have been actively supporting one of Mrs. Newins and our endorsed ticket’s non-Republican opponents, whose campaign representative is the lead attorney in this lawsuit against Mrs. Newins.”
Here is the full statement issued Sunday by the treasurer and school board officials:
“We have been following the events surrounding the lawsuit and criminal investigation involving Amanda Newins, a Republican-endorsed candidate for Chesapeake’s City Council. We are disappointed by the responses from Ms. Newins and our local party chairman, which represent a small minority of Chesapeake’s current Republican elected officials. We cannot be silent during their coordinated response attacking respected office holders and longtime members of the party, without even acknowledging victims of elder abuse.
We understand that Ms. Newins will have her chance to defend herself through the legal system, which we believe is the best avenue for her to tell her story instead of through the campaign trail and counterattacks in the media. Effective immediately, we are withdrawing our support for and endorsement of Ms. Newins and we stand together with Steve Best, Don Carey, Matt Hamel, Robert Ike, Alan Krasnoff, and Jim O’Sullivan.
Like them, we also encourage others who are likeminded and equally disappointed by these revelations to do the same.
As longtime Republicans, we will continue to support other candidates for city council and school board who have been endorsed by Chesapeake’s Republican Party Committee and share our values.”Samuel L. Boone, Jr., Chesapeake School Board
Barbara O. Carraway, Chesapeake’sTreasurer
Thomas L. Mercer, Sr., Vice Chairman, Chesapeake School Board
Harry A. Murphy, Chairman, Chesapeake School Board
Louis J. Tayon, Jr., Chesapeake School Board
Michael J. Woods, Chesapeake School Board
10 On Your Side is also seeking comment on this latest development from the attorney for Newins, Alison Zizzo.
The statement from the six officials is similar to one issued Friday by Chesapeake’s sheriff, Commonwealth’s Attorney, Clerk of Courts, and three members of the city council.
After our Friday coverage aired, Newins posted on her “Amanda Newins for Chesapeake City Council” campaign page a list of several lawmakers and officials she claimed to support her. On that list was City Treasurer Barbara Carraway, who now says she no longer supports Newins’s candidacy.
Also on the list posted of her purported supporters was State Sen. Jen Kiggans, a candidate for Congress in Virginia’s 2nd District. We have attempted to reach the Kiggans campaign for comment throughout the weekend but have received no response. Kiggans’s campaign donated to Newins in July.
The 13-page complaint naming Newins calls for more than $890,000 in punitive and compensatory damages. Newins is a practicing attorney and vice president of the Chesapeake Bar Association.
Bobby Davis had late-stage Alzheimer’s disease and advanced dementia in September 2020 when he and his wife Shirley moved in with Newins, who was their caretaker.
Shirley Davis is the plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Among the allegations: Newins demanded $1,000 a month in rent, and isolated her great aunt and uncle by withholding his cell phone and her hearing aids and glasses; Newins would punish her uncle by forcing him to sit at the kitchen table until he finished dinner, sometimes as late as 11 p.m.
Newins also required that her aunt and uncle, who were in their 80s, clean up the waste left behind by Newins’s four cats and two dogs.
The lawsuit also claims Newins had the Davises sign a power of attorney — that she then used to add her own name to the elderly couple’s numerous bank accounts; that Newins gifted the couple’s Kempsville home to herself worth an estimated $330,000; that Newins sold the Davises’ two vehicles and bought a BMW for herself; that she made withdrawals totaling $113,000 from two separate retirement accounts; that she used their credit cards for $31,000 for personal expenses and home improvements.
Newins responded Monday to the lawsuit through her attorney Alison Zizzo with this statement:
“We are disheartened to learn that a baseless lawsuit has been filed by an estranged family member against Amanda so close in time to an important election. Amanda has the complete support of her family including her siblings, father, grandmother, cousins, her uncle’s siblings and other family, as well as his lifelong friends.
We are eagerly anticipating the opportunity for Amanda to represent to the court the actual facts in this matter. We are certain that the court will find Amanda’s actions were not only appropriate but above reproach.
Attempting to drag an opponent through the mud with unfounded accusations is certainly not a new tactic in politics but remains an unfortunate consequence of today’s American political system.”
