HAMPTON, Va. — This week, the Hampton chapter of the NAACP called for Hampton city council member Chris Bowman to step down.
A letter addressed to Bowman from the Hampton NAACP says they received several complaints of misconduct about him from the community, and have asked for his immediate resignation.
Gaylene Kanoyton, the President of the Hampton NAACP branch, said there are certain expectations to be upheld when in the public eye.
"I have heard people say that if this situation would have happened ten years ago it wouldn't have been an issue. It was an issue ten years ago and it's still an issue right now," said Kanoyton.
In the letter, the NAACP writes that the call for Bowman's resignation stems from a court case alleging the councilman solicited a prostitute, and was the victim of extortion as a result.
The Hampton NAACP chapter said it's receiving complaints about Bowman.
"Last Friday, we found out that three women had come forward to say that Councilman Bowman had displayed inappropriate actions towards them. Shortly after some of our members have come out and said the same thing had happened to them but they didn't want to be revealed," said Kanoyton, who did not go into detail about the nature of complaints, nor did she identify the alleged victims.
Kanoyton said the recent action taken by council mirrors a "slap on the wrist."
Hampton City Council censures councilman after alleged encounter with prostitute
"The city council censured him, and while I understand censuring him, when you censure someone, you're just saying that we don't agree with your behavior," explained Kanoyton.
News 3 reached out to some of the Hampton city council members about the recent call for Bowman to resign. Saturday, council member Steven Brown was able to comment over the phone and gave News 3 this statement:
"As a public official, we are held to a certain standard. The citizens trust us, and if that trust citizens place in us isn't abided by, I think we need to take the best way out and step down from the position."
As the next Hampton city council meeting approaches in the coming weeks, Kanoyton said she hopes other members of the community will come forward to speak to ensure alleged bad behavior by public officials won't be brushed off.
"We can't be desensitized to these kind of actions. We have to speak up and we have to speak out we can't tolerate this kind of behavior," said Kanoyton.
News 3 reached out to Chris Bowman who told us he had no comment at this time.
