Will Bob McDonnell Be Indicted?

As the Richmond Times Dispatch reports, speculation continues on whether or not Bob McDonnell and/or Maureen "Marie Antoinette" McDonnell in connection with the more than $266,000 in gifts, cash payments and political contributions received from Jonnie R. Williams and Star Scientific.  As noted to date, part of Taliban Bob's defense is that he did not know who much loot his greed driven wife received from Williams.   Meanwhile, there seems to be no explanation from Ms. McDonnell on why she acted like Emelda Marcos in her pursuit of designer clothes on lavish shopping trips to New York City.  Personally, I find it beyond belief that something of wasn't done for Williams/Star Scientific in return for such lavish spending.   As for McDonnell's feigned lack of knowledge, it's what I have called the Sergeant Schultz defense.  I don't buy it.  Here are highlights from the Times Dispatch:

Attorneys and law professors are uncertain whether Gov. Bob McDonnell’s legal troubles could lead to a federal indictment.

But if McDonnell is indicted and declines to step down, Republican legislative leaders privately are steeling themselves to ask the governor to resign to spare the state from distraction as the government gears up to produce a two-year budget by December.

Andrew G. McBride, who spent seven years as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, and three in the main Department of Justice, said the case doesn’t fit exactly a classic public corruption model — an official act in exchange for some form of compensation.

“At the same time, it has some egregious facts that might well lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office to indict.

“Or, I could very much see a situation, and this is authorized by the U.S. attorney’s manual, where they trade non-indictment of both the governor and the first lady in exchange for the immediate resignation of the governor.”

The coming weeks could be decisive. A decision or announcement could be made within two weeks to avoid getting too close to the November election.

Williams, the Star CEO, is facing his own potential legal troubles. Leading the defense team for Williams are Richard Cullen, chairman of McGuireWoods and a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Toby Vick, a former federal prosecutor.

Lawyers say he could have trouble with the income tax laws for cash gifts made to the McDonnells.

Federal investigators are probing whether McDonnell or his administration provided any benefit to Williams and his company in exchange for the more than $166,000 in gifts, loans and cash payments Williams provided to the first family — in addition to nearly $110,000 in campaign and political action committee donations. The governor has maintained that Star Scientific has not received any special treatment from his administration.

There's more to the piece for those interested.  Again, no one gives that much money without expecting something.

Read More

Virginian Pilot: Bob McDonnell Needs to Resign

A post yesterday looked at the deepening problems of Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell and "Gift Gate" which was driven apparently in large part by Maureen McDonnell's incredible greed and willingness to sell political favors.  McDonnell's defense: he didn't know what his wife was up to.  It defies belief and frankly suggests that McDonnell is a liar to boot.  Today, the Virginian Pilot calls on McDonnell to do the right thing and resign so as to spare Virginia more seedy headlines and embarrassment.  Here are highlights:

Less than a month ago, Gov. Bob McDonnell apologized to Virginians for the financial and ethical controversy swirling around his office. He insisted that he broke no laws and was "committed to regaining your sacred trust and confidence."

In the ensuing weeks, however, new details about McDonnell's relationship with supplement maker Star Scientific and the company's chief executive, Jonnie Williams, have called into question the commitment to restoring that trust. Worse, the revelations have raised substantial new questions about the governor's ties to the company.

Those details include additional gifts provided by Williams to the governor's family, as well as confirmation that the governor's wife, Maureen McDonnell, twice purchased shares of Star Scientific stock with money loaned to her by Williams.

As The Pilot's Julian Walker reported, those stock purchases establish a direct financial connection between the McDonnells and the company that the governor and first lady have touted during his term. The governor's explanation - that he didn't know the extent of his wife's financial dealings with Williams - doesn't change that.

Star Scientific is the focus of a federal securities investigation and is embroiled in a $700,000 tax lawsuit against the state. Yet Virginia's first family owned shares in the company and accepted lavish gifts, including designer clothes, a Rolex and tens of thousands of dollars in loans, from the company's CEO.

On Monday, The Washington Post reported, federal officials met with attorneys for the governor and his wife to discuss whether the couple should be charged. That is a dire prospect, one that underscores the magnitude of the situation and the need for steady leadership and credible reform of the system that enabled the current mess.

McDonnell's failure to completely disclose his family's financial ties to Star Scientific has diminished his credibility and drained his capacity to lead the commonwealth. The latest revelations, even without the possibility of an indictment of the commonwealth's chief executive, make the prospect of his continued leadership untenable. He must devote his full attention to sorting out his personal and legal problems.

For the good of his office, of the state and of every Virginian - and for the good of his family and of himself - McDonnell should resign.

The Pilot is correct in its analysis.  I would only add that voters need to remember that Ken Cuccinelli was in bed with Williams and Star Scientific as well.  He merely received fewer gifts.  Or at least that's what he is telling everyone.

Read More

Bob McDonnell Pleads Unbelievable Ignorance - Throws Wife Under the Bus

The "Gift Gate" scandal surrounding Republican Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell continues to escalate and, based on coverage in the Washington Post, McDonnell is seemingly trying to claim that it is all the fault of his greedy wife and that he had no idea how much she was sucking up at Jonnie R. William, Sr.'s trough of gifts and questionable loans to Virginia's first family.  Frankly, McDonnell's story line defies belief - especially since Williams disputes it and says that McDonnell knew what was going on.  Whatever happens, it would seem that McDonnell's political career is over.   One can only hope that as the star Scientific scandal grows it will also envelop Ken Cuccinelli.  Here are highlights from the Post coverage: 

Attorneys for Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, will spend Monday locked in separate hours-long meetings trying to convince federal prosecutors that the first couple should not be charged in the gifts scandal that has dominated state politics.

The meetings open a new, critical phase of the investigation, timed to help prosecutors decide over the next few weeks whether to file charges, according to two people with knowledge of the investigation.

The central issues for prosecutors are what precisely McDonnell may have said or offered to Williams on his own and how much the governor knew about his wife’s acceptance of gifts from Williams and her actions to help his company just as Star was launching a new product.

As the scandal has shined an uncomfortable spotlight on the governor’s marriage, McDonnell’s side has conveyed to authorities that his wife often purposely kept him in the dark about the largess she was accepting from Williams, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

Their goal with that assertion is to convince prosecutors that it would have been impossible for Williams’s gifts to have influenced the governor in his official duties because McDonnell learned of many only after his wife had accepted them.

Prosecutors will have to decide how credible they find those assertions when considered against the timeline of the first couple’s interactions with Williams and other evidence, including Williams’s recollections.
According to two people familiar with his version, Williams has countered the account from the governor’s side.

The now fast-paced timeline of the investigation is driven in part by two factors.  First, prosecutors generally wish to move as quickly as possible if they think there is evidence of criminal actions by a sitting, still powerful elected official.  Second, Justice Department guidelines discourage prosecutors from taking action during an election season to avoid the perception that they are trying to influence the outcome.

Over a roughly 18-month span in 2011 and 2012, Williams gave $15,000 in clothing to Maureen McDonnell, a $6,500 Rolex watch he intended for the governor, $15,000 for catering at the wedding of one of McDonnell’s daughters and $10,000 as an engagement gift to another daughter.


Two people confirmed over the weekend that there were additional gifts, including golf clubs for each of the governor’s college-age twin sons and an iPhone for the first lady.

Most significant, in 2011 and 2012, Williams provided $120,000 to Maureen McDonnell and to a small holding company owned by the governor and his sister, money the governor has said were loans that he has now repaid.
[T]the governor’s team has told authorities that McDonnell did not know that Williams paid for a shopping trip for Maureen McDonnell at Bergdorf Goodman in New York City in spring 2011.  They also have told prosecutors that he didn’t know it was Williams who bought the Rolex watch inscribed with the words “71st Governor of Virginia.”

They say he learned of a $50,000 loan Williams made to his wife in May 2011, about two weeks after the money arrived, by which time it had been spent.   About $30,000 went to purchase Star stock intended for the McDonnell children and the rest to pay down debt.  McDonnell learned five months later, in November 2011, that the stock was in his wife’s name and had not been transferred to their children as she had indicated, according to someone familiar with the governor’s account.

 There's more, but it's hard not to conclude either (i) Bob McDonnell is an idiot, or (ii) that he thinks the prosecutors and Virginia voters are idiots.  I opt for option (ii).

Read More

Growing Scandal Surrounds Ken Cuccinelli

Both Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell and Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli make a point of wearing their supposed religiosity on their sleeves, yet the unfolding picture is one of greed and corruption that one would more expect among the mafia.  Both accepted lavish gifts from Jonnie R. Williams and now the Inspector General's office is investigating whether Cuccinelli's office gave improper legal advice to private litigants one of which is an affiliate of a corporation that just happened to give Cuccinelli $100,000.  Even the conservative Richmond Times Dispatch is slamming Cuccinelli for what looks like improprieties on a major scale.  Here are editorial excerpts: 

Politically explosive investigations in Virginia are proliferating at a rate that makes bunny rabbits look almost celibate. The latest inquiry concerns the Office of the Attorney General.

State Inspector General Michael Morehart is looking into whether one of the lawyers in that office was out of bounds when she gave legal advice to a private company embroiled in a dispute with Virginia landowners over mineral rights. Sharon Pigeon’s emails to attorneys for Consol Energy were unusual enough to draw a sharp rebuke from a federal magistrate.

This would qualify as embarrassing news for Ken Cuccinelli under any circumstances. But its potential to hurt the Republican’s gubernatorial chances is magnified by two facts. First, Consol has given hefty sums to his campaign war chest. Second, Cuccinelli was briefed on the case by senior staff. That doesn’t mean he knew about, let alone directed, Pigeon’s activity. But it does make any claim of ignorance on his part a more difficult sell.

After nutritional supplement-maker Star Scientific sued Virginia in a dispute over taxes, Cuccinelli (a) bought stock in Star Scientific, then sold it for a profit, and (b) used the vacation home of CEO Jonnie Williams Sr. – and did not recuse his office until publicly pressured to do so.

There’s also the lingering odor from the case of U.S. Navy Veterans Association, a “charity” investigated by several states. The group’s founder and leader, John Donald Cody, went by the name Bobby Thompson, and – before he went on the lam – contributed to numerous Virginia politicians, Cuccinelli in particular. He now faces trial on felony theft and money-laundering charges.

None of this implies any sort of illegality on Cuccinelli’s part. But it may suggest a level of coziness between the attorney general and his benefactors that does little good to the public, and that voters might find alarming. They also might wonder why Cuccinelli seems to take the long way around to the right decision.

 Ouch!!!

Read More

McDonnell and Cuccinelli Respond to Gay Marriage Suit

In a somewhat bizarre argument - namely that they enjoy sovereign immunity and are apparently by implication above the U.S. Constitution - Bob "Rolex Bob" McDonnell and Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli have asked that the lawsuit filed against them in U.S. District Court in Norfolk be dismissed.  I have yet to see a copy of the filing, but from the coverage in the Richmond Times Dispatch, McDonnell and Kookinelli would apparently leave the other defendant in the action, the Clerk of the Norfolk Circuit Court to his own devices.  Here is what the Virginia Constitution says about the responsibilities of the Governor in relevant part:

Article V Section 7. Executive and administrative powers.  The Governor shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.

As for the Attorney General, the Code of Virginia states in part as follows:

2.2-500. Attorney General to be chief executive officer; duties generally.  The Attorney General shall be the chief executive officer of the Department of Law, and shall perform such duties as may be provided by law.

2.2-513. Counsel for Commonwealth in federal matters.  The Attorney General shall represent the interests of the Commonwealth, its departments, boards, institutions and commissions in matters before or controversies with the officers and several departments of the government of the United States.

Despite these provisions McDonnell and Cuccinelli seemingly are claiming that they have nothing to do with the states anti-gay marriage laws.  Here are highlights from the Times Dispatch article:

Gov. Bob McDonnell and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli have filed to be dismissed from legal action against them as representatives of the state in a federal lawsuit brought by a gay couple from Norfolk who were denied a marriage license.

Court records show that McDonnell and Cuccinelli asked the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Norfolk to dismiss the plaintiffs’ suit on grounds of sovereign immunity.
 

In his complaint, Solicitor General E. Duncan Getchell Jr., who represents McDonnell and Cuccinelli in the case, cited the 14th Amendment because “limitations on eligibility to marry in Virginia” are “enforced by withholding a marriage license as happened in this case.”

Getchell continued that neither the governor nor the attorney general has “any proximity to, responsibility for, or a special relationship with the laws of marital eligibility. As a consequence both should be dismissed on the ground of sovereign immunity.”

I'm sure the Clerk of the Norfolk Circuit Court will be thrilled to learn that he apparently has the burden of defending Virginia's anti-gay laws under the Taliban Bob/Kookinelli theory to the case.  Once I see the pleading, I will post an update.

Read More

Willaim & Mary Rector Warns Virginia on Gay Marriage Ban

William & Mary is one of Virginia's academic jewels and is also the second oldest university in America with only Harvard being older.  As such, William & Mary competes on a high level for the best faculty and researchers.  And now, William & Mary's outgoing Rector is warning that Virginia's ban on gay marriage will harm William & Mary and by extension, Virginia's other top colleges and universities because top academics simply will not want to take positions that would require moving to a socially backward, anti-gay state.  Ken Cuccinelli and his equally insane GOP ticket mates may scoff, but bigotry does carry a price.  Here are highlights from the Washington Post: 

Jeff Trammell, a D.C. lobbyist and gay Democratic activist, was elated when the Supreme Court ruled in late June that the federal government must treat legally married gay couples the same as married heterosexual couples.

But as the outgoing leader of the College of William and Mary’s governing Board of Visitors, Trammell also worried that the ruling would make Virginia’s vaunted public universities less attractive for gay academics.

The high court decision adds “a substantial incentive for our gay and lesbian faculty and staff to leave the Commonwealth’s public universities and colleges,” Trammell wrote to other Virginia higher education leaders in a June 26 e-mail, hours after the ruling was issued.

Trammell had earlier noted — in a letter on June 11 — that the presidents of the University of Virginia, George Mason University and William and Mary had pushed for the state to allow public universities to offer domestic partner health benefits in late 2009. That effort stalled after Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) took office in January 2010.

We already have lost valued gay and lesbian faculty to our competitors who do not discriminate. With changes in federal benefits soon available to legally married gay couples, we will lose more. Two able individuals told me [recently] that they are leaving for another state — one a top professor [in a science-technology field] and another a university administrator just recruited to Virginia a few years ago.

At a minimum, the state should immediately allow our public colleges and universities to offer health insurance and other equal benefits to the same-sex partners of their faculty and staff. The commonwealth is undervaluing our universities and their attractiveness to businesses that prize education. Everyone, Democrats and Republicans, needs to come together to end this discrimination.

Some gay and lesbian faculty and staff — including at the University of Virginia, George Mason, Virginia Commonwealth, Virginia Tech and William and Mary — have sent me their stories: senior professors whose partners had cancer and no health insurance; researchers who left the commonwealth, taking major grants with them; faculty who, unlike their straight colleagues, are paying out of their pockets for costly individual policies for their partners and who resent the discrimination; young professors and administrators who are looking to leave the state; and so forth.

Read More

Bob McDonnell Scandal: The Sharks Are Turning on Each Other

Frankly, it has been entertaining to watch the festering of Bob McDonnell's self-inflicted political wounds.  The greed and sense of entitlement - especially on the part of Maureen McDonnell - has been shocking.   The only down side has been that the scandal has not hit Ken Cuccinelli - Virginia's would be Adolph Hitler like figure - harder.  Kookinelli is just as dirty as McDonnell and only received less generosity from Williams because he doesn't wield the power the governor holds in Virginia.  Now, Bob "Taliban Bob" or "Rolex Bob" McDonnell and erstwhile buddy and lavish gift giver Jonnie R. Williams, Sr., seem poised to go for each others throats.  A column in Bacon's Rebellion looks at this turn of events.  Here are excerpts:

You know something bad is up when Gov. Robert F. McDonnell starts turning on his gift-giving pal Jonnie R. Williams Sr. of Star Scientific and federal prosecutors.

On Friday, the troubled dietary supplement maker filed securities documents saying that the firm has been told by federal prosecutors that it would not be charged criminally in their probe of McDonnell’s acceptance of gifts and loans.

Rich Galen, the Sherpa McDonnell has hired to get him through the scandal, has said that the feds are giving Williams “a free pass” which apparently means that Williams will turn state’s evidence against McDonnell. And that apparently means that the chances of McDonnell’s being indicted are higher, not lower.

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Galen “contrasted” McDonnell’s 37 years of public service with Williams, whom Galen said  “has been in trouble with government entities since the earliest days of his business career.”

Now that is a mouthful. And it is very strange given that McDonnell, who told me that he has known Williams for five or six years, has been such a close personal friend with Williams that he has accepted $165,000 in gifts and loans from him, has stayed at his lakeside vacation home, his wife has flown around in his airplane and has gotten a New York City shopping spree (including a $6,5000 Rolex for Bob). The McDonnells have given the goodies back.

Now it seems that McDonnell is going on the campaign trail this week to prop his reputation. One would think he might be going on the hustings to help Cuccinelli. But, no, Cuccinelli is trying to distance himself as much as he can from McDonnell even though Cuccinelli got $18,000 in gifts from Williams. Unlike the governor, the attorney general is not giving them back.

Chris LaCivita, a Cuccinelli advisor, actually gave this bizarre explanation for Cuccinelli’s decision to keep the stuff. The attorney general has seven kids and has to manage his family budget. Ethical transgressions are acceptable if you have a lot of children. Who knew?

The upshot is that McDonnell appears to be in very deep trouble with the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s office.

Seven kids, and it still didn't turn Cuccinelli straight.   The man is a slime and a closet case.

Read More

Report: Bob McDonnell Possibly Facing Criminal Charges Over Cash Gifts

Bob McDonnell and his family acted like pigs at a trough when it came to soliciting and accepting bribes "gifts" from Star Scientific CEO Jonnie R. Williams, Sr.  Now, MSNBC is reporting that McDonnell could be facing criminal charges for the cash bribes "gifts" he accepted.  If this in fact comes to pass, McDonnell's aspirations for higher office may well be toast.  Secondly, such charges may bring renewed coverage of Ken Cuccinelli's willingness to likewise solicit and accept bribes "gifts" from Williams.  Here are highlights from MSNBC's article:

A federal investigation into Virginia governor Bob McDonnell’s accepting financial gifts from companies could lead to potential criminal charges against the Republican, the Washington Post reported Sunday.

Authorities are now investigating whether those gifts were part of a quid-pro-quo arrangement between Williams and McDonnell where the governor accepted the money in exchange for helping the company with Antabloc, a new dietary supplement, the paper reported.

Last week, McDonnell agreed to pay back the loans from Star Scientific, saying that he was, “deeply sorry for the embarrassment certain members of my family and I brought upon my beloved Virginia and her citizens.”

After receiving the gifts, McDonnell set up a meeting between Williams and Virginia’s secretary of health to discuss Andabloc; Maureen McDonnell, the first lady, hosted a lunch attended by her husband to celebrate the release of the drug at the governor’s mansion, the paper reported.

I want to know what Cuccinelli was supposed to deliver to Williams in exchange for the over $18,000 in "gifts" Cuccinelli received.  Virginia voters should be loudly asking this question.

Read More

Cuccinelli Will Not Return $18,000 in Gifts (Bribes?)

While Bob McDonnell is trying to save his ass by returning lavish gifts - some now being euphemistically called "loans" - the ever despicable Ken Cuccinelli has announced that he will not follow suit and reimburse Jonnie R. Williams, Sr., for the $18,000 in bribes gifts Cuccinelli recieved.  His reasoning?  Since the gifts were in the form of cash or tangible items like Rolex watches, they can't be returned.   Somehow he misses the point that he received what I am sure Williams viewed as payments for future political favors.  But then again, Cuccinelli always sees himself as exempt from the laws and rules that apply to others.   Here are highlights from a Washington Post article on Cuccinelli's bullshit position:

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says he’s glad Gov. Bob McDonnell is returning all the gifts he received from a major political donor. But he has no plans to repay the more than $18,000 in gifts he received from the same benefactor.

Cuccinelli told reporters Wednesday that Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams didn’t give him the kind of gifts that can be returned. Among the gifts from Williams listed in Cuccinelli’s financial disclosure statements are a $1,500 catered Thanksgiving dinner, private jet trips and vacation lodging. Cuccinelli said, “There are some bells you can’t unring.”

The Republican candidate for governor made the remarks the day after McDonnell announced he and his family are returning all their gifts and repaying $125,000 in business and personal loans from Williams.

Cuccinelli misses the point that he could write a check to Williams to make things right.  But then again, Cuccinelli is all about money as demonstrated by his refusal to resign from office.  He wants taxpayers to underwrite his political campaign.  Perhaps he should have thought through the cost of having all the children he fathered trying to convince himself that he's not gay.

Read More

Cuccinelli Remains Entangled With Star Scientific

GOP gubernatorial candidate Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli is trumpeting the findings of a report that at first glance states that Kookinelli is not as corrupt as Bob McDonnell.  But the fine print if you will raises some disturbing questions that need further exploration and which raise the question of whether there are more details - i.e., bribes gifts - that have yet come to light.  Besides being insane, Kookinelli is power mad and has a history of viewing himself above the law and above U. S. Supreme Court rulings as demonstrated by his effort to keep oral sex a felony in Virginia.  The Maddow Blog sums things up well:

[I]f all you read is the headline -- "Investigators Clear Virginia's Cuccinelli in Ethics Probe" -- you're going to miss some key details. For example, the same report notes that Cuccinelli, far from doing nothing to help his generous benefactor, may have helped Williams after all.

Star sued the state to reverse a $1.7 million tax bill in 2011, shortly before Cuccinelli made a second, $10,000 investment in its shares and before the attorney general asked Williams if his family could stay for a third time at Williams' Smith Mountain Lake vacation home.

Cuccinelli has said he never talked to Williams about the lawsuit, though he has said Williams had earlier complained about the disputed taxes.

The attorney general told the ethics investigators "that he may have suggested that Williams contact a certain attorney at a Richmond law firm 'to assist him and his company with the Tobacco Fund,' " according to a report issued by Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney Michael Herring, quoting an investigators' findings.

So, Williams sued Virginia, and it was up Cuccinelli to defend the state in the case. It was around this time that Cuccinelli started buying stock in Williams' company and taking trips to Williams' lovely vacation home. And it was also around this time that Cuccinelli "may have" offered legal advice to Williams, too.

The report issued yesterday added, "[O]ne cannot help but question whether [Cuccinelli's] repeated omissions of Williams [in his disclosure forms] are coincidence or a pattern reflecting intent to conceal."

Given all of this, why is Cuccinelli off the hook? Probably because Virginia has pretty weak ethics laws, making it easier to get away with dubious conduct.

Oh, and then there's the question of why the Virginia Retirement System purchased — and sold at a loss -- 71,900 shares of Star Scientific stock over a three-month period.  The retirement system lost $87,000 in the process.  Just a coincidence?  Not likely.  The Daily Progress has details here.

Read More

The Chef Who Could Cook Bob McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli

The greed and influence peddling that seem to be the hallmarks of Virginia Governor Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell and Attorney General Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli terms in office to date will be aired further in the coming trial of former executive chef to the Governor's mansion, Todd Schneider.  Schneider is accused of taking state property from the Governor's mansion, but increasingly, it looks like his real crime was to pay too much attention to the misdeeds of the McDonald family members and the avalanche of money and gifts entering the Governor's mansion.  Talking Points Memo looks at the situation.  Here are highlights:

Accused of taking property from the governor’s mansion kitchen, Schneider is facing several charges of embezzlement in Virginia court. At the same time, he has become a key player in the scandal swirling around the McDonnells and Virginia’s Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.

Revelations about the relationship between the McDonnell family, Cuccinelli, and a prominent political donor and businessman, Jonnie Williams Sr., have been trickling out for weeks. Williams, the CEO of a struggling dietary supplement company called Star Scientific, has given McDonnell tens of thousands of dollars in campaign funds over the years, as well as reportedly tens of thousands of dollars in undisclosed money and other gifts. The undisclosed funds are now at the center of federal and state investigations, according to The Washington Post.

According to a court motion filed at the end of April by his attorney, Schneider began providing state and federal authorities with information about Williams’ relationship to the McDonnells over a year ago. On Feb. 10, 2012, Schneider met with agents from the Virginia State Police and the FBI. A month later, on March 8, 2012, Schneider and his attorney again met with the agents, along with Patrick Dorgan, a senior assistant state attorney general.

Schneider’s lawyer, has argued that the very food and supplies his client is now accused of embezzling from the state was given to Schneider as work-around payment for catering personal and political events McDonnell held at the mansion. Furthermore, Benjamin believes Schneider should be treated as a whistleblower. He has also argued that Cuccinelli’s conflict of interest in the case — Schneider did not know Cuccinelli held Star Scientific stock when he began speaking with investigators — should get the case dismissed. (Cuccinelli recused himself from the case in late April, citing the fact that a former governor’s mansion employee now works for his gubernatorial campaign.)

Earlier this week, a court hearing was held on Benjamin’s motion to dismiss the case. Afterward, Tony Troy, a private attorney representing McDonnell, disputed the idea that Schneider had been forced to cook for non-state or McDonnell family events. According to The Washington Post, Troy said that the executive chef was supposed to be a “at-will, 24-7 employee.”

It will be interesting to watch to see if Schneider manages to cook McDonnell's and Cuccinelli's goose.

Read More

Even Bob McDonnell’s Friends Are Bracing for the Worst - What About Cuccinelli?

The greed and unbelievable hypocrisy of Bob McDonnell and his idiot wife has even McDonnell's friends bracing themselves for the worst as the investigation into the now hundreds of thousands of gifts - dare we say bribes? - received by the McDonnell's continues.  One can only hope that some of the focus of the investigations will shift to Ken Cuccinelli who likewise acted like a pig at the trough when it came to receive gifts (and insider trading tips?) from Star Scientific and its CEO.  A column in the conservative Richmond Times Dispatch looks at the festering situation:

Paul Nardo is spending hours these days in the attic of the state Capitol. He’s rummaging through the records of the House of Delegates. In those damp-smelling volumes, the clerk is searching for clues on the legislature’s role in the unprecedented: the resignation or removal of a Virginia governor.

They’re on a lot of people’s minds as Gov. Bob McDonnell descends deeper and deeper into the inferno of scandal.

No lawmakers asked Nardo for this research. He’s trying to stay ahead of the curve. Nardo has been studying ancient journals, perusing scholarly commentaries and reviewing how the House handled the closest thing to a gubernatorial impeachment: the impeachment of two judges in the 1940s.

That Nardo, as chief administrator of the Republican-dominated House, is considering how the abstract might become reality is an ominous sign for McDonnell.
This is not in the Democrats’ script. It doesn’t call for them to intervene in this slow-motion Republican suicide. Plus, the more Republicans dissemble on ethics, the less Democrats have to defend the supposed misdeeds of their gubernatorial nominee, Terry McAuliffe. In the backstairs debate among Democratic leaders, candidates and strategists, the consensus is to be cautious.

McAuliffe and running mates Ralph Northam and Mark Herring are in lockstep on a gifts ban for the elective class. Donald McEachin, chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, launched an online petition pressing McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli, the GOP candidate for governor, to make public all gifts.

McDonnell’s situation is made worse by Cuccinelli. He, too, is stuck in the briar patch that is Jonnie Williams Sr. and Star Scientific. Cuccinelli’s effort to distance himself from McDonnell achieves the wrong objectives. It magnifies their shared humiliation. It is a reminder Cuccinelli is better at sticking it to McDonnell than sticking with him.

Cuccinelli isn’t the only Republican statewide candidate avoiding McDonnell — or availing himself of the opportunity to do so.

Mark Obenshain, the nominee for attorney general, is holding a fundraiser in Virginia Beach on Wednesday evening. The governor was supposed to be the headliner. But McDonnell’s office now says the appearance is off, that he’ll be on vacation all week with his family.

As Richard Nixon was 39 summers ago for Watergate-worried congressional Republicans, McDonnell could become, with apologies to the late columnist Nicholas von Hoffman, a “dead mouse” to legislative Republicans: Everyone can see it. Everyone can smell it. Who’s going to throw it away?

Defending their majority this fall, House of Delegates Republicans will cut and run on the first sign that McDonnell’s problems are becoming theirs. Their survival instinct will demand it.

An alarming harbinger for Republicans: conservative bloggers, who had already turned against McDonnell for raising taxes, report as fact that his resignation is inevitable, part of a plea agreement with prosecutors. An administration that ordinarily ignores the blogs did otherwise this time, issuing a forceful denial.

Should pressure intensify because of hostile public opinion, fed by unflattering news reports that go unanswered by McDonnell, House Republicans may have no option than to tell him he has none: that it’s time for him to go.  And all Democrats have to do is watch a great Republican tradition: cannibalism.

Virginia voters truly need to know what gifts Cuccinelli has received, particularly in light of Cuccinelli's continued attitude that he is above the law - even the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court rulings.  Personally, I find it hard to believe that there isn't considerable dirty to be found on Cuccinelli.

Read More

Corruption Bob McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli Style

As more and more information continues to leak out about Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and his family - especially his wife, Maureen - the image that springs to mind is hogs at a trough eating up all they can grab, except in the case of McDonnell and family it is how many gifts and how much money can be secured.  While so far out of the fray in relative terms of the amount of loot secured, Ken Cuccinelli seemingly has engaged in a similar pattern of conduct with Star Scientific and its CEO, Jonnie R. Williams, Sr.  I for one hope more attention is focused on Cuccinelli as time goes by, especially in light of his continued view of himself as being above the laws and codes of conduct that govern others.  An editorial in the Washington Post slams McDonnell and should be a warning to Cuccinelli that he needs to come fully clean as well.  Here are highlights:

“IN THESE TOUGH budget times, everybody’s got to contribute, and I intend to do our part,” Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell said on the eve of his inauguration in 2010, explaining why he and his cabinet would take small pay cuts. A year later, Mr. McDonnell bragged that he had eliminated projected deficits in Virginia “by cutting spending.” And last year, touting his “fiscal prudence and conservative budgeting,” Mr. McDonnell piously hoped that Virginia’s example “would be a model for Washington.”

Yet as Mr. McDonnell was touting the virtues of public-sector austerity, his personal life was a counter-example of profligacy, irresponsibility and entitlement.

McDonnell and his family accepted upward of $200,000 in cash handouts, extravagant gifts and so-called loans — on generous terms unavailable to other mortals — from a Virginia businessman who sought the governor’s imprimatur and favorable treatment from the state for his company.

Much of it went unreported on the disclosure forms that Mr. McDonnell filed annually with the state, thanks to lawyerly maneuvering, definitional hair-splitting and slippery accounting.

Mr. McDonnell’s head-spinning hypocrisy has stained his reputation and shredded the bonds of trust that any governor must maintain with the public if he wishes to be effective and credible. It’s time for him to stop dodging hard questions and hiding behind legal niceties; it’s time for Mr. McDonnell to level with Virginians about what has become the state’s most toxic scandal in years.

Federal and state investigators are continuing to examine the McDonnell-Williams nexus for evidence of illegality, and a grand jury is hearing evidence. But the test of Mr. McDonnell’s ethical judgment and common sense is not whether he ends up facing criminal charges. The fact is, his conduct was egregious, and he owes a full accounting to the public for whom he works.

State lawmakers, most of whom have assumed a posture of stunned silence, also need to speak up. Do they not realize that Mr. McDonnell, by his actions, is rapidly recasting the state’s image for clean government?

In the face of what was clearly a pattern of improper conduct and systematic disclosure-dodging, it is inadequate to say, as Mr. McDonnell has, that he has hewn to the letter of the law.

Blue Virginia lists out a number of questionable matters involving both McDonnell and Cuccinelli.

Read More

"Taliban Bob" McDonnell Did Not Reveal Rolex From Donor

The greed and willingness to grab gifts and loot that has permeated the McDonnell household at the Governor's mansion seems to know few limits.  The latest item to come to light is a $6,500 Rolex watch that Taliban Bob seems to have conveniently forgotten to disclose.  It is becoming increasingly hard to believe that all the lavish gifts did not come with strings attached.   The Washington Post looks at McDonnell's latest memory lapse.  Here are excerpts:

A prominent political donor purchased a Rolex watch for Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, according to two people with knowledge of the gift, and the governor did not disclose it in his annual financial filings.

The $6,500 luxury watch was provided by wealthy businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr., the people said. He is the chief executive of dietary supplement manufacturer Star Scientific and the person who paid for catering at the wedding of the governor’s daughter. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because of an ongoing federal investigation into the relationship between Williams and the McDonnell family.

Williams’s gift came in August 2011 — about two weeks after he met with a top state health official to pitch the benefits of his company’s health products at a meeting arranged by first lady Maureen McDonnell, according to people who know of the meeting.

The Rolex, engraved with the inscription “71st Governor of Virginia,” represents the first undisclosed gift known to have been used personally by McDonnell (R) among tens of thousands of dollars of undisclosed gifts given to the governor’s family.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment. Jerry Kilgore, an attorney for Williams, declined to comment on the federal investigation, as did Star Scientific’s corporate attorney, Abbe Lowell. Tucker Martin, a spokesman for the governor, also declined to comment on the watch or the investigation.

They [federal investigators] are also investigating other money provided to Maureen McDonnell, as well as expensive designer clothing — some bought in 2011 in New York City — according to people familiar with the inquiry.   The shopping trip emanated from a social occasion with Williams and Maureen McDonnell shortly after the governor won election. The governor’s wife mentioned that she would need an inauguration dress, preferably one from the designer Oscar de la Renta, and would like Williams’s help getting one, according to two people familiar with her suggestion.

The governor is the subject of broad federal and state investigations into gifts given to him and his family and whether McDonnell took official action on behalf of anyone who gave gifts, people with knowledge of the investigations have said.

There is more that deserves a full read.  One thing for certain, Maureen McDonnell is a real piece of work and seems insatiable in her quest for gifts.  She surely doesn't know the words "discrete" and "modest."

Read More

Bob McDonnell Probe Finds Tens of Thousands of Dollars of Undisclosed Items

Ken Cuccinelli isn't the only corrupt GOP politician in Virginia.  As the Washington Post reports, a federal investigation into gifts to Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell and his family reveals that the McDonnells were lined up like pigs at a trough scarfing up tens of thousands of dollars worth of gifts that were conveniently not disclosed as required by Virginia law.  Combined with Cuccinelli's office assisting a big campaign donor in private, civil litigation, the picture is one of widespread corruption at the highest levels of Virginia government.  Here are highlights from the Post story:

Federal authorities are asking Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell’s associates about previously undisclosed gifts given by a campaign donor to McDonnell’s wife that total tens of thousands of dollars and include money and expensive designer clothing, according to people familiar with the inquiry.

The questions are part of broad federal and state investigations into gifts to the governor and his family and whether McDonnell (R) took official action on behalf of anyone who gave gifts, people with knowledge of the investigation have said.

But the people with knowledge of the inquiry, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the investigation, say the scope is wider than just the wedding gift. The value and nature of additional gifts from Williams, including money provided in several checks, suggest that authorities are exploring a more extensive relationship between Williams and the McDonnells than previously revealed.

Additionally, famed Virginia socialite Patricia Kluge, who was one of the state’s wealthiest women before a dramatic and public crash during the recession, has been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury to answer questions related to the McDonnells, according to people who are familiar with her summons.  It is not clear what testimony authorities will seek from Kluge, who owned a winery and vast estate near Charlottesville before losing both in the economic downturn.

As public scrutiny of his relationship with Williams has mounted, McDonnell has declined to provide a full accounting of other gifts Williams provided to members of the McDonnell family.
A local prosecutor in Richmond is conducting a parallel investigation to the federal probe to determine whether McDonnell complied with state law in his annual financial filings.

That investigation could explore whether the governor received enough benefit from gifts given to his wife — particularly loans or gifts of money — that he should have considered them gifts to himself as well.

Federal authorities are exploring whether McDonnell performed official acts to boost the company in exchange for gifts from Williams, people familiar with the inquiry have said.

It would seem that McDonnell's aspirations for national office are going to be toast.

Read More

Another GOP Disaster: Virginia Could Pay Up to $2 Billion If Tolls Ruling Stands

Outdated and Inadequate Midtown Tunnel

As if Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonald did not already have enough problems between the ongoing FBI investigation of his cozy relationship with Star Scientific and ripping off taxpayers for personal expenses, a new article in the Virginian Pilot lays out the potential cost to Virginia of the idiotic "public-private" deal struck to build a second tube for the Midtown Tunnel.  By "public-private" the terms in reality means that select private interests get to screw the public with GOP blessing.  It's all part of the Virginia GOP's refusal to raise taxes in a meaningful way to address the state's increasingly inadequate highway system.  With a recent court ruling striking down the McDonald/GOP give away to private interests, all of us may be about to be royally screwed.  Here are story highlights:

Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton painted a bleak financial picture for the state if a May court decision striking down planned tolls for the Midtown and Downtown tunnels is upheld, saying it could cost at least $700 million and potentially jeopardize other toll projects.

Testifying before state legislators Monday, Connaughton estimated that Virginia would be out $706 million in damages and costs incurred if it terminated the $2.1 billion contract with Elizabeth River Crossings to upgrade and operate the tunnels.

And the liability could be much higher if Virginia and its private partners move forward on the project but aren't able to collect tolls.

In that scenario, Connaughton said, Elizabeth River Crossings could pursue annual payments of $169 million for 57 years to recover lost revenue, an amount exceeding $9.6 billion. But it's unlikely Virginia would be on the hook for that much, he said, citing a worst-case figure closer to $2 billion if the state didn't terminate the deal.

Last month, Portsmouth Circuit Judge James A. Cales Jr. ruled that the General Assembly exceeded its authority by giving the state highway department broad power to set toll rates.

Del. Johnny Joannou gave voice to those frustrations Monday. His questions about the real-world impact of the tolls drew applause from audience members.

"You're talking about a lot of money from a lot of citizens. We're not just talking about money the state is putting out," he said, complaining about toll costs coupled with the lack of new capacity on the Downtown Tunnel.

Citing a still-fragile economy, Joannou criticized a deal he said would affect the lives of "a lot of people that are struggling out there to make a living."

The Virginia GOP can worry about micro-managing women's vagina's and Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli can obsess over maintaining Virginia's unconstitutional sodomy statute, but these folks cannot exercise leadership in a key area of government: maintaining the state's transportation infrastructure.

Read More

Bob McDonnell Probe Taints Cuccinelli's Virginia Governor Bid

Have you noticed that time and time again it is the supposed "godly Christian" folk - especially those in elected office - who seem to always be the ones ultimately caught up in scandals that involve conduct and actions that are the antithesis to what "Judeo-Christian " values seemingly ought to mean if put into practice?  The displays involve everything from the gay sex scandals of former Congressman Ed Schrock and former Senator Larry Craig to corruption charges surrounding GOP Virginia Governor Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell and Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli.  I'm not saying that the Democrats are innocent of missteps, but the level of rank hypocrisy is nowhere near the same.  Especially if one believes the propaganda put out by "family values" groups that Democrats are "godless" and anti-Christian.  Bloomberg looks at the ongoing train wreck surrounding Bob McDonnell which is seemingly spilling over onto Kookinelli, especially given the recent revelations that an attorney in Kookinelli's AG's office has been inappropriately aiding a major Cuccinelli campaign donor in civil litigation.  Here are article excerpts:

A federal investigation into a Virginia businessman’s political ties is threatening to harm the reputations of Republican Governor Bob McDonnell, an often mentioned prospective presidential candidate, and the man running to replace him. 

Ken Cuccinelli, the state’s attorney general and Republican gubernatorial nominee, is squaring off against former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe in a race testing the staying power of the diverse voting bloc that backed President Barack Obama 2008 and 2012 and turned Virginia into a swing state.

For Cuccinelli, who like McDonnell has links to the targeted businessman, the timing of the investigation’s progression couldn’t be worse: a related trial, which will focus on felony embezzlement charges against the governor’s former chef, is scheduled to be held in mid-October.

“That’s when the last of the voters start paying attention to the election” held on Nov. 5, said Quentin Kidd, the director of the Judy Ford Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia.   “I think a lot of people on both the Democratic and Republican side are looking at that trial, at the schedule, and saying that it could throw a wrench into the last couple weeks” of the campaign, Kidd said.

The outcome of the governor’s race is likely to influence whether Virginia remains in the competitive presidential state column or is nudged toward the Democrats. It also may establish momentum for the 2014 midterms when control of the U.S. Senatewill be in play and Virginia Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat, is up for re-election.

The federal probe centers on Jonnie Williams, chief executive officer of Star Scientific Inc. (STSI), a former cigarette maker that has shifted into marketing a nutritional supplement and skin cream. The FBI is examining whether McDonnell and his family took gifts from Williams in exchange for favors that helped promote Star and its dietary products. 

Williams, whose firm donated $108,500 worth of in-kind air travel to help elect McDonnell in 2009 and cover travel expenses during his tenure, paid $15,000 in catering expenses at the June 2011 wedding of the governor’s daughter. Two months later, the company promoted a dietary supplement, Anatabloc, to doctors attending a luncheon at the governor’s mansion, according to court records.


Cuccinelli’s ties to Williams were underscored in April, when he amended his financial disclosure forms to include previously unreported gifts he received from the businessman, including the use of a vacation home. Cuccinelli has said his omission was inadvertent.


“Depending on how big this gets with respect to McDonnell, there’s no doubt about it, some of the controversy will hurt the Cuccinelli campaign as well,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.  

Personally, I hope the feds turn up more dirt - especially dirt that clings to Kookinelli.  The man is dangerous and the arrogance he has already displayed in believing that he is above the rules ought to trouble all Virginians.

Read More