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Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell in trouble
- Thread starter WFFaithful
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simosfrostyone
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Change thread title to not in trouble, merely a disgraced loser married to a shrew.
cville deac
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No, but Terry McAuliffe is quite elated this morning. Haven't read the opinion yet, but according to the news reports, it apparently adopts a narrow reading of the term "official act". So receiving lavish gifts from someone, promoting their products at official events and encouraging other state officials on that someone's behalf is not sufficient. Now, had he been successful in getting UVA or MCV to actually perform the studies Jim Williams wanted, that probably would have been sufficient. So essentially, McDonnell is lucky that the state officials surrounding him recognized the problem better than he and Maureen did and did nothing for Williams.
Probably a good ruling for both sides in the long run by opining the official act must be explicit. This type of stuff goes on all the time, but most politicians are more astute and not as sloppy as McDonnell was. Most also don't have the money problems that both Bob and Maureen have/had. Still think there is a Chapter 7 in both of their futures unless some wealthy Pub guardian angel appears from out of the woodwork.
Probably a good ruling for both sides in the long run by opining the official act must be explicit. This type of stuff goes on all the time, but most politicians are more astute and not as sloppy as McDonnell was. Most also don't have the money problems that both Bob and Maureen have/had. Still think there is a Chapter 7 in both of their futures unless some wealthy Pub guardian angel appears from out of the woodwork.
simosfrostyone
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It's a good ruling. Criminalizing what McDonnell did is wrong. What he did was stupid and the type of thing that makes people hate politicians. But prosecuting it is a really bad precedent.
cville deac
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It's a good ruling. Criminalizing what McDonnell did is wrong. What he did was stupid and the type of thing that makes people hate politicians. But prosecuting it is a really bad precedent.
The thing is he and especially Maureen were so damn sloppy about it - to the point where aides were nervous. Add to that Bob didn't report any of this in his mandated public disclosure statements (though my recollection is he wasn't convicted on that count). But I think you're correct from a policy perspective that it sets a bad precedent, and the SC was unanimous. I think it's 1 of those bad facts make bad law cases - where Bob and Maureen were sloppier, more brazen and more desperate than 99% of the politician realm would have been in a similar situation. And the saving grace for them is that no laws were passed on Star Scientific's behalf, and no expensive study was undertaken on their behalf by UVA or MCV, despite the McDonnell's best efforts. And I think that's what the SC is looking for in their narrow definition of "official act". All Star Scientific got was Freddie Couples appearing in 1 of their commercials.
And this decision will likely get the feds to lose interest in Terry McAuliffe rather soon. Party in the governor's mansion tonight!