McDonnells Guilty!

Former VA Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen were found guilty of corruption stemming from more than $170,000 in gifts and loans they got from snake oil salesman Jonnie Williams of Star Scientific.

He was found guilty on 11 counts, she on 9.  Sentencing is set for January 6, 2015.  They plan to appeal their convictions.

I guess the jury didn’t buy their BS claim that they couldn’t have conspired because their marriage was dead and they were barely speaking, a defense stolen from an old episode of L. A. Law. 

Recall that McDonnell rejected a plea bargain where he would have pled guilty to a single felony count and she would not have been charged with anything.

McDonnells Show Great Judgment — In Choosing Their Lawyers

“This wasn’t about a disintegrating marriage and an emotional, needy wife. This was a family of people who presented themselves as a shining example of all that is moral and righteous. And once Virginians trusted that they were good people and put McDonnell in office, the entire family allegedly sold off what the people of Virginia had given them — the public trust.

“All the lovesick melodrama that the first lady had a crush on [Jonnie] Williams and all the gifts and cash were about the attention has likely been manufactured by the defense lawyers. Maybe they have some evidence to back up this storyline. But when this scandal began, Bob and Maureen McDonnell showed up in court holding hands, presenting themselves as a solid, Christian couple.

“Now they are changing that narrative, walking in and out of court in separate entourages, riding different elevators, brushing past each other without even making eye contact. The staging in court borders on ridiculous. They are doing nothing more than selling Virginians another tale.”

Petula Dvorak, “Here’s Jonnie:  Cue the rapt gaze from former Va. first lady Maureen McDonnell,” WaPo

The defense is total BS, but very clever.  Whatever the McDonnells are paying their lawyers, they deserve more!

Mitt Can’t Afford a Plane Ticket?

During testimony at the corruption trial of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen today, it came out that Mitt Romney and John McCain also took free rides on snake oil salesman Jonnie Williams’ private plane.

McDonnell Indicted

We interrupt your enjoyment of Bridgegate to inform you that former GOP Virginia Gov. Bob “Ultrasound” McDonnell and his wife Maureen have been indicted on 14 counts of corruption stemming from the illegal gifts and loans they received from Jonnie Williams, snake oil purveyor par excellence.

McDonnell says the indictment is an “unjust overreach of the federal government.”  A little ironic, coming from the guy who “overreached” into Virginia vaginas with his legally mandatory, medically unnecessary ultrasounds for those seeking to exercise their abortion rights.

The McDonnells will be arraigned Friday in Richmond.   Good times, people.

Yes, I’m Enjoying This Tremendously

From “Bob McDonnell’s stunning fall from grace,” Alexander Burns, Politico:

“In 2010, the political world pegged Bob McDonnell as a president in the making. Last year, they put him on every VP list. As recently as May, they called the popular Virginia governor a political model for his would-be successors in Richmond, Democrat and Republican alike.

“And now – well, now nobody’s sure what to call Bob McDonnell.

“Suddenly under legal and political siege, McDonnell is the subject of one of the swiftest downfalls in recent memory: once known as a spotlessly clean, law-and-order politician, the governor stands accused of questionable financial dealings that range from the tacky to the jaw-dropping.

 

 

“The McDonnell saga has gripped Richmond – and increasingly Washington – as a cascade of embarrassing disclosures have buffeted the governor and his wife, Maureen. A series of Washington Post stories have documented their cozy relationship with a donor, Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams, who gave financial gifts to the McDonnell family including a cumulative $120,000 in the form of a check to Maureen McDonnell and a cash infusion to a family company.

 

“With a federal investigation well underway, downcast McDonnell allies say they see little hope that the governor’s reputation will recover, and some privately express doubt that he’ll be able to serve out his term. They describe a pervasive mood of shock and gloom throughout the governor’s extended political family.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/bob-mcdonnell-fall-from-grace-94061.html#ixzz2YqyvkJrt

Shock and gloom.  That’s what women feel when they are forced to suffer unnecessary ultrasounds imposed by their shamelessly corrupt governor.

Resign — And Take Your Ultrasound Wand with You

From “Gov. McDonnell must answer questions about scandal,” Editorial Board, Washington Post:

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

“…Mr. McDonnell and his family accepted upward of $200,00 in cash handouts, extravagant gifts and so-called loans…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 bods 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.”

Governor, if you look at your ill-gotten and unreported Rolex, I think it will tell you it’s time to go.