Cuccinelli, trying to quiet Star controversy, stirs it up

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Cuccinelli, trying to quiet Star controversy, stirs it up
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/cuccinelli-questioned-by-federal-investigators-probing-star-gifts/2013/09/11/b0cf665a-1ad8-11e3-8685-5021e0c41964_story.html

By Laura Vozzella,

RICHMOND — Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II tried to put his association with a gift-giving Virginia businessman behind him by writing an $18,000 check to charity, but the payback triggered more questions from his opponents and handed Democrats a new campaign attack in the race for governor.

Cuccinelli (R) announced Tuesday that he was making a charitable donation equal to the $18,000 in gifts that Star Scientific chief executive Jonnie R. Williams Sr. gave him. The gifts had become a liability for Cuccinelli in the governor’s race, because Williams’s much larger presents to Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) and his family are the subject of state and federal investigations.
....

Williams gave the governor and his family luxury items and $120,000 that McDonnell has characterized as loans. McDonnell has apologized for embarrassing the state and returned the gifts, but he said he never provided any state favors to Williams or Star. The company makes a dietary supplement, Anatabloc, that McDonnell and first lady Maureen McDonnell have promoted.

Cuccinelli initially failed to report $4,500 in gifts from Williams as well as substantial stock holdings in Star, lapses he called inadvertent. They took place when Cuccinelli’s office was opposing Star in a civil tax case and pursuing charges against the chef at the governor’s mansion, who first notified investigators of Williams’s gifts to McDonnell.

The Washington Post ran an article the day before about Cuccinelli.

Cuccinelli donates $18,000 value of Star chief’s gifts
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/cuccinelli-questioned-by-federal-investigators-probing-star-gifts/2013/09/11/b0cf665a-1ad8-11e3-8685-5021e0c41964_story.html

By Laura Vozzella, E-mail the writer

RICHMOND — Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II said he will give a Richmond-based charity more than $18,000 — the value of gifts he received from a Star Scientific executive whose much larger presents to Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and his family are the focus of two investigations.

Cuccinelli, the Republican candidate for governor, has been under pressure from critics and supporters to pay back Star chief executive Jonnie R. Williams Sr. since late July, when McDonnell (R) announced that he would return valuables and money that Williams had provided to him and his family.

So what's the charity? Focus on the Family?

[atreides1]

1. And come tax time....

...he'll be taking the deduction for that "contribution"!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Washington Post Op-Ed

Mr. Cuccinelli’s attempt at damage control
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mr-cuccinellis-attempt-at-damage-control/2013/09/12/4385fe18-1bd4-11e3-8685-5021e0c41964_story.html

By Editorial Board, Published: September 12

VIRGINIA ATTORNEY General Ken Cuccinelli II, once regarded as a conservative straight-talker, has seen his reputation sullied by his double-talk in the state’s money-and-gifts scandal.
....

Did Mr. Cuccinelli not understand the conflicts? Did he not understand that, as the attorney general, it was wrong to accept gifts from a businessman whose firm was fighting his office? Did he not understand that it was wrong to accept gifts from the businessman as his office prosecuted a whistleblower whose revelations threatened both the businessman and the governor, a political ally of Mr. Cuccinelli’s?

Mr. Cuccinelli, like Mr. McDonnell, is not answering relevant questions. Each insists he did nothing to help Mr. Williams or Star Scientific. Yet the common denominator in both cases is bad judgment, as well as a foot-dragging reluctance to do “the right thing, plain and simple,” until damage control and political self-preservation required it.

[underpants]

3. Sucks when you get caught