Bob McDonnell. Photo credit: Washington Times
OMG! Maureen and Bob McDonnell owed $75,000 on seven credit cards when Bob took office as governor in 2010. Their credit card debt peaked at $90,000 later that year. The first family managed to pay down its debt to around $31,000 the next year, apparently after Maureen inherited some money, according to the Times-Dispatch.
Think about it: They owned a McMansion in Richmond’s West End, a resort property in Wintergreen, and (co-owned) two beach properties in Virginia Beach. And had $90,000 in credit card debt. And racked up another $220,000 in debt from private individuals, including Jonnie Williams, Sr., president of Star Scientific, to keep their Virginia Beach properties afloat.
I’m wondering if this sheds light on McDonnell’s approach to government. The hallmark of his transportation policy was a willingness to borrow billions of dollars, and then to leverage that state debt through added toll-backed public-private partnership debt. Was there a connection between his views on personal debt and his views on state debt? Perhaps.
The common denominator, one could argue, was a proclivity to engage in best-case-scenario thinking and an inability or unwillingness to consider that things might go wrong. A more prudent man would not have allowed the state to get in the jam it did by rushing the U.S. 460 upgrade — a fiasco that could expose taxpayers to $300 million or more in losses.
As always, I’ll reserve final judgment until after I hear McDonnell’s defense. But I’m not feeling very charitably inclined toward the man at the moment.
— JAB
