By Peter Galuszka
Intriguing rumors that Gov. Robert F. McDonnell may resign have picked up momentum following a seemingly endless series of disclosures his acceptance of expensive gifts without disclosing them.
Conservative blog Bearing Drift reported Saturday that two sources had confirmed McDonnell would resign as part of a plea bargain agreement with prosecutors looking into his ties with Jonnie R. Williams, a close friend and head of a dietary supplement maker who gave him gifts and political donations.
That sparked strong denials from the Governor’s office. Leading political analyst Larry Sabato likewise weighed in to knock down the rumors and Bearing Drift’s editors have said they might end their relationship with the blogger if his reporting proves wrong. McDonnell is being probed by the FBI and a local prosecutor.
Among the curiosities here is that Sabato, an independent observer, felt compelled to take a stab at spin control. Why is that? The revelations keep coming and they get more embarrassing. We’ve gone from the wedding lunch to the Oscar De La Renta shopping spree to the Rolex. When you get top Washington lawyer and fireman Earnest T. Flood in there advising McDonnell, you know something is really wrong and getting worse.
The GOP is loath to admit that Flood is the very same legal muscle Bill Clinton called upon to help him fight impeachment. Does anyone remember listening to Rush Limbaugh back in the late 1990s on Clinton’s travesties? I sure do.
Now we have Rachel Maddow filling that role and I must admit I find her a lot more entertaining than Limbaugh. The sad thing, though, is how this makes Virginia look. McD took a big hit in the national media with his trans-vaginal fight back in 2012 and it cost him his shot at running as Mitt Romney’s VP. This one is a lot bigger.
He latest twist will come today in Richmond when Circuit Judge Margaret P. Spencer will hear a plea from the lawyers of Todd Schneider, McDonnell’s former personal chef, to dismiss the felony charges against him.
The lawyers claim that Schneider was denied due process because Atty. Gen. Kenneth Cuccinelli, a Republican running to replace McDonnell, had personal ties in the case. Cuccinelli had accepted gifts from Jonnie Williams and also did not disclose some stock he owned in Williams’ company, Star Scientific.
After Schneider was canned by McDonnell, he went to the Attorney General’s office in March 2012 with information that McDonnell had accepted undisclosed gifts from Williams. Cuccinelli apparently sat on the material for months. Press reports claim his aides kept him from dealing with it because of his own links to Williams.
Anyway, on it goes. The case is truly ratcheting up.
