According to an April 29 Washington Post article headlined FBI looking into relationship between McDonnells, donor, “FBI agents are conducting interviews about the relationship between Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, his wife, Maureen, and a major campaign donor who paid [approximately $15,000] for the food at the wedding of the governor’s daughter…”
The issue at hand is whether the Republican governor gave a major campaign donor special treatment in return for personal gifts to his family.
In terms of compromising the integrity of the office an official holds and the public’s trust in the official, does it really matter if the high-value items such as cash, gifts, or lucrative business contracts have been given to close family members rather than directly to the public official?
Bill, you have to quit teasing us with hope that someone will investigate this county.
Comment by up river — May 4, 2013 @ 10:18 am
up river,
Yeah, I know…it isn’t going to happen. Unfortunately, in many states (including Idaho) the public corruption laws were written intentionally ineffective by legislators who feared the same laws might some day be applied to them. The usual rationalization is the “but what about the small towns” excuse. So the legislators write laws with openings big enough to drive a compromising payoff through.
Just like some state legislators write self-serving laws. Nielsen’s wouldn’t have been so bad, but he failed to address all the issues. While this isn’t an example of legislated corruption, it is an example of poorly researched law that evolved from a personal experience.
Comment by Bill — May 4, 2013 @ 4:04 pm