A series of emails from the interim director of the Virginia Tobacco Commission outline plans hatched by Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, to offer Sen. Phillip P. Puckett, D-Russell, a senior job with the commission once he resigned from the Virginia Senate.
The emails, obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, document the overtures made by Kilgore through the commission in the week leading up to Puckett’s June 9 resignation, which effectively transferred power from Senate Democrats to Senate Republicans — giving the GOP a majority in the evenly divided chamber prior to a crucial vote on the state budget and Medicaid expansion.
“If you’re in tomorrow Terry would like us to call Puckett to discuss what kind of role he might like with w/ Commission,” Interim Executive Director Tim Pfohl wrote to commission staffer Ned Stephenson on Thursday, May 29.
Then, on Friday, May 30, Pfohl sent Puckett an email:
“Phillip: Chairman Kilgore has asked Ned and I to reach out to you to discuss potential roles(s) for you as an employee of the Commission. I’m not aware of the genesis of this idea, but Terry has asked us to speak to you when you’re available.”
On June 5, Pfohl emails Stephenson and other commission staffers:
“Ned: Terry asked that this morning we send Phillip our thoughts on the issue we discussed,” it begins.
Later that night, just two days before Puckett sent a letter announcing his resignation, Pfohl sent this email to Puckett with the subject line: “Today’s directive from Terry K.”
The email suggests the parties involved were concerned about how Puckett’s acceptance of a job with the commission would be perceived in light of his decision to resign.
“Phillip: Terry spoke to us today about announcing your role w/ the Commission in conjunction with what he said is your intention to announce your Senate plans tomorrow,” the email begins. “I implored him to ‘decouple’ those announcements for the sake of the appearance of the Commission manipulating the Senate balance of power and starting WW3 w/ the Governor’s administration.
“He seems to accept that your announcement should be a singular event re: your Senate position, but also instructed us to publish notice tomorrow of an Executive Committee meeting next Weds to get their approval of your role w/ us,” the email continues.
“I mention all this so you know what’s being planned on our end to give this the most defensible appearance of a due process,” Pfohl explains, going on to say that he felt that he needed to contact Virginia Secretary of Commerce Maurice Jones to let him know what was happening.
Pfohl said Jones wanted to know if Puckett had informed the administration of Gov. Terry McAuliffe about his plans.
“Let’s hope all this goes as smoothly as possible!” Pfohl’s email concludes.
In reality, the Puckett resignation did not go smoothly for the former Senator, for Senate Democrats, or for the administration. As a firestorm erupted, Kilgore cancelled the scheduled meeting to hire Puckett, saying that Puckett had said that he wasn’t interested in a job with the commission.
So what is the quid pro quo here? Do we follow our gut instincts and say that Kilgore was the broker to tip the scales so that the GOP was in control of the senate or do we rub our eyes and say, “of course not. It is purely coincidental that Puckett was offered a job with big tobacco and his daughter would get her judgeship.”
Yea right. I smell a huge rat and so does the DOJ. I hope Puckett does jail time as along with his co-conspirators. That’s my take on it.
Will more Republicans be in trouble over this situation? I guess it doesn’t matter as long as they control the Senate.
Wasn’t Kilgore one of McDonnell’s lawyers?
Why is Terry Kilgore a commissioner for the Tobacco Commission? That seems like conflict of interest to me.
It appears that Interim Executive Director Tim Pfohl was very careful to parse his words and let the chips fall where they may. His wording leaves Kilgore with much of the blame.
Someone needs to take the blame, starting with that rat bastard Puckett.
Yeah, if Puckett ran as a Democrat, he has an obligation to see that that party doesn’t lose control of the Senate because he stands to personally profit. I might cut him more slack on his decision to step down (not be bribed down) if his party were consulted beforehand and if there was a larger margin in the Senate. He has an obligation to the people who voted for him and their political leanings – and also to the larger voice in Virginia that voted for an evenly divided Senate.
A federal civil servant who did this would have gone to jail for this kind of behavior. This is a good example of crony capitalism. Both parties engage in it.
Yes both parties do engage in it. It looks to me like they were cross pollinating on this one.
A pox on both their houses.
Well, if he represents the people in the district then the Democrat party should easily win the special election and the Senate goes right back to Democrat control, right?
(Snicker)
I don’t know anything about his senate district. Is it now Republican?
He is a POS though.
@Cato the Elder
He represented the people of his district at the time he was elected. Because of the tied Senate, he should have continued to represent his party. He knew the consequences of quitting before finishing his term. If a Republican wins the special election, then they’ll control the Senate. I doubt many people will think it’s a clean win though.
@Censored bybvbl
A generic dem can’t hold that district. Puckett could because of who he is, sort of like Colgan in that respect.
If by “many people” you mean “democrat partisans” then I agree.
He could have voted any way he wanted to. The fact that he was offered a job – if he stepped down – is the issue. He also wanted his daughter to have the opportunity to be appointed a judgeship – something that policy prevented. Those are two major things that were dangled in front of him to resign. Shame that he let that get in the way of his principles. It is also a shame that someone like Terry Kilgore (and others) would successfully conspirer to manipulate the Senate in that way. It amazes me the blinders that some people can put on over this issue and see no wrong doing.
The more I learn of this case, the more wrong-doing I see. I believe there is prosecutable wrong-doing from both parties.
The same blinders the Dems put on when Jim Jeffords jumped the GOP ship and gave control of the US Senate to the Democrats in 2001. Let us not be so incensed here when the favor gets returned. At least Puckett resigned his seat. Jeffords kept right on in the Senate with a cutesy “Independent” lable and a choice committee chairmanship given to him by new Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Anybody actually think that the Jeffords jump was a surprise to Daschle? And then there was that feller named Arlen Specter………
Meh, goose and gander.
Arlen Spector was a little different.
So you are saying this is OK behavior as long as your to and from are in the right direction?
Do you think it is ok for someone to jump ship for a price? A well paying job? a political favor for a family member?
Puckett didn’t switch sides. He just plain old quit.
Puckett is the one who might be in trouble. Who approached who? Puckett may be the briber – offering his resignation in return for a job and a judgeship for his daughter. The official act may have been his resignation which tipped the balance in the Senate.
The issue with comparing this with other appointments – is that the job Puckett was getting did not and does not exist, he participated in defining the roles and responsibilities and the Tobacco Commission conversations explicitly combine the two acts.
Puckett might be the briber or the bribee.
All I know is, he is a disgrace to the Old Dominion.
“There’s not even a smidgen of corruption here.”
Yea right! Snicker snort.
No, I am just saying that, if you play that game, don’t be so surprised if the shoe eventually winds up on the other foot. Certainly Puckett did not switch sides like Jeffords, but the result is in a way very similar to the Jeffords case: a switch of legislative control from one party to another. And the reaction was about the same. Damn that Jeffords! Damn that Puckett!