Governor Robert McDonnell has been sentenced to 2 years in prison and 2 years probation.
The judge told him that his wife may have let the serpent into the Governor’s Mansion but he let him into his business affairs.
It’s a sad day for the Old Dominion and its a sad day for the McDonnell family. I would have gone with 6000 hours of community service. I think that would be using McDonnell’s skills for good. Sending him to prison does nothing.
Many people will disagree, but I don’t believe this man belongs in prison. It really serves no purpose.
You will not hear me crying over his wife, however.
The sentence seems about right to me.
I decry the way “white-collar” criminals increasingly get away with no jail time. Banks get caught consciously laundering drug money, and using taxpayer backing to issue fraudulent loans … nobody ever goes to jail. I think we should reverse that trend.
What would be the possible benefits of sending McDonnell to prison?
I am so glad he didn’t get more time. While McDonnell is my political “enemy” he isn’t my personal enemy. People who take other peoples things and harm others often get less time than he was slated to get.
I agree that 2 years is not an appropriate punishment for a public servant who enriches his wife or himself personally by granting special government favors. And I agree it does nothing for him, his family or the taxpayer. Here is the problem, You are supposed to only grant special government favors in return for more raw political power, not personal monetary gain. Now this is the difference between Democrats and Republicans. Republicans use their own money to win elections and expect to be rewarded personnaly when they win. Democrats use taxpayer money and fraud to win elections but only expect more power in return (well unless you are a Reid, a Pelosi and others). As a result, Democrats are not charged with corruption, they are glorified for it and for achieving power over the little people.
My recomendation would be to put McDonnell in the stocks at Williamsburg for 48 hours as a truley Virginian response, let taxpayers buy some tomatoes to have at him, make some money for it and be done with it.
“What would be the possible benefits of sending McDonnell to prison?”
Same primary benefit we would get from deporting illegal immigrants. Creating a culture where people have some concern for lawbreaking; creating a culture where there is punishment for breaking rules, to the point that the punishment could actually provide disincentive.
“People who take other peoples things and harm others often get less time than he was slated to get.”
We even have banks laundering billions of dollars from drug cartels, knowingly, who evade criminal prosecution – http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-02/hsbc-judge-approves-1-9b-drug-money-laundering-accord.html
It’s reached the point of absurdity. We need to incarcerate people for fraud and theft.
Why? What good does incarceration do? Is that your idea of punishment? Have you ever personally known anyone who has served time in prison for any length of time?
There are other ways to punish people who aren’t harming others. 10,000 hours of community service punishes. House and yard arrest punishes. What is our real intent with prisons? Do we want to punish or do we want to keep our society from harm?
I don’t think that McDonnell was convicted in state court of anything. He also stole nothing. I don’t feel like paying the $30,000 plus so his political enemies can get their rocks off punishing him. What are we really punishing him for? Marrying a greedy bimbo?
At the micro level of rewarding illegal immigrants for breaking sovereignty and identity theft, to the larger level of letting bankers mishandle millions of dollars with no real threat of jail time, this is a big part of why America seems broken, and is broken.
Throw. Crooks. In. Jail.
I guess I missed seeing the rewards that illegal immigrants get. Most I know are extremely hard working.
Jails are expensive. We only want to use incarceration for violent criminals. However it is showy and we have a political culture that tolerates abuse so what to do that will reduce corruption out of fear that a judge will throw the book at those caught? Maybe something really painful like house arrest with no electricity and no batteries.
Ed, I am going to agree with you on this one. There is something all rough and tough about incarcerating people in this country. Makes people feel good to send others to the big house. I am going to suggest that those who want to send folks there for anything less than violent crimes and violent theft really don’t know anyone who has ever spent time in prison.
I’ll get on my soapbox again to posit that the root of the McDonnells’ problem comes from a Richmond culture, particularly prevalent in the General Assembly, that, because we pay ourselves nothing as legislators (and seek to reap electoral advantages by bragging about that) we are entitled to a good deal of swag, so long as it is reported. McDonnell, for all the earnestness and dedication he brought to trying to be a good governor, could not escape the fact that he is a product of the state legislature (as are most of our statewide candidates) and had his ethical nerve endings dedicated by that swag culture. Evidence that my hypothesis may have merit is found in the difficulty of the GA to come up with meaningful ethical reforms even after all this mess came to light.
Totally agreed, Scout. You have hit the nail on the head.
I am also going to suggest he that he has done nothing that others have not done. He just pissed off his chef and was therefore caught.
I will say that although found guilty of Federal corruption charges, no laws were broken in Virginia. Not being a federal official, I am not sure he was “subject to the jurisdiction thereof”. Now, I am not arguing that what the former governor and first-lady did wasn’t stupid. It was. It also stunk, and eroded the general public’s trust. But, they weren’t the first people to occupy the mansion and engage in such things. To a greater or lesser degree, all the previous modern governors have done this. The McDonnells were just the first to be charged, tried, and convicted, albeit in a federal court.
Does he deserve to go to jail? We have violent offenders that receive probation for first offenses. What purpose is served by sending him to jail? Rehabilitation? He’s ruined politically in VA. He’ll never hold another office, unless he moves to DC or Chicago and runs for Mayor. To serve as a deterrent to other elected officials, by making an example of him? I’m not sure that is the purpose of the justice system.
Now let’s look at the former first lady. She wasn’t elected, and took no oath of office. Did the feds throw Rod Blagojavich’s wife in jail, even after she was heard on tape encouraging the then governor to sell the open Senate seat? Nope. Maureen McDonnell is far from a sympathetic figure in this drama. From all accounts, she was an out-of-control, greedy, basket-case, and an embarrassment of a wife. But did she really commit a crime? Michelle Obama took her daughters on a tour of Africa, and called it an” official state visit”, so as to use taxpayer resources to fund the trip. They were hosted on tours, dinners, etc. Can the Obama ladies negotiate trade deals, broker arms treaties, or other functions of state? Nope. All they can do is come home and use their access to the President to influence his policies. Was there a quid pro quo here? I’m not saying there was in this case. Stinks yes, but if Maureen McDonnell broke the law, then Michelle Obama has as well.
And I won’t even start to peel the onion on the Tony Rezko/ Obama family land-swap/sale thing, but this was WAY more than a rolex and a few rounds of golf…. “Powerful people are”…they get things by virtue of who they are. They give things, by virtue of who they are. Rich ugly dudes date super models. Yes it stinks, but that’s the way it is.
My point is, if we are going to have strict ethics laws, then lets have them, but let’s not use “selective enforcement” or “subjective measure” as to what is and what isn’t public corruption.
I agree on the McDonnells. My political enemies aren’t my personal enemies. The McDonnells broke no state laws. I am not so sure the feds had any business coming in and overseeing all of this. Something isn’t sitting right with me.
Moon sez: “He also stole nothing.” Really? What he stoled was the public’s trust and confidence in elected officials.
What sort of “Public Service” should he have been given that would be properly humiliating? Cleaning restrooms at Virginia rest areas or in the capital building? Maybe.
@ Steve Thomas: Speaking of the First Lady’s trip to Africa in 2011:
From an ABC Newsfeed:
“The White House says a number of assertions made by the group(Judicial Watch Dog) are in error.
To wit:
The group calculated that the use of the C-32A aircraft cost taxpayers $424,142 (34.8 flight hours x $12,188 per hour).
“The number stated is misconstrued and out of context,” says a senior White House official. “The hourly rate is not the marginal cost of operating the plane — it is an accounting figure that prices in a number of fixed costs from maintaining the Air Force fleet for this kind of plane over a year. For example, it includes estimated replacement parts, depreciation, repairs, and costs that would have been incurred regardless of this flight.”
Judicial Watch says that Sasha and Malia Obama are listed as “Senior Staff.”
Not true, says the White House.
“The Obama daughters were not listed as Senior Staff – that only designates the area of the plane where they were seated,” says the official. “The Air Force categorizes the passengers by compartment on the plane.”
The conservative group noted that the “trip ended with a private family safari at a South African game reserve before the group returned to Washington on June 27,” with Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton saying in a statement “This trip was as much an opportunity for the Obama family to go on a safari as it was a trip to conduct government business.”
The senior White House official says that private safari “was designated as a private event and paid for personally,” and argues against any suggestion that this trip was a vacation. “It was an official trip with a 5-7 official events each day,” the official says.”
P.S. The First Lady didn’t do this for personal gain-she was representing our Nation.
“Public Service”? Don’t you mean “Community Service”? Is the point of Community Service to humiliate someone, or is it for the community to recoup a debt? I think the trial and total destruction of a promising career in “Public Service” was humiliating enough. I mean 2 years ago, it was down to him and Paul Ryan as to who would be Mitt Romney’s running-mate. Now he’s a 60 year-old man with few prospects, the wreckage of a marriage, a divided family, as well as fodder for blogs, “News”, and late-night TV jokes.
And if your yardstick is “What he stoled (Sic) was the public’s trust and confidence in elected officials”, the DOJ better fire up the indictment machine and the BOP better build one big, honkin’ jail, because there’s a whole bunch of folks who need to be put away, by your rationale.
@George S. Harris
George, Where’d you buy your rubber yardstick, anyway? Double-standards-R-us?
I love my rubber yardstick–Of course it “Community Service”-mea culpa, mea maxim culpa”. Yes, I realize there are a LOT of people who steal the public trust-535 I can think of right off hand but better than 90% got re-elected. And I do believe that part of the point of Community Service is humiliation-pure and simple. And yes, his life is ruined-as to that I say, “TFBAT”. It seems to me it’s a case of “Fool, me once shame on you, fool twice, shame on me.” He didn’t get to be AG and governor by being stupid; however, he did get caught by being stupid.