RICHMOND — Former Virginia first lady Maureen McDonnell was sentenced Friday to a year and a day in federal prison — a penalty less than what federal prosecutors had sought but one that will still put her behind bars briefly.
U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer said he struggled to understand the true nature of the former first lady — who seemed at times to be a loving mother and wife devoted to her family and other times a greedy and tyrannical woman who made others miserable.
“It’s difficult to get to the heart of who Mrs. McDonnell truly is,” Spencer said.
Spencer allowed Maureen McDonnell to remain free on bond while her appeal is pending.
I am not sure it is really up to Judge Spencer to understand Mrs. McDonald nor should figuring her out have any bearing on her sentence. She either did it or she didn’t. (whatever “it” is) I am one of those who do not think either McDonald belongs in jail.
It is highly probable that Mrs. McDonald is greedy and did make everyone around her miserable. Perhaps that is the toll that politics takes on some couples. Money also takes a high toll, especially when the couple is middle class. Mrs. McDonald was expected to dress to the nines, look like a million dollars on a shoestring budget. She was a middle class lady playing on a field of high rollers.
She also didn’t know how to treat the help. I have always judged a person’s character by how they treat “the help.” Lacking help, another good indicator is how they treat bartenders and wait staff. Serious drinkers know not to get smart with their bartender. You will wait and wait for that next drink. It is just low class to abuse service folks.
I still don’t want either McDonald to go to prison. Their ugly side really was just that…ugly and at times, low class. They did not break Virginia law.
As an aside:
It is also low class to be a smart ass with county employees while they are making presentations. That will definitely come back to bite someone in the ass. Chomp
It shall be interesting to watch what federal prosecutors call for in terms of punishment for four-term, recently resigned, Democratic Governor John Kitzhaber of Oregon and his live-in fiancee over the green energy scandal for which they are being accused.
I haven’t kept up with all that…just that he had to resign. You see things in R or D. I rarely do. In fact, I am one the few people who doesn’t want jail time for the McDonalds. I just don’t usually think in terms of D or R.
With this particular DOJ and AG, I tend to look for the R and D right off.
Maybe I should have been more mindful of it during the Bush administration.
I think what you are referring to was a profile on who were the most likely to do something terrorist. My problem is, I don’t know where to put things on a political spectrum. For instance…where would you place the Fort Hood shooter? To me, he is neither liber or conservative. He is just a killer.
Not really a terrorist thing, although I think classifying Fort Hood as a case of workplace violence was silly. I am looking at how hard and fast this DOJ goes after cases involving Repubs as opposed to Dems, the IRS scandal being a case in point. I want to see what kind of treatment is received by big time liberals like Kitzhaber and his lady friend, whose accusations, in my opinion, may well make the McDonnell case look like peanuts.
Question: why isn’t Oregon going after him? He obviously broke their laws also or he wouldn’t have been forced into resigning.
I think it all boils down to who is in office, regardless.
I am just here defending poor old McDonnell. I don’t care a hoot about his wife. I don’t care for her. but…I also don’t want her in jail. She has been humiliated. what good will 3ither of them going to jail do? No one can answer that for me.
It costs the tax payers money and they are already finished. I just feel horrible for him. As angry as some of his policy decisions made me, he also wasn’t an evil man. No prison is a “county club.” All prisons are horrible. You are told what to do and when to do it. Your life is always in danger. There are murders and drug dealers and horrible people in all federal prisons. People used to call Allenwood the country club prison. People are being killed in Allenwood all the time.
I’ll keep looking at the Oregon case to keep up-to-date. As I recall, Kitzhaber was wavering back and forth about resigning. He said he would, then reneged, and finally agreed to do so. I suspect the finally push may have been party pressure a la Nixon in Watergate. That’s tough when a guy has headed the party ticket for four terms. However, it looks to me like there is a sigh of relief out there as the Oregon Sec. of State takes the top office.
I agree with you on the McDonnells and prison time. You make a good case.
It’s lonely out there Wolve. Most people do not agree with us. There is some need for vengeance, although I am not sure over what. It’s probably tougher on me because I politically disagree with McDonnell on so much. You ought to hear my liberal aunt jump on my case. Its hard for people to understand that you can dislike someone’s politics without personally destroying the person.
The McDonnells are parents, soon-to-be grandparents, spouses, and probably decent people in over their heads, playing with the high rollers. Maureen in particular doesn’t come from that kind of background. She was also lonely. She raised 5 kids pretty much on her own. How do I know that? He could have never risen so far in the party without a lot of nights out rubbing elbows in backrooms. Its the nature of the beast. She was lonely, and playing out of her league, probably through no fault of her own. Some rich dude started flattering her, paying attention to her when no one else was, buying her things she had never had the money for. Yea, I have softened on a lot other than her mistreating the employees. That I won’t forgive.
The federal statute used to prosecute McDonnell is too vague to be the basis on which one takes away someone’s liberty. Virginia has been very lax for decades on ethics issues, and I have no doubt that the McDonnell’s lapses can be attributed, at least in part, to his time in the General Assembly, where family gifts are a means of evading reporting requirements for members. It remains, however, very unclear that Jonnie Williams got anything for his generosity that he would not have gotten, and that other less extravagant Virginia businessmen did not get, simply by asking.
I agree, Scout. I fault the State of Virginia more than the McDonnells for the lapse of wisdom.
I simply don’t feel they were guilty of breaking Virginia law. OK, I am going to say it….I think it was federal over-reach. I am not a lawyer so perhaps there is valid reason but with my limited knowledge, I sure don’t see it.