Supreme Court justices on Wednesday seemed prepared to overturn the 2014 corruption conviction of former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell and perhaps make it harder for prosecutors to bring charges against politicians who provide favors for their benefactors.
Justices on both sides of the ideological divide expressed concern about federal corruption laws that could criminalize what they variously called “routine” or “everyday” actions that politicians perform for campaign contributors or supporters who have provided them with gifts.
“For better or for worse, it puts at risk behavior that is common,” said Justice Stephen G. Breyer, who along with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. suggested that the federal corruption laws are so vague that they might be unconstitutional.
[As McDonnell awaits Supreme Court, another governor watches from prison]
A common denominator? What is Star Scientific?
The name Star Scientific keeps popping up in the news and it always is attached, in some way, to both the current governor, Bob McDonnell, or the wannabe governor, Ken Cuccinelli. This association is usually surrounded by the oft-unspoken words, OOOPS or I forgot.
The Governor attracted some attention by not declaring that the CEO of this company, one Jonnie Williams, paid $15k for his daughter’s wedding reception. McDonnell said he didn’t declare it because the gift was to his daughter. Well, so much for traditional values where the parents of the bride pay for the wedding. Sorry Bob, but do you think Jonnie would have sprung for the bill if you weren’t the Guv of VA?
Ken Cuccinelli also has gotten into political hot water over this same company. The latest is the fact that he failed to report some gifts, namely an almost $5000 vacation to William’s Smith Mountain Lake vacation home and a catered turkey dinner. Cuccinelli also admitted to forgetting to report a plane trip to NYC financed by Williams. In all, Cuccinelli has received about $18,000 in gifts from the CEO of Star Scientific in the past 4 years.
$18,000 might not seem much to a high roller. To put this amount in perspective, many seniors don’t even get $18,000 a year in social security benefits. I guess it pays to be a Virginia high roller. Cuccinelli also owned stock in Star Scientific. This sure seems like a cozy relationship. Star Scientific used to be named Star Tobacco. It appears they make supplemental products, as in supplemental vitamins of a sort.
So the question still remains, what is this company and what does it want? No one gives away this much money to politicians without wanting something, do they? Meanwhile, will both Cuccinelli and McDonnell continue to reap the benefits of their respective high profile positions?
What is Star Scientific?
Further reading:
Governor Ultra-Sound Strikes Again!
Email from NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia:
Dear XXXXXX,
Gov. McDonnell won’t rest until abortion access is completely eliminated in the Commonwealth.
Late last night, Gov. McDonnell added an anti-abortion amendment to SB921 and HB1900, bills to implement Virginia’s new health-insurance exchange as set out under the Affordable Care Act. McDonnell’s new amendment seeks to ban abortion coverage from all private plans sold in Virginia’s federally run health-insurance exchange, and if passed, will block thousands of Virginian women from purchasing comprehensive health care with their own private dollars.
By banning women from using their own money to purchase private insurance plans that include this one common benefit, Gov. McDonnell is attempting to restrict Virginians’ personal economic decisions as well as their access to affordable comprehensive health care. Let’s be clear – despite what you will hear from anti-choice groups, this amendment is not a matter of eliminating public funding for abortion. Instead, McDonnell’s amendment would block Virginia women from spending their own private dollars to purchase an insurance policy with abortion coverage. In addition, the governor’s amendment would take away basic coverage currently included in a vast majority of Virginia’s private insurance plans.
Marshall proposes bill requiring Virginia teachers to be armed
Del. Robert G. Marshall is proposing a bill that would require some teachers or other school staff to carry concealed weapons in schools.
Marshall (R-Prince William) requested that the bill be drafted in response to the mass shooting last week at a Connecticut elementary school.
Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) said this week that there should be a discussion about whether school staff should be allowed to carry concealed weapons to protect children against intruders.
Marshall’s proposal goes beyond the governor’s comments, which were made in the course of a radio interview Tuesday. Marshall would not only allow staff with concealed handgun permits to carry them in schools, but require school districts to designate some staff members to do so. Those employees would have to be certified in gun safety and competence, Marshall said.
McDonnell attempts to give up millions by selling ABC stores
I was going to attempt to do a synopsis of this article in the Washington Post. It cannot be done. This article explains how Virgina will lose big bucks if the liquor stores are sold and they become private. Governor McDonnell doesn’t think the state should be involved in liquor sales. How hypocritical. They sure don’t mind taking taxes from the sale of liquor. So I don’t even want to hear the moral indignation surrounding liquor sales. The Governor also suggests that revenue will be made up in taxes because more liquor will sell because it will be cheaper.
The logic here is simply …missing. Besides, do we want more liquor sold? How is that concept fitting in with the Guv’s supposed moral objections to the sale of liquor. He needs to run the state and leave the liquor stores alone. Virginia needs to just keep raking in the $245 million dollars it is currently making on profits and taxes. Governor McDonnell needs to do the math and get over this hold over from the evangelical Pat Robertson school regarding booze.
Make sure you check out the interactive graphic. It is very interesting.
From the Washington Post:
Virginia’s inner struggle to get off the scotch tax
RICHMOND — For drinkers, a fifth of Jack Daniel’s costs about the same wherever they buy it — about $25 in Virginia and the District, a couple of bucks less in Maryland. But for the governments that regulate that bottle, the difference is as stark as a sip and a chug.
In the District and most of Maryland, just a dollar or two from a fifth of Jack Daniel’s goes to government. But in Virginia, where whiskey and every other kind of liquor is sold in state-run stores, more than $13 of the retail price goes to the state.
As Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) prepares to call the legislature into a special session to consider privatizing the state’s 76-year monopoly on the sale of hard alcohol, he faces a hard economic fact: The liquor business has been exceptionally profitable for the commonwealth.
Every shot poured and every cocktail downed is another cha-ching for the state, and that translates into hundreds of millions of dollars a year that are used to fund schools, prisons and mental health facilities.
Even after paying all of the expenses involved — buying millions of cases from distilleries, paying more than 2,680 employees, keeping the lights on and the rent paid at 332 stores — Virginia’s Alcoholic Beverage Control board deposited $248 million in liquor profits, as well as excise and sales taxes, into state coffers during fiscal 2009. And unlike nearly every other facet of government, the liquor business has proved to be essentially recession-proof, taking in $13.7 million more in fiscal 2009 than in 2008.
Regardless of the profits, McDonnell fundamentally believes that running the liquor business ought not to be a government function. He also believes that selling the system’s assets and new liquor licenses could bring in a one-time windfall of $300 million to $500 million, which he would use to improve the state’s ailing roads. A private system would also mean better selection and more convenient stores for consumers, he contends.
On Wednesday night, McDonnell held the first of a statewide series of town hall meetings in Roanoke, partly to sell the idea.
