Category: Courts and law
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Bob Takes a Hit
by James A. Bacon Bob McDonnell took a big hit yesterday in the corruption trial against him and his wife Maureen. He has a lot more explaining to do about his knowledge of his wife’s ownership of Star Scientific stock. Before yesterday, the testimony of prosecutor witnesses had focused overwhelmingly on the out-of-control behavior of Maureen McDonnell in…
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The Beat Goes On…
Testimony continued yesterday in the Maureen and Bob McDonnell corruption trial as the prosecution brought more witnesses to the stand. There were no major revelations but trial junkies were treated to a number of small but telling details. Snake oil. We’ve known from the beginning that Bill Hazel, former governor McDonnell’s secretary of health and human…
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Out of Control
by James A. Bacon With each new day of testimony, the trial of Maureen and Bob McDonnell is becoming more a trial of Maureen and less a trial of Bob. There was abundant evidence in previous testimony that the former first lady was out of control, sending members of the former governor’s staff scrambling to rein in inappropriate…
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The Damage-Control Patrol
by James A. Bacon In New Jersey’s Bridge-gate scandal, Governor Chris Christie was cursed (if you believe his story) by underlings who made bad decisions that landed him in political hot water. In Virginia’s Gift-gate scandal, former Governor Bob McDonnell was blessed by underlings whose advice and actions kept him out of trouble — at least in those…
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The problem with the death penalty
D.J. Rippert Virginia’s non-debate. Politics in Virginia includes a lot of debates. Trasnportation funding. Medicaid expansion. Taxes. However, one critical aspect of Virginia law has fallen from view – the death penalty. This lack of debate over the death penalty is not due to a lack of executions. Since 1976 Virginia has posted the third…
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Is Virginia America’s Most Corrupt State?
by DJ Rippert As the Rolex turns. The McDonnell family corruption trial has Virginians transfixed. People can’t wait to get the latest installment in this soap opera of a trial. Most Virginians wonder at how this could have happened. I wonder at how it could have taken so long for America’s most corrupt state…
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From Sordid to Squalid
by James A. Bacon A sordid tale grew even more squalid yesterday as Jonnie Williams Sr., the star witness against Maureen and Bob McDonnell, spent the day on the witness stand. Williams, the former CEO of vitamin-supplement maker Star Scientific, declaimed that, despite all the time he had spent with them and gifts he had lavished…
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Jonnie Williams: “This Was a Business Relationship”
by James A. Bacon Virginia’s best soap opera in 20 years continued yesterday as Jonnie R. Williams, Sr., the star witness in the prosecution of former Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen, took the witness stand. Williams added little new substance to the public record that wasn’t listed in the indictments but he did flesh out a…
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Misery in High Places
In his post on the McDonnell trial, Peter Galuszka asked a profound question (something I don’t normally give him credit for!). Does living in the fishbowl of the Governor’s Mansion, with all the attendant pressure, put incalculable strain on a governor’s domestic life? “What should ‘public service’ be and how much should it take from one’s…
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One Very Sad Day In Court
By Peter Galuszka One literally could have heard a pin drop in U.S. District Court in Richmond today. William Burck, lawyer for Maureen McDonnell, said in his opening argument in a trial that Virginia’s Former First Lady who has been indicted no 14 corruption charges along with her former governor husband was “collateral damage” in…
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Virginia’s Trial of the Decade
by James A. Bacon Jury selection for the trial of former Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen begins today. The 43-page federal indictment against the former First Family piles up a mass of detail to present a devastating portrait. Particularly damaging are revelations that the McDonnells intervened behind the scenes to help their friend and…
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The McDonnell Trial Gets Underway
By Peter Galuszka This morning marks the start of the long-awaited corruption trial for Robert F. McDonnell and his wife Maureen, the first ever involving the governor of a state that fancies itself above petty corruption. McDonnell, a Republican, faces 14 felony counts in federal court including wire fraud and lying on a federal loan…
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Denying Truth on the Outer Banks
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in Business and Economy, Children and Families, Consumer Protection, Courts and law, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Infrastructure, Insurance, Land use & Development, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Property rights, Public safety & health, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, UncategorizedBy Peter Galuszka North Carolina’s Outer Banks have always been a touchstone for me – in as much as anyone can associate permanence with sandy islands being perpetually tossed around by tremendous wind and water forces. The Banks and I go back to 1954 and Hurricane Hazel when I was an infant. They mark many…
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From Budget Crisis to Constitutional Crisis
by James A. Bacon We live in truly extraordinary times in Virginia. Never in my 61 years have I had occasion to ask myself, “Do Virginians believe in the rule of law or the rule of men?” Governor Terry McAuliffe exercised his prerogative as governor yesterday to veto portions of the state budget passed by both…
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Heroin: New Scourge of Suburbs
By Peter Galuszka Heroin always seemed to be the drug of fast-living artists or the inner city poor. Not any more, thanks to a shortage of prescription drugs such as oxycodone. Not only is heroin making a comeback in its tradition haunts, it is moving into the affluent suburbs. That was the case on May…