As The Shad Plank says, this "can't be good news on the day that Bob McDonnell officially resigns to start running for governor."UPDATE: The AP story on Steve Lederman is here. More details here, including that "police found marijuana in Lederman's van after a drug-sniffing dog zeroed in on a bag," with "marijuana...inside the bag, wrapped as a Christmas present."
UPDATE #2: WVEC.com reports that "Lederman was dealing marijuana from his home on Redgate Avenue" and also that "Lederman has worked for the attorney general's office since 1997." In other words, Lederman most likely worked for Jim Gilmore, Mark Earley, Jerry Kilgore and Bob McDonnell.
UPDATE #3: Dan Sullivan at Blue Commonwealth reports:
Lederman's father, Ira, made contributions of $5,500 to Senator Rerras and other Republicans leading up to the time when Steven was a candidate for Norfolk Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. In 2007, this drew attention to the fact that members of the legislature have an opportunity for patronage from their influence in appointing judges in Virginia. Reeves Mahoney, the husband of circuit judge candidate Joan E. Mahoney, had given $500 to Rerras and a total of $10,800 to Republicans in the same time period.
According to the report in the Virginian-Pilot, Reeves Mahoney's biggest donations went to Bob McDonnell, his former law partner and the state's attorney general. Mahoney's college friend, Republican Randy Forbes, a former state legislator and now a U.S. congressman representing the 4th District received the next biggest amount.
