Finally, this entire incident - far from over, I'd point out, as legal proceedings and investigations continue - has demonstrated the utter inadequacy of Virginia's current laws governing the ethical behavior of politicians, and the lobbyists who love (to bribe) them. That desperately needs to change...but will it? Only if Virginians make it clear that they DEMAND such changes and won't take "no" for an answer. The call for ethics reform should not be a partisan issue, by the way, but something that all of us who care about good, honest government can agree on. Seems pretty basic, I'd say, for any of us who believe in the American system of government... UPDATE: See the statement from Progress Virginia, which asserts (correctly) that "If Bob McDonnell Can Pay Back Jonnie Williams, Ken Cuccinelli Should, Too" - on the "flip." UPDATE #2: As Josh Israel of ThinkProgress points out, "McDonnell had long insisted his actions were entirely on the up-and-up, saying in April, 'No one, during my administration, has been giving any special consideration because of their friendships, because of their donations to my campaigns, because of any gifts they've been giving - not Mr. Williams or his company or any other individual or any other company.'" In addition, McDonnell "long criticized media reports on his relationship with Williams as inaccurate." Looks like they were VERY accurate, as it turns out. Apology forthcoming? Hmmmm. UPDATE #3: I'm sure this was a coincidence (yeah right), but McDonnell's non-apology "apology" came shortly after this ("A government watchdog group called on the Internal Revenue Service Tuesday to investigate whether Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, first lady Maureen McDonnell and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II had failed to report and pay taxes on gifts received from Star Scientific and its chief executive."). |