another scandal Archives :: The Political Carnival

Archive for another scandal

VIDEO– Va. Gov. “Ultrasound” McDonnell (R) charged taxpayers for dog vitamins & personal hygiene items like, um, enemas

Posted by GottaLaff

· Tuesday, June 18th, 2013 at 10:48 am

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

In our last episode, a grand jury was empaneled to investigate Va. Gov. Bob “Ultrasound” McDonnell (R), who was dodging questions.

Well look at the time! It’s GOP reinvention o’clock again…

Rachel Maddow fills us in on the latest details of Gov. Ultrasound’s Embarrassing Adventures. Now he’s charging taxpayers for unmentionables… that Rachel mentions. Right out loud.

Here are a few excerpts, but there is more in the video, which is so worth a look:

… Within a few months of getting elected governor of the great state of Virginia in 2009, Governor Ultrasound, conservative Republican Bob McDonnell, started charging the taxpayers of Virginia for the dog’s vitamins. The dog needed vitamins. He decided the taxpayers should pay for it.

He charged to the taxpayers dog vitamins, breath freshening strips, deodorant, body wash, energy drinks, dry cleaning for the McDonnell children’s clothing.

As governor of the state you are entitled to have the tax taxpayers fund a lot of your normal living expenses, but you know what? Not the dog vitamins. Not the little melty bad-breath-but-it’s-not-gum things, right? But because Bob McDonnell charged even that stuff to the state. Rather than paying for it himself, some poor government employee in Virginia, the mansion director for the governor’s mansion, which is a public building in Virginia as well as the residence for the First Family, some poor state employee from the division of selected agency support services had to write the most embarrassing letter ever…

… As of new reporting from the Washington Post today, we now know that the humiliation of this whole incident is not just shared between that poor state employee who had to write that letter about dog vitamins to the governor and ask for the money back, it’s not just between that employee and the governor who presumably was a little embarrassed by having to receive that letter and pay the money back. No, now it’s not just between them.

Now we all get to share in the embarrassment because now we know that even after being confronted with that, even with being confronted with that and having to pay the state back for his personal hygiene items and dog things that he charged to the taxpayers of Virginia, even after that confrontation and having to cut a check back to the state, Bob McDonnell kept doing it.

Vitamins for people, not just for dogs, nasal spray, more body wash even after they were specifically told “the taxpayers will not pay for your body wash, Governor,” still, though, more body wash. And how about a digestive system detox cleanse? Charged to the taxpayers of the state of Virginia by governor Bob McDonnell. You paid for that, for him.

Want to know what a digestive system detox cleanse is? It’s exactly what you think it is. Just take a second.

You paid for that for Bob McDonnell if you live in Virginia. And now we all have to know that he does that. We all have to have this information about him and his family which everybody would prefer would be private, right?

But this, of course, follows the federal grand jury and the FBI and a state prosecutor looking into the $15,000 wedding dinner paid for by a Bob McDonnell political donor who also loaned him a lakeside vacation villa and a private jet, many times, and a Ferrari. …

Was there any quid pro quo? Was the governor doing favors in his capacity as governor in exchange for the cash and prizes he was collecting from that donor?

The state prosecutor is looking into whether or not the governor violated the laws on the disclosure of gifts. Both of those probes follow accusations from the executive chef at the governor’s mansion, accusations that the governor’s grown children were hauling off from the governor’s mansion kitchen with bottled water and cups and Gatorade and protein powder, flats of eggs, liquor for a private party taken out of the liquor cabinet at the governor’s mansion. Also pots and pans, kitchen equipment, allegedly taken out of the governor’s mansion kitchen by the First Lady and given to other people. Given away. Take it. It’s yours. By which I mean it’s public. And therefore mine…

Stay tuned…

1 Comment

Categories : Politics

Tags : another scandal, bob mcdonnell, conservative asshats, corruption, FBI, future of the republican party, GOP hypocrisy, gop outreach, gop rebranding, outreach my ass, political donations, reinvention, reinvention my ass, republican makeover, Republicans can't help themselves, scandals, The Rachel Maddow Show, video, Virginia

Grand jury empaneled to investigate Va. Gov. Bob “Ultrasound” McDonnell (R), who is dodging questions

Posted by GottaLaff

· Monday, June 10th, 2013 at 2:32 pm

· 10 Comments

Governor Bob’s excellent adventures are in full swing. It all started with Gov. “Ultrasound” McDonnell’s “improper use of government money, facilities, and power for the personal enrichment of friends.” That one was all about who paid for his daughter’s wedding at the governor’s mansion and questions about a possible (read: probable) quid pro quo. The FBI is investigating the relationship between the Virginia governor, his wife, and a major campaign donor.

The donor was Star Scientific chief executive Jonnie R. Williams Sr. whose gifts to and acceptance by McDonnell and state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli have been under scrutiny.

Things just got more interesting. WaPo:

A Virginia state delegate has confirmed that he’s been called to appear next month as a witness before a federal grand jury as part of an investigation related to Gov. Robert F. McDonnell…. [FBI] agents are exploring whether McDonnell assisted the [dietary supplement] company in exchange for gifts. [...]

[State delegate Del. David Ramadan (R-Loudoun)], a jeweler and friend of the governor’s, confirmed that he has been asked to testify before a grand jury in July to provide information that appeared to relate to McDonnell and his wife, Maureen.

Ramadan declined to say whether he has ever provided other gifts to members of the McDonnell family, including Mrs. Ultrasound.

Of course, Gov. Ultrasound is ducking and bobbing and weaving, doing his best Michele Bachmann and Sharron Angle impressions. Via the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

After speaking for roughly 20 minutes at the annual gathering of Virginia business leaders and elected officials in Fairfax County, McDonnell was hurried into an elevator as television and newspaper reporters tried to get him to stop and answer questions regarding the probe.

“I really can’t. I came to talk about transportation and business,” McDonnell said, as he stood behind aides and security in the back of an elevator at the Ritz-Carlton. “I really can’t talk about it.”

McDonnell had avoided questions earlier upon his arrival and was seated at the head table.

Remember when he was the Republican’s go-to guy? Their golden boy? The up-and-comer who they chose to rebut President Obama’s State of the Union Address?

Well look at the time! It’s GOP reinvention o’clock again…

10 Comments

Categories : Politics

Tags : another scandal, bob mcdonnell, conservative asshats, corruption, FBI, future of the republican party, GOP hypocrisy, gop outreach, gop rebranding, Ken Cuccinelli, outreach my ass, political donations, reinvention, reinvention my ass, republican makeover, Republicans can't help themselves, scandals, Virginia

GOP Va. Gov. “Ultrasound” McDonnell’s cabinet member also received gifts

Posted by GottaLaff

· Monday, May 6th, 2013 at 12:34 pm

· 1 Comment

Need a refresher course on Bob McDonnell’s excellent adventures? Here you go: Gov. “Ultrasound” McDonnell’s “improper use of government money, facilities, power for personal enrichment of friends”! That post was all about who paid for his daughter’s wedding at the governor’s mansion and questions about a possible (read: probable) quid pro quo. The FBI is investigating the relationship between the Virginia governor, his wife, and a major campaign donor.

WaPo:

FBI agents are conducting interviews about the relationship between Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, his wife, Maureen, and a major campaign donor who paid for the food at the wedding of the governor’s daughter, according to four people familiar with the questioning.

The agents have been asking associates of the McDonnells about gifts provided to the family by Star Scientific chief executive Jonnie R. Williams Sr. and actions the Republican governor and his wife have taken that may have boosted the company, the people said.

And via The Roanoke Times:

Williams’ gifts to McDonnell and to state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, both Republicans, have come under growing scrutiny in the past two months. It intensified after the Executive Mansion chef was charged with stealing food from the mansion and alleged that his prosecution by Cuccinelli was politically motivated.

Oy.

The plot sickens. The Richmond Times Dispatch is reporting that a McDonnell Cabinet member is also disclosing gifts that she received from Jonnie Williams:

When Gov. Bob McDonnell traveled to South Carolina in January 2012 to endorse GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Secretary of the Commonwealth Janet Vestal Kelly flew there separately.

Kelly also flew to Tampa, Fla., separately from the governor in August for the Republican National Convention.

Both of the Cabinet official’s trips were provided by Star Scientific Inc. CEO Jonnie R. Williams Sr., whose gifts to McDonnell, the governor’s family and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli have come under public scrutiny in the past five weeks.

Kelly’s little travel gifts came to about $2,400. We know that because she says she is making an “effort to be as transparent as possible.”

McDonnell has declined to reveal any other gifts made to members of his family, citing an exemption in Virginia disclosure laws that he says he is “open” to closing.

He’s open to closing, says he. He’s pretty close to opening his own closing if there is any justice left in this world. Actually, if there is any justice left in this world, he’d not only be forced to undergo a criminal probe, but also a medical one.

The Times Dispatch has all the gory details.

1 Comment

Categories : Politics

Tags : another scandal, bob mcdonnell, cabinet, corruption, FBI, Ken Cuccinelli, political donations, scandals, Virginia

FBI investigating relationship between Va. Gov. Bob McDonnell, his wife, and major campaign donor

Posted by GottaLaff

· Tuesday, April 30th, 2013 at 10:12 am

· 2 Comments

Time for a refresher course on Bob McDonnell’s excellent adventures: Gov. “Ultrasound” McDonnell’s “improper use of government money, facilities, power for personal enrichment of friends”! That post was all about who paid for his daughter’s wedding at the governor’s mansion and questions about a possible (read: probable) quid pro quo. Rachel Maddow:

Specifically, the former chef’s catering company ended up doing the $15,000 dinner when Governor McDonnell hosted his daughter’s wedding at the governor’s mansion… The campaign contributors secretly paying for the daughter’s wedding at the mansion in Virginia, then blaming the daughter, saying it was her relationship with this guy that was under investigation now…

Ruh-roh!

And now, the FBI is looking into the relationship between the McDonnells and the campaign donor. This can’t end well.

Ruh-roh squared!

WaPo:

FBI agents are conducting interviews about the relationship between Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, his wife, Maureen, and a major campaign donor who paid for the food at the wedding of the governor’s daughter, according to four people familiar with the questioning.

The agents have been asking associates of the McDonnells about gifts provided to the family by Star Scientific chief executive Jonnie R. Williams Sr. and actions the Republican governor and his wife have taken that may have boosted the company, the people said. [...]

Now, federal officials are trying to determine whether to expand that investigation into a broader look at whether McDonnell or his administration took any action to benefit Star Scientific in exchange for monetary or other benefits, according to the four people familiar with the interviews. [...]

The focus of the FBI interviews has been to determine whether any of those actions constituted a quid pro quo — McDonnell using his office to promote the company in return for anything of value for him or his family…

If enough evidence is found, they could open a formal public corruption inquiry. Stay tuned.

tweet maddow mcdonnell Link

H/t: @Gr8RDH

UPDATE, via The Roanoke Times, where there are many more details:

RICHMOND — Gov. Bob McDonnell said today his administration never gave special treatment to a dietary supplement company that is under a federal securities investigation, despite more than $100,000 in political contributions from its chief executive and thousands of dollars more in gifts to McDonnell’s family.

McDonnell said on WTOP radio he and first lady Maureen McDonnell have been friends with Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams for four or five years. He acknowledged receiving gifts from Williams, including a $15,000 check to his daughter to help her pay for her June 2011 wedding.

Williams’ gifts to McDonnell and to state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, both Republicans, have come under growing scrutiny in the past two months. It intensified after the Executive Mansion chef was charged with stealing food from the mansion and alleged that his prosecution by Cuccinelli was politically motivated.

2 Comments

Categories : Uncategorized

Tags : another scandal, bob mcdonnell, corruption, FBI, political donations, Rachel Maddow, scandals, The Rachel Maddow Show, tweet, Virginia

Oops! Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli (R) failed to disclose gift vacations

Posted by GottaLaff

· Friday, April 26th, 2013 at 2:19 pm

· 4 Comments

Family values means being honest and telling the truth and being pretty gosh darned squeaky clean, right? Isn’t that the standard that an upstanding conservative family values guy would want to maintain? To be a role model for all children and all families and all voters ever?

And isn’t Republican gubernatorial candidate and conservative fave Ken Cuccinelli always claiming to stand up for family values? After all, he holds traditionally conservative views on abortion and marriage equality, among other things. (Clearly, women who choose to have abortions and gay Americans have no family values whatsoever, but that’s another post for another time. Back to Ken.)

In a previous writing about Gov. “Ultrasound” McDonnell’s “improper use of gov’t. money, facilities, power for personal enrichment of friends”, I quoted Rachel Maddow saying this:

I should also note that among the significant stockholders of the company is the Republican nominee to succeed Gov. McDonnell, a man named Ken Cuccinelli, a man who himself is now in trouble for having gone nearly a year without disclosing he had those shares in that company. It’s nice, right?

That “man named Ken Cuccinelli” also urged the court to keep anti-sodomy law on the books. Because he’s a family values kind of guy.

He better rethink his pristine values system, because it seems he was on the receiving end of more gifts than he had previously reported.

Via Fredericksburg.com where they enumerate the disclosures:

Cuccinelli revealed three trips and two vacations, spread over the past five years, that he says he forgot to list on his annual financial disclosure statements.

Some were from Jonnie Williams, who is CEO of dietary supplement company Star Scientific. [...] He said it was simply an error to have left those five items off his disclosure forms, and was “unintentional on my part.”

Uh huh. He also said that it was just a big ol’ coincidence that some of the gifts he left out were from Williams.

His gubernatorial opponent is American businessman and former chairman of the Democratic Party, Terry McAuliffe.

4 Comments

Categories : Uncategorized

Tags : another scandal, disclosure, gifts, Ken Cuccinelli, scandals, video, Virginia

VIDEO: Gov. “Ultrasound” McDonnell’s “improper use of gov’t. money, facilities, power for personal enrichment of friends”

Posted by GottaLaff

· Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013 at 12:33 pm

· No Comments

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

So-called “moderate” Governor Bob “Ultrasound” aka “Confederate History Month” McDonnell, who governs from “deep right field,” is pushing for more restrictions on women’s reproductive rights and just signed tougher Voter ID laws. But he’s up to a lot more than that.

Rachel Maddow devoted some time to a few political scandals, including McDonnell’s, as did the New York Times:

This is a clear and direct example of the improper use of government money, facilities and power for the personal enrichment of friends. If the speech and the party were not a quid pro quo for the help with the wedding feast, it’s hard to imagine what a quid pro quo is.

Maddow explains in these excerpts from the video above:

Thanks to new investigative reporting from The Washington Post, we also now know that Gov. Ultrasound, on his way out of office has found a whole new approach to making people feel dirty. The executive chef who Gov. McDonnell hired to work at the governor’s mansion was recently indicted in the state of Virginia for embezzlement. The chef left the chef’s job at the mansion amid a state police investigation that led to those embezzlement charges.

But once he left the job of being Gov. McDonnell’s official governor’s chef at the mansion, he still ended up cooking for him, and at the governor’s mansion. Specifically, the former chef’s catering company ended up doing the $15,000 dinner when Governor McDonnell hosted his daughter’s wedding at the governor’s mansion.

Now, hosting your daughter’s wedding at the governor’s mansion, that’s the sort of thing that gets a lot of positive press attention right? You get both earned media in the political press for that sort of thing, and you get the kind of attention that you cultivate yourself with a big, public Facebook page full of photos with from the event.

But while the wedding was getting the attention, the spokesperson took pains to say that the family the governor’s family was paying for all the expenses associated with that event.

Now, under questioning from The Washington Post, the governor’s spokesman is changing that story, saying actually, the governor’s daughter herself paid for that $15,000 dinner. and by paying for it herself, what he means is that she quote “paid for it by accepting it as a gift from one of dad’s campaign contributors.” Since it was a gift though to the governor’s daughter and not to the governor himself, there was no need to report this gift.

The governor does admit to his campaign taking more than $28,000 in gifts from the same contributor in the form of private air travel, plus another $80,000 in private air travel donated to the governor’s political action committee, plus another more than $9,000 in personal gifts to the governor, more travel, and food, and lodging, and entertainment, again, not including his daughter’s wedding.

The contributor in question is the head of a company that makes this non-FDA-approved anti-inflammatory drug which is made from something related to tobacco. … The governor’s spokesman… says yes, governor McDonnell does enjoy taking the supplement.

The company’s launch party for its unapproved drug was also hosted by Governor McDonnell at the governor’s mansion paid for by the governor’s political action committee, the same political action committee that accepted tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from that company. Pleasure doing business with you, sir.

Three days before the daughter’s wedding, the governor’s wife flew down to Florida to go to an investor’s conference for the company to tout the benefits of their tobacco-related wonder drug. The first lady of Virginia, three days before the wedding. Wow.

I should also note that among the significant stockholders of the company is the Republican nominee to succeed Gov. McDonnell, a man named Ken Cuccinelli, a man who himself is now in trouble for having gone nearly a year without disclosing he had those shares in that company. It’s nice, right?

… The campaign contributors secretly paying for the daughter’s wedding at the mansion in Virginia, then blaming the daughter, saying it was her relationship with this guy that was under investigation now…

Here is the entire segment:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

No Comments

Categories : Uncategorized

Tags : another scandal, bob mcdonnell, scandals, The Rachel Maddow Show, video, Virginia

Former GOP state chairman, McCain fundraiser busted for Facebook scam

Posted by GottaLaff

· Tuesday, March 19th, 2013 at 2:34 pm

· No Comments

Former Oregon Republican chairman, gubernatorial candidate, Florida financier, and creepy little fraud Craig Berkman was arrested for (allegedly) “bilking investors out of millions in a scheme to sell fake Facebook shares, ” per Newser.

He was claiming he had access to Facebook shares which was a big fat lie. And he managed to rake in $8 million by telling that big fat lie.

And this wasn’t the first time. He pulled the same kind of scams over at LinkedIn and other social media sites, but got nabbed for those, too.

Here’s his Wiki:

Craig Berkman (born about 1943) is a longtime venture capitalist and was an influential Republican politician in the U.S. state of Oregon. He was known as a big donor in national Republican circles. He chaired the Oregon Republican Party in the early 1990s, opposing the far right Oregon Citizens Alliance. He ran for chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1993 and for Governor of Oregon in 1996, losing the former race to Haley Barbour and the latter to Denny Smith in the primary election.^[1]

Oregonlive.com described him this way in 2008:

“He was the hope of the old Republican moderate establishment.”

And check out Meet Craig Berkman, crooked McCain fundraiser.

Maybe this was his version of “outreach.” Another family values Republican bites the dust.

No Comments

Categories : Uncategorized

Tags : another one bites the dust, another scandal, busted, crime, Facebook, family values my ass, florida, fraud, gop fail, GOPutzes, Oregon, scam, social media, video

Lt. Col Barry Wingard is the lawyer for Gitmo detainee Fayiz Al-Kandari. For their ongoing story + related topics, please click on the link below:
Kuwaiti Citizen Detained at Guantanamo since 2002

You can read the complete story here or on Wikipedia.

Translate The Political Carnival via Google

TPC RSS Posts Feed

TPC Comments Feed

Our Facebook Fan Page

Shop Amazon's New Kindle Fire

Subscribe to The Political Carnival Newsfeed via Wikio

The Political Carnival is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Photographs on The Political Carnival site (please read):

Photographs from other sources sometimes appear on TPC for humorous or illustrative purposes. As it is not our intention to use these images in any inappropriate manner or to infringe upon any rights held by others, anyone holding legal rights in the use of these images who wishes to have them taken down please contact us immediately requesting such removal, with which we will comply promptly.