Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell Found Guilty In Corruption Trial & McDonnell found guilty on 11 corruption counts 4SEP14

EVERYONE who follows politics knew they were guilty, the question was whether the government prosecuters would prove it to the jury and if the jury would have the courage to find the mcdonalds guilty once presented the facts. Now to see if the judge has the courage to really sentence them for their crimes. From +NPR and the +Washington Post .....

Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell Found Guilty In Corruption Trial

by Chris Hopkins and Krishnadev Calamur

September 04, 2014 3:15 PM ET

Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell leaves the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia with his son Bobby (right) on Thursday in Richmond, Va.

Alex Wong/Getty

Updated at 3:38 p.m. ET
A federal jury in Richmond, Va., has found former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell guilty on 11 of 14 charges in his corruption trial. His wife, Maureen, was found guilty on nine of 14 charges, including obstruction of justice.
Our partners at member station WAMU report that the McDonnells were found guilty "of conspiracy to commit honest-services wire fraud for accepting gifts and loans from Jonnie Williams," the owner of Star Scientific, a nutritional supplement company.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the McDonnells sobbed openly, but quietly as the verdicts were read. Their family members and supporters also wept, the newspaper reported. It added that the verdict was likely to be appealed.
The jury of seven men and five women heard testimony from 67 witnesses and deliberated over three days before arriving at today's decision. Sentencing has been set for Jan. 6, 2015.
The trial has been a humiliating blow for the onetime rising GOP star who was elected governor in 2009 and just a few years ago was considered a possible running mate for Mitt Romney.
Shortly after he left office in January, McDonnell and his wife were accused of taking more than $165,000 worth of gifts and loans from Williams.
Attorneys for the McDonnells argued that as a result of the couple's disintegrating marriage, Maureen McDonnell craved attention and developed a crush on the Star Scientific owner, who testified that the couple accepted and solicited gifts from him.

C-SPAN/YouTube

"Well, the former governor, when he ran for governor, represented his family as essentially the Cleavers — bustling and wholesome," Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist Jeff Schapiro told All Things Considered. "And five years later, now running for his life, his lawyers are depicting the McDonnells as the Louds — bitter and dysfunctional."
On the day he was indicted, Bob McDonnell told reporters, "I have apologized for my poor judgment, and I accept full responsibility for accepting these legal gifts and loans. However, I repeat again, emphatically, that I did nothing illegal for Mr. Williams in exchange for what I believe was his personal friendship and his generosity."
McDonnell said the loans had been "repaid with interest" and the gifts had been returned. He also has said that despite appearances of impropriety, there was no quid pro quo — that part of the role of governor is to support the state's businesses.
And Schapiro said there's some truth that this could be considered business as usual in Virginia.
"One wonders, given Virginia's long tradition of a business-friendly government, if perhaps some of these things took place and no one really noticed," Schapiro said. "Because for a long time, Virginia's government, like so many Southern governments, was controlled by a handful of like-minded conservative white guys. They looked out for business; business financed the political organization; the legislator came through with friendly laws and light regulation. This has been the pattern in the commonwealth for a long, long time."
McDonnell's status as a GOP luminary was cemented when he was chosen to deliver the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union speech in 2010.
But the corruption scandal that erupted in McDonnell's final months as governor killed what was left of his political career, says Virginia politics expert Larry Sabato.

National/global news alert  •  Thu., Sep. 4, 2014 3:13 pm

McDonnell found guilty on 11 corruption counts

Former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell has been found guilty of 11 corruption counts. He has been found not guilty of falsifying loan documents. Maureen McDonnell has been found guilty of 8 corruption counts as well as obstruction of justice. She has also been found not guilty of falsifying loan documents. The McDonnell family was sobbing in the courtroom as verdicts were read. Follow our liveblog for the latest.

Live updates: Jury reaches verdict in McDonnell corruption trial

Former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell walks to the courthouse in Richmond on Wednesday. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

Jurors in the public corruption trial of former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, have reached a verdict. The McDonnells are facing a 14-count indictment that alleges that they lent the prestige of the governor’s office to a Richmond area businessman and that, in exchange, the businessman lavished them with gifts and money.
 Quiz: 10 questions | Interactive: McDonnell gifts list | Bob vs. Jonnie | Twitter: Latest | Previous days: The trial | Indictment

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McDonnell attorney vows to appeal verdict

Surrounded by reporters as he left the courthouse, Robert McDonnell defense attorney Hank Asbill said he “didn’t expect” the verdict.
“I’m obviously very disappointed,” he said. “We will appeal.”

Matthew Zapotosky

3:47 pm

McDonnells get into separate cars as they leave

Robert and Maureen McDonnell left the courthouse at the same time, getting into separate cars as they left.
Maureen said nothing as she was whisked out amid a huge media crowd.
But Robert, who was surrounded by the media scrum, thanked reporters “for the way you’ve handled this.”
“All I can say is my trust belongs in the Lord,” Robert McDonnell said before he ducked into his car.
Just before Robert McDonnell got in his car, a spectator shouted, “We still love you!”
Jurors were swept out a back door and declined to comment. One juror said, “I just want to go home,” according to the Associated Press.

Laura Vozzella

3:45 pm

What comes next for the McDonnells

The verdict read, U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer calmly expressed his gratitude to jurors for their time and attention, saying, “I know it has been a difficult task, but I thank you for your sacrifice.” As the group walked out, Robert F. McDonnell stood, but he did not look up at them.
Spencer asked the former governor and his wife to sit, then mildly asked the lawyers in the case if they were available for a Jan. 6 sentencing hearing. All said they were.
“We’ll get started at 10 o’clock,” Spencer said.
Spencer then asked the McDonnells to stand again and explained what will happen next. Before their sentencing, he said, someone from the probation office would reach out to discuss the case and various aspects of their background which might affect the sentence they will receive. He said if they choose to participate in the process, they could have their lawyers present. At the end of it, he said, a report would be generated.
“That completes this matter,” he said. “We’ll take a break and get back into the civil case.”

Matthew Zapotosky

3:43 pm

Gov. McAuliffe: 'Deeply saddened'

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who took over the office previously held by Robert F. McDonnell in January, released a statement a short time after the verdict was announced.
“I am deeply saddened by the events of the trial that ended in today’s verdict, and the impact it has had on our Commonwealth’s reputation for honesty and clean government,” McAuliffe (D) said. “Dorothy and I will continue to pray for the McDonnell family and for everyone who was affected by this trial.”

Mark Berman

3:37 pm

McDonnell wept as verdict was read

The moment the first guilty verdict was read, Robert F. McDonnell closed his eyes tightly, shaking in his seat as he wept.
Maureen McDonnell seemed to cry, too, though with her back to the courtroom, her tears were less obvious. In the wooden bench directly behind her, daughter Cailin McDonnell Young hunched forward and sobbed, her husband, Chris Young, hugging her as she did so.
As the eighth guilty count was read, Bob McDonnell buried his face in his hands. By the end, he was slumped in his chair, still crying.
The former governor did not look up as jurors each answered “yes” in turn to affirm their verdict. One juror appeared to be upset, and fidgeted in her seat.

Matthew Zapotosky

3:25 pm

Count by count verdict

Here’s the verdict, count by count, in the Robert F. and Maureen McDonnell corruption trial:
Count 1: Conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud
Maureen G. McDonnell: Guilty
Robert F. McDonnell: Guilty
Count 2: Honest services wire fraud: $15,000 wedding check
Maureen G. McDonnell: Guilty
Robert F. McDonnell: Guilty
Count 3: Honest services wire fraud: MoBo $50,000
Maureen G. McDonnell: Guilty
Robert F. McDonnell: Guilty
Count 4: Honest services wire fraud: MoBo $20,000
Maureen G. McDonnell: Not guilty
Robert F. McDonnell: Guilty
Count 5: Conspiracy to obtain property under color of official right
Maureen G. McDonnell: Guilty
Robert F. McDonnell: Guilty
Count 6: Obtaining property under color of official right: $50,000 in 2011 to MGM
Maureen G. McDonnell: Guilty
Robert F. McDonnell: Guilty
Count 7: Obtaining property under color of official right: $15,000 wedding check
Maureen G. McDonnell: Guilty
Robert F. McDonnell: Guilty
Count 8: Obtaining property under color of official right: $2,380 Kinloch 5/29/2011
Maureen G. McDonnell: Guilty
Robert F. McDonnell: Guilty
Count 9: Obtaining property under color of official right: $1,424 Kinloch 1/7/2012
Maureen G. McDonnell: Not guilty
Robert F. McDonnell: Guilty
Count 10: Obtaining property under color of official right: $50,000 MoBo
Maureen G. McDonnell: Guilty
Robert F. McDonnell: Guilty
Count 11: Obtaining property under color of official right: $20,000 MoBo
Maureen G. McDonnell: Not guilty
Robert F. McDonnell: Guilty
Count 12: False statement to Townebank on 10/03/2012
Maureen G. McDonnell: N/A
Robert F. McDonnell: Not guilty
Count 13: False statement to PenFed on 02/01/2013
Maureen G. McDonnell: Not guilty
Robert F. McDonnell: Not guilty
Count 14: Obstruction of an official proceeding
Maureen G. McDonnell: Guilty
Robert F. McDonnell: N/A

Mark Berman

3:20 pm

Sentencing set for Jan. 6

With no fanfare, U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer set sentencing for Jan. 6 at 10 a.m.
Robert McDonnell, who sobbed throughout the proceeding, walked out with his head down. Maureen McDonnell hugged a friend at length in the aisle of the court.

Matthew Zapotosky

3:16 pm

The verdict: Guilty

A federal jury Thursday found former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, guilty of public corruption — sending a message that they believed the couple sold the office once occupied by Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson to a free-spending Richmond businessman for golf outings, lavish vacations and $120,000 in sweetheart loans.
After three days of deliberations, the seven men and five women who heard weeks of gripping testimony about the McDonnells’ alleged misdeeds acquitted the couple of several charges pending against them — but nevertheless found that they lent the prestige of the governor’s office to Jonnie R. Williams Sr. in a nefarious exchange for his largesse.
The verdict means that Bob McDonnell, who was already the first governor in Virginia history to be charged with a crime, now holds an even more unwanted distinction: the first ever to be convicted of one.
He and his wife face decades in federal prison, although their actual sentence could fall well short of that.

Rosalind S. Helderman

3:08 pm

Guilty on corruption, not guilty on falsifying loan documents

Robert F. McDonnell has been found guilty of 11 corruption counts. He was acquitted of falsifying loan documents.
Maureen McDonnell has been found guilty of eight corruption counts as well as obstruction of justice. She has also been found not guilty of falsifying loan documents.
The McDonnell family is sobbing in the courtroom.

Rosalind S. Helderman

3:06 pm

Maureen McDonnell guilty on eight corruption counts

Maureen McDonnell guilty on eight corruption counts and obstruction of justice.

Rosalind S. Helderman

3:04 pm

Robert McDonnell guilty on 11 counts

Robert F. McDonnell has been found guilty of 11 counts — all corruption charges.

Rosalind S. Helderman

3:04 pm

McDonnells found guilty on at least one charge

Mark Berman

2:59 pm

McDonnells walk to the courthouse

Robert F. McDonnell walked a half block down Broad Street in front of the courthouse, arm in arm with his son Bobby and alongside his sister Eileen with the priest trailing. The serene-looking former governor repeatedly said, “Okay, thank you all,” when asked how he was doing by the gaggle of press and cameramen surrounding him and his supporters.
The group was followed in quick succession by Maureen McDonnell and her entourage. She held hands with her daughters, stared straight ahead and said nothing.
— Jenna R. Portnoy

Mark Berman

2:58 pm

Video: The corruption trial, by the numbers

Mark Berman

2:51 pm

Looking at the indictment, timeline

The jury’s verdict will be read aloud in the courtroom shortly. In the meantime, here are two key resources to help you catch up on how we got here:

• The indictment: Filed in January, the indictment runs down the counts facing the McDonnells — jointly and alone — as well as the history of the relationship between Robert F. and Maureen McDonnell and businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr.
• The timeline: This runs down the history of the trial, from jury selection on through to the jury deliberations.

Mark Berman

2:49 pm

McDonnell gifts list

As we await the verdict in the McDonnell trial, now might be a good opportunity to revisit some of the case’s other details.
Here is an interactive depicting the gifts that the McDonnells received from businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr.

Mark Berman

2:34 pm

Statistics on the case

The McDonnells are now gathering with their lawyers to hear the verdict of the jury in the federal corruption trial of the former Virginia governor and his wife.
Some statistics about the case so far:

• The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for more than 17 hours over three days. They submitted not a single question to the judge that could be used to discern the direction of their conversations.
• The jury heard testimony from 67 witnesses over five weeks — 48 for the prosecution and 19 for the defense, of whom 15 testified for Robert F. McDonnell and four for Maureen McDonnell.
• Businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr. spent 15 hours on the witness stand, spread over parts of four days.
• Bob McDonnell spent 24 hours on the witness stand, spread over five days. Of that time, 8.5 hours was cross-examination by prosecutors. The rest came as he answered questions from his own lawyers or those for his wife.
• The couple jointly face 14 counts. They each face 13. Of those, 11 are corruption related. They share one count of lying on financial documents related to omitting liabilities from Williams on a loan application submitted on Feb. 1, 2013. Bob McDonnell is charged alone with a second count of lying on financial documents stemming from a personal financial statement he submitted to a bank on Oct. 3, 2012. Maureen McDonnell is charged alone with one count of obstruction of justice, related to returning a box of clothes Jonnie had purchased for her in March 2013, along with a note in which prosecutors allege she falsely indicates he loaned them to her. That was after her interview by Virginia State Police.

UPDATED: VIRGINIANS! TELL YOUR DELEGATE TO REJECT THEIR 2014 BUDGET

HERE'S delegate tom rust's reply to me on this issue...

Dear Mr. S:

Thank you for your question concerning funding for Planned Parenthood.  The matter was debated in the House of Delegates on February 20.  The budget amendment prohibiting any funds for Planned Parenthood was Item 4-5.04 #1h.  I voted 'no'.  The matter passed 67Yes-31No with, as stated, my vote being 'no'.

In regards to the November election, I will note that I was elected in a district which voted for Governor McAuliffe by 21% over Mr. Cuccinelli.  My moderate voting record attracted informed Democrats who want a representative who is not afraid to take the tough votes and represent the district.

I appreciate you contacting me on this important subject.

Best regards,
Thomas Davis Rust
Virginia House of Delegates 86th District
730 Elden Street
Herndon, VA  20170
P:  703-437-9400
F:  703-435-6655
website:  www.tomrust.org

________________________________________
From: PP Advocates of Virginia <info@ppav.org> on behalf of Craig Schwanke <bucknackt@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, February 17, 2014 9:19 PM
To: Tom Rust
Subject: Stand up for Women's Health. Reject this budget!

Feb 17, 2014

Delegate Thomas Rust
General Assembly Building, Room 820
910 Capitol Square
Richmond, VA 23219

Dear Delegate Rust,

I am writing to you today to ask that you reject the house budget which
includes defunding Planned Parenthood.

This is a blatant attempt to prevent Virginia women from accessing
vital health care services in the Commonwealth.

The bottom line is this: Virginia women and families need more access
to health care, not less. More than half of all pregnancies in Virginia
are unintended and in 2008, there were 375,500 women in need of
publicly supported contraceptive services and supplies. Furthermore,
Virginia ranks in the worst category for rates of breast cancer deaths
among both African American and white women.

Defunding Planned Parenthood does nothing to provide Virginia women
with basic health care, instead it shifts family planning money away
from Planned Parenthood -- the trusted provider for 24,000 Virginians.

We are tired of the class warfare, social injustice, and hypocrisy of
too many in the House of Delegates. You cut the least among us off from
health care and all the other social safety net programs too many in
the commonwealth need, but proclaim your support for the sanctity of
life, but only until birth, then you feel no moral responsibility, no
compassion, for those needing help. You are blind and deaf to the lack
of social justice in your political actions. I have to ask, what god
teaches the greed and callousness you practice?
Specifically to you Delegate Rust, you need to remember you won your
reelection by 34 votes. That is not an endorsement of the tea-bagger
policies you have supported in the past. You have an obligation to
represent all the people of our district, and you must vote against
this budget.

It is inappropriate to keep women from their trusted provider, Planned
Parenthood.

Thank you for taking the time to hear my thoughts on this issue. I
trust you will stand up for women's health by rejecting this budget.

Sincerely,

VIRGINIANS! In 2013 we didn't elect the gop / tea-bagger ticket as our Governor, Lt Governor or Attorney General because of their extremist views. We didn't elect their candidates in the special elections for the VA Senate in Jan 14 for the same reason. But the neanderthals in the VA House of Delegates just didn't get the message. Planned Parenthood is asking all Virginians to contact their Delegate and tell them to vote against their budget that attacks a woman's right to make her own reproductive decisions, fails to provide health insurance to 400,000 low income working people, and defunding Planned Parenthood, denying tens of thousands of the Commonwealth's poor access to their only health care. Click the link to send a message to your Delegate...
Here is my letter to my Delegate, tom rust r 86th...

Defunding Planned Parenthood does nothing to provide Virginia women with basic health care, instead it shifts family planning money away from Planned Parenthood -- the trusted provider for 24,000 Virginians.
We are tired of the class warfare, social injustice, and hypocrisy of too many in the House of Delegates. You cut the least among us off from health care and all the other social safety net programs too many in the commonwealth need, but proclaim your support for the sanctity of life, but only until birth, then you feel no moral responsibility, no compassion, for those needing help. You are blind and deaf to the lack of social justice in your political actions. I have to ask, what god teaches the greed and callousness you practice?
Specifically to you Delegate Rust, you need to remember you won your reelection by 34 votes. That is not an endorsement of the tea-bagger policies you have supported in the past. You have an obligation to represent all the people of our district, and you must vote against this budget. 

First a bill to defund Planned Parenthood and now a budget amendment to do the same.  The house's budget attacks access to reproductive care in many ways including defunding fetal anomaly abortion for low income women, prohibiting funding for gubernatoraial action on TRAP (targeted regulations on abortion providers, not closing the coverage gap to ensure 400,000 working, low income people receive health care, and of course- defunding Planned Parenthood.   The recent election shows it is clear that Virginians have had enough of extreme politicians who want to restrict access to quality and affordable health care.  Women don’t need a politician telling them where they can get their Pap tests, breast cancer screenings or birth control. Tell your Delegate to reject this budget today. The bottom line is this: Virginia women and families need more access to health care, not less. More than half of all pregnancies in Virginia are unintended and in 2008, there were 375,500 women in need of publicly supported contraceptive services and supplies. Furthermore, Virginia ranks in the worst category for rates of breast cancer deaths among both African American and white women. Defunding Planned Parenthood does nothing to provide Virginia women with basic health care, instead it shifts family planning money away from Planned Parenthood -- the trusted provider for 24,000 Virginians.  It is inappropriate to keep women from their trusted provider, Planned Parenthood. Tell your Delegate to reject this budget today. Thank you so much for your continued support, Cianti Stewart-Reid Executive Director, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia

visit ppav.org © 2014 Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia

Oil & gas companies, ken cuccinelli & tom rust vs. the people of Virginia 6OKT13

ken cuccinelli and big gas & oil screwing the people of Virginia, with tom rust's (r 86th VA) approval, at least he must approve because he isn't calling for cuccinelli to return consol energy's $100,000 donation. From Daily Kos. and see more at JENNIFER BOYSKO OR tom rust? THE RACE FOR 86TH DISTRICT DELEGATE TO RICHMOND http://bucknacktssordidtawdryblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/jennifer-boysko-or-tom-rust-race-for.html .......


It doesn’t get more rotten than this. An out-of-state oil company, CONSOL Energy, is getting sued by thousands of Virginia landowners who were denied royalties after CONSOL extracted natural gas from their land. They lost nearly $28 million.

What is Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli doing about it? His office may have used public resources to actually *help* CONSOL Energy defend its lawsuit. As if CONSOL Energy didn’t already have enough rich lawyers already.

Could it be because CONSOL Energy gave $100,000 to Cuccinelli’s campaign for Governor?


Keep fighting,
Paul Hogarth, Daily Kos

JENNIFER BOYSKO OR tom rust? THE RACE FOR 86TH DISTRICT DELEGATE TO RICHMOND

HERE is one of the most important things to consider in the election of our next delegate to Richmond from the 86th district. tom rust, our current delegate, has not spoken out against any of the extremist views of the gop / tea-bagger candidate for governor of Virginia, ken cuccinelli. cuccinelli's views about women and girls is neanderthal, his fantasy is to have the power as governor to force women back to their status as it was in the early 1800's. He is that regressive, and his propaganda campaign is being run by right wing social engineers and right wing christian extremist who want to impose a "christian" sharia on the citizens of the commonwealth. cuccinelli can not be trusted, and because tom rust has decided not to condemn or oppose cuccinelli's tea-bagger agenda he can not be trusted either. If reelected as the delegate from the 86th district tom rust will not be our delegate, he will be the tea-bagger's delegate in Richmond. Jennifer Boysko, the Democratic candidate for delegate from the 86th district, will be our delegate, She has been involved in the Northern Virginia community and politics for years, but is nobody's lap dog. She understands the concept of community and doesn't see people in our district as belonging to one political party or another, or as members of this or that ethnic group, as members of this or that religious group, or as progressive, moderate or conservative. She sees the people of the district as a whole, all with the desire to live in safe and affordable communities, to be able to provide for their families with good jobs, make sure their children get a good education, have access to social safety net programs when needed, and to know they have the freedom to make decisions about the most personal aspects of their lives  and not have the government legislate it. tom rust has become stagnant as a delegate, as our delegate. Jennifer Boysko will be the delegate we need and deserve in Richmond.  

Cuccinelli amends disclosure forms 26APR13

MUST be when it come to his politics, his wheeling & dealing, cuccinelli's Christian faith doesn't play a role. To understand how this could have happened one must keep in mind our Virginia AG has been very busy passing his personal judgement on the individual and political morality of us heathens. I just am filled with wonder and awe as he manages to do so with that huge mote in his own eye! From the Washington Post.....

Steve Helber/Associated Press - Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli gestures as he talks about the Supreme Court decision on federal health care reform during a news conference June 28, 2012, in Richmond.

By Laura Vozzella,

RICHMOND — Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II announced Friday that he had received more gifts from Star Scientific chief executive Jonnie R. Williams Sr. than he had previously disclosed, and that he had asked the Richmond commonwealth’s attorney to review his disclosure filings.

Cuccinelli, the presumptive Republican nominee for governor, said he had failed to disclose that he and his family had stayed at Williams’s Smith Mountain Lake vacation house last summer and for Thanksgiving in 2010, when Williams also supplied the turkey dinner.

Va. governor on two-way street with CEO of struggling company

Rosalind S. Helderman and Laura Vozzella

McDonnell and his family get campaign donations and gifts; they give support to company marketing.

Va. attorney general’s disclosure of investment was delayed

Rosalind S. Helderman and Laura Vozzella

Ken Cuccinelli II failed to disclose for nearly a year even as his office was fighting a tax lawsuit filed by the firm.

More news about Va. politics

Cuccinelli amends disclosure forms

Laura Vozzella

Amid controversy over gifts from businessman, Va. attorney general says he failed to disclose some.

Cuccinelli lays out reasons for recusal from mansion chef case

Laura Vozzella

A key witness in the case worked for Cuccinelli’s political fund-raising firm, his office says.

Cuccinelli to air first TV ad of governor’s race

Laura Vozzella

Teiro Cuccinelli, wife of the GOP nominee, offers a softer portrait of the man known for legal battles.

Read more

He valued those gifts at a combined $4,500. He also failed to report a $628 flight to New York City from Williams, to attend a Jewish community center event in 2009.

That’s on top of nearly $13,000 in gifts that Cuccinelli had previously reported receiving from Williams.

Cuccinelli said he simply forgot to include the gifts when originally filing his annual disclosure forms. He said a staff member reminded him last week of his 2012 vacation at Williams’s house, prompting him to review his disclosure forms. When he realized that vacation was not included, he said he reviewed calendars for previous years and realized there had been other oversights.

“I missed some things that I was supposed to disclose,” Cuccinelli said. “It was all inadvertent.”

He found two other gifts unrelated to Williams: a chartered flight worth $7,751 for himself and his parents to Southwest Virginia, where Cuccinelli was giving a speech, provided by Alpha Natural Resources; and transportation worth $795 from the Federation of American Coal, Energy and Security.

Until recently, Cuccinelli also owned stock in Star, a former cigarette maker that now makes a nutritional supplement with an substance found in tobacco. Cuccinelli initially failed to disclose his stock holdings but corrected what he said was an oversight in 2012, before recent media scrutiny of the company, which is the subject of a federal securities investigation and two shareholder lawsuits.

The lawsuits alleging that Star, which has lost money for 10 years, misled investors about the promise of its supplement and a facial cream it also makes. Both are sold under the brand name Anatabloc.

Cuccinelli’s ties to Williams have been an unexpected complication to his gubernatorial campaign, with Democrats claiming that his office had conflicts of interests with two cases tied to the Star executive.

Williams has a tax lawsuit against the commonwealth, which has been pending for more than 18 months. Cuccinelli’s office also has a connection to a criminal case against the former chef at the governor’s mansion, who is charged with felony embezzlement.

Williams paid the $15,000 catering tab at the wedding of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell’s daughter, which the chef, Todd Schneider, catered through his private company. Schneider indicated in a motion filed in his case this week that he intends to raise questions about Williams’s gifts to the McDonnell family as part of his defense.

Cuccinelli announced April 4 that he would hand off Star’s tax-assessment lawsuit to private attorneys, who agreed to represent the state for free. Following Schneider’s motion this week, Cuccinelli’s office also said it would seek recusal from prosecution of the chef.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/va-politics/cuccinelli-amends-disclosure-forms/2013/04/26/febe0016-ae99-11e2-98ef-d1072ed3cc27_story.html?wpisrc=al_lclpolitics

Why winning back the House is a tough task for Democrats 25JAN13 &What The 2012 Election Would Look Like Under The Republicans' Vote-Rigging Plan 24JAN13

A pretty good article on the political landscape of the nation and the challenges facing the Democrat's attempts to gain control of the US House. It also re-enforces the fact that all politics are local, and without winning local, state and regional offices it will be next to impossible for the Democrats to win the House. Redistricting to benefit the party in control is a tactic both parties have used since it has been available, both parties are guilty of using redistricting to deny the  opposition a fair chance in elections. (From Wikipedia A redistricting commission is a body designated to draw electoral district lines. Usually the intent is to avoid gerrymandering by specifying a nonpartisan or bipartisan body to comprise the commission. However, some of these commissions, much like some state boards of election, are set up to give the majority party more seats on the commission; see e.g. the New Jersey Redistricting Commission.

The Campaign Legal Center reports that eleven (11) states currently utilize non-partisan or bi-partisan redistricting commissions composed of non-office-holding citizens.^[1] The states include: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, and Washington.^[1] The Campaign Legal Center also reports that Arkansas and Ohio use redistricting commissions that are composed entirely of elected officials.^[1]

In 2008 California voters approved Proposition 11^[2] amending the state's constitution creating a bi-partisan Citizens Redistricting Commission composed of non-office-holding citizens.^[2]

Efforts to establish a redistricting commission in Virginia have so far failed.^{[citation needed] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redistricting_commission} ) The real threat to democracy are the attempts of repiglicans and tea-baggers, the recent developments in Virginia being the latest example, to restrict voting rights and try to manipulate the electoral college to deny the candidate receiving the the majority vote in a presidential election. This from the Washington Post...

Posted by Aaron Blake 

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal asked his fellow Republicans to shift their focus outside of Washington, D.C.  in his speech Thursday night at the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting.

Doing so might cheer them up a little.

While the party’s Washington contingent is struggling mightily, the GOP retains full control of nearly half the state governments across the nation. And that control, combined with the just-completed round of redistricting, has set up Republicans to hold onto many of those state governments — and by extension, the U.S. House of Representatives — for potentially the next decade or more.

“The Republicans will have an advantage in partisanship in districts for a long time. That, I think, is indisputable,” said Rob Richie, the executive director of the electoral reform group Fair Vote. Of the Democrats, he said, “I think that they’re probably settling in for a long stay in the minority, unless it’s a really big year.”

Here’s why.

Because Republicans exercise full control (both legislative chambers plus the governorship) of big swing states and blue-leaning states like Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin, they were able to draw congressional maps that strongly favored their party. In the 2012 presidential election, Mitt Romney won 64 of 104 congressional districts in those six states, despite all of them going for President Obama statewide.

This chart, from Wonkblog’s Dylan Matthews, pretty much says it all. It shows how many congressional seats Democrats won in each state in 2012 versus their percentage of the presidential vote:

What redistricting also did, though, was allow Republicans to draw very favorable state legislative maps. Those maps will also make it hard for Democrats to regain control of those chambers and, by extension, overhaul the existing GOP-friendly maps at both the state and congressional levels.

Nobody is saying Democrats can’t win back the U.S. House in the coming years, but most everyone agrees that it’s significantly more difficult today than it was before and that Democrats need a sizable wave to do it. In fact, they would need to win as much as 55 percent of the popular vote, according to the Cook Political Report’s David Wasserman, something neither party was able to achieve even in the wave elections of 2006, 2008 and 2010.

So, Democrats have little control, which makes it harder for them to gain control. And until they gain back control — at least long enough to draw new maps — it will be difficult for them to get anything resembling consistent majorities.

The numbers tell the story.

The GOP lost what had been full control of just one state government, Maine, where Democrats took back both state legislative chambers. But Republicans gained full control over three additional states: Alaska, North Carolina and Wisconsin. So while the GOP controlled a total of 22 states before 2012, it now controls 24 (including many swing states), compared with just 14 under Democrats’ control.While the GOP had a bad year nationally in 2012, it actually might have been a net-positive at the state level — in large part due to the new maps that Republicans drew before the election.

And it’s going to be tough for Democrats to win back control of many of those states.

In Ohio, for instance, Republicans actually expanded their state House and state Senate majorities in 2012, to 60-39 in the House and 23-10 in the Senate, even as Obama carried the state by three points.

For Democrats to have won the House, the statewide vote would have needed to shift more than four points toward Democrats (judging by the median race, which Republicans won 54.18 percent to 45.82 percent). Translating that shift to the presidential race, it would have meant that Obama needed to carry the state 55 percent to 43 percent, rather than 51 percent to 48 percent.

(This is not a perfect calculation, of course, because campaigns matter. But state legislative races are often very reflective of the overall political environment.)

Another good example is the Virginia House. Republicans retained a 67-31 edge there, despite Obama having carried the state by four points. A look at past election results suggests that the 2012 election would have had to shift about five points toward Democrats for them to have taken the chamber. That means Obama’s margin would have needed to be 56 percent to 42 percent.

Needless to say, it would take a huge wave for Democrats to win either Ohio or Virginia by double digits at the presidential level. And while such swings have happened in U.S. political history, these days voters are much more polarized, making such a swing quite unlikely.

Now, we should stress that this doesn’t mean that Democrats are in the dark for the next decade. There are more than enough congressional seats in play to make it happen in a good year, even if they don’t get 55 percent of the popular vote. And merely winning back a governorship would give them a seat at the table in the next round of redistricting. (The GOP will have a tough time holding governor’s seats in all six states listed above over the next two years.)

“It’s ridiculous to assume the redistricting will go the Republicans’ way,” said one Democratic strategist. “All you need is to win a governorship, and it ends up in court, and anything could happen.”

The strategist also pointed to demographic changes that favor Democrats in key states, including the fact that Texas appears likely to be a swing state in the coming years.

A GOP strategist agreed that it’s too early to say that Republicans will again be in the driver’s seat come the next round of redistricting.

“I think it’s just a little early to be predicting that Republicans will be in a position of strength. There could be a lot more split-control states. All it takes is one of those chambers to go, and you’re in a court situation or making a deal.”

But at this point, it’s going to be very hard for Democrats to gain full control over the redrawing of the maps in most of these vital states, and if they can’t win the governor’s mansions back, Republicans could again redraw the maps after the 2020 Census.

And by extension, that means that state governments and the congressional map could favor Republicans for years (or decades) to come.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/01/25/beyond-the-beltway-gop-remains-in-very-good-shape/?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics
What The 2012 Election Would Look Like Under The Republicans' Vote-Rigging Plan

 Republicans have a new strategy for 2016: Change the rules of presidential elections in order to swing the Electoral College in the GOP's favor.

On Wednesday, Virginia's Republican-controlled legislature became one of the first to advance a bill that would allocate electoral votes by congressional district. Last week, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus endorsed pushing through similar proposals in other states with Republican legislative majorities.

The strategy would have states alter the way they translate individual votes into electors -- thereby giving Republican candidates an advantage. Had the 2012 election been apportioned in every state according to these new Republican plans, Romney would have led Obama by at least 11 electoral votes. Here's how:

In the 2012 election, President Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney by 126 electoral votes.

Within the 26 states that Obama took, Romney won a plurality of votes in 99 congressional districts.

Obama, on the other hand, won only 32 congressional districts in red states.

Each state has two more electoral votes than congressional districts. The most common Republican proposal -- under consideration inPennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan -- follows the same rules already in effect in Maine and Nebraska, which allocate the two additional votes to the winner of the statewide popular vote.

This is what the 2012 electoral map would have looked like had each state apportioned its electors using these rules.

The legislation introduced in Virginia, however, goes even further and proposes to allocate the two remaining votes not to the candidate who wins the state-wide popular vote, but to the candidate who wins the majority of congressional districts. This would give Republicans an even bigger advantage in that state.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/24/republican-vote-rigging-electoral-college_n_2546010.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=012513&utm_medium=email&utm_content=FeatureTitle&utm_term=Daily%20Brief

 2012 ELECTION RESULTS

	Obama	Romney
ELECTORAL VOTES  (270 TO WIN)	332	206

OBAMA LEADING

OBAMA WON

ROMNEY LEADING

ROMNEY WON

Battleground States

	OBAMA	ROMNEY
VIRGINIA99% RPT.	51.2%	47.3%
FLORIDA100% RPT.	50.0%	49.1%
N. CAROLINA100% RPT.	48.4%	50.4%
OHIO100% RPT.	50.7%	47.7%
NEW HAMPSHIRE100% RPT.	52.0%	46.4%
COLORADO100% RPT.	51.5%	46.1%
WISCONSIN99% RPT.	52.8%	45.9%
IOWA100% RPT.	52.0%	46.2%
NEVADA100% RPT.	52.4%	45.7%

Popular Vote

	OBAMA	ROMNEY
TOTAL	65,367,939	60,707,106
PERCENT	51.0%	47.3%

SENATE

33 out of 100 seats are up for election. 51 are needed for a majority.

DEMOCRAT LEADING

DEMOCRAT WON

HOLDOVER

REPUBLICAN LEADING

REPUBLICAN WON

	DEMOCRATS*	REPUBLICANS
CURRENT SENATE	53	47
SEATS GAINED OR LOST	+2	-2
NEW TOTAL	55	45

* Includes two independent senators expected to caucus with the Democrats: Angus King (Maine) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.).

HOUSE

All 435 seats are up for election. 218 are needed for a majority.

DEMOCRAT LEADING

DEMOCRAT WON

REPUBLICAN LEADING

REPUBLICAN WON

	DEMOCRATS	REPUBLICANS
SEATS WON	201	234

Click for Full Results