How Ken Cuccinelli (R-VA) Tried to Quash His Corruption Scandal

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Gambling he can start talking about issues other than himself, the Republican nominee for governor announced Tuesday that he is donating to charity $18,000 — roughly the value of controversial gifts and goodies from Jonnie Williams Sr., the rich political uncle Cuccinelli and Bob McDonnell now wish they never had.

As an exercise in damage control, it could prove too little, too late.

Republicans tried waving off Giftgate as trite and insignificant when it exploded in late March. Nearly six months later, the scandal is wrecking McDonnell’s governorship and threatens to prevent Cuccinelli’s.

Pleading poverty, Cuccinelli said in July that he could not reimburse Williams for his beneficence. That is, three getaways to Williams’ lakeside manse, one of which included a Thanksgiving feast for the Cuccinelli family; jet flights to New York; and a cache of pills manufactured by Williams’ struggling company, Star Scientific.

Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA), "I Am Deeply Sorry..."

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch: 

Gov. Bob McDonnell has repaid the roughly $120,000 in loans that he and his wife received from a wealthy donor and expressed sorrow for the “embarrassment” brought upon the state.

“I am deeply sorry for the embarrassment certain members of my family and I brought upon my beloved Virginia and her citizens,” McDonnell said in a statement released today by a spokesman for his private legal team.   

“I want you to know that I broke no laws and that I am committed to regaining your sacred trust and confidence. I hope today’s action is another step toward that end.” 

McDonnell paid back $52,278 for a loan that Jonnie Williams Sr., CEO of Star Scientific, made to  first lady Maureen McDonnell in 2011, and $71,837 for two other loans in 2012 to the real estate business owned by the governor and his sister, according to the release...

...McDonnell strongly indicated that he plans to stay in office while facing state and federal probes relating to his relationship with Williams. 

Between governor McDonnell's corruption, support of invasive/mandatory trans-vaginal ultrasounds and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's homophobia, the Commonwealth's republicans have made Virginia a national joke. And we should let them have power in the state because...?

Gov. McDonnell's (R-VA) Woes Get Worse

From the Washington Post: 

Federal authorities are asking Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell’s associates about previously undisclosed gifts given by a campaign donor to McDonnell’s wife that total tens of thousands of dollars and include money and expensive designer clothing, according to people familiar with the inquiry. 

The questions are part of broad federal and state investigations into gifts to the governor and his family and whether McDonnell (R) took official action on behalf of anyone who gave gifts, people with knowledge of the investigation have said. 

The probe already involves a $15,000 gift from wealthy businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr., chief executive of a major McDonnell campaign donor, for catering at the 2011 wedding of one of McDonnell’s daughters. 

But the people with knowledge of the inquiry, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the investigation, say the scope is wider than just the wedding gift. The value and nature of additional gifts from Williams, including money provided in several checks, suggest that authorities are exploring a more extensive relationship between Williams and the McDonnells than previously revealed...

Again, I say, "Don't blame me, I voted for the other guy (Creigh Deeds)."

Meanwhile, I am sure that the GOP was looking to Bob McDonnell to possibly run for higher office in the future and be a banner-bearer for the party. Being the leader of a swing state could have stood him in could stead for national office and spreading a conservative message. If these allegations pan out, those hopes could fizzle just like they did for another former Republican Virginia governor, George Allen (though with Allen, it happened because of a racist remark he made while running for a second Senate term in 2006), who many conservatives thought could run for president in 2008.

Transcripts Dismantle GOP Talking Points on IRS

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

From the Business Insider: 

... [Rep. Elijah] Cummings released transcripts with an IRS screening group manager described as a "conservative Republican," who said that the targeting of the Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt status started with low-level workers in Cincinnati. The witness also said that there was no communication on the targeting with any senior IRS officials or with anyone in Washington or the Obama administration. 

Democrats have posted the key portion of the transcript here, in which the manager says he initially was made aware of a case involving a Tea Party group when an agent "asked for guidance." He agreed with the agent that there "wasn't enough information" to determine whether the group should have a tax-exempt status, and said he elevated the issue to his "area manager." 

The manager also said an official in the exempt organizations division in Washington was "pleased with the decision to elevate this case," but suggested there wasn't a political role in the targeting. 

"I do not believe that the screening of these cases had anything to do other than consistency and identifying issues that needed to have further development," the manager said...

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD)

Republicans had been alleging that there was a link between what had been going on in the IRS' Cincinnati office and Washington and that Washington, possibly even the administration, had issued orders for the IRS to specifically target conservative/Tea Party groups for stricter scrutiny when it came to awarding tax-exempt status. That link has yet to materialize and the evidence that has been uncovered thus far seems to point away from a Washington-based cause. 

Rep. Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said he would release the transcripts from the House investigation, but stopped short of doing so. The ranking Democrat on the committee, Elijah Cummings, threatened to release the transcripts if Issa refused to do so. Cummings made good on his threat, and it seems evident why Issa did not want the transcripts released: the transcripts did not backup the GOP narrative of this supposed Obama scandal. The GOP should have gotten the facts before throwing around accusations.

Gov. McDonnell's (R-VA) Credibility Problem

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Darrell Issa Won't Release the "Evidence"

From Think Progress: 

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) is refusing to releasetranscripts of interviews with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents that allegedly prove how political officials in the Obama administration directed the IRS to target conservative groups applying for 501 (c)(4) status. 

The California congressman, whose committee is conducting an investigation into the agency’s behavior, provided CNN excerpts of interviews with IRS agents on June 2 and assured host Candy Crowley that “the whole transcript will be put out.” The portion purported to show an IRS official conceding that “directions” for to treat Tea Party groups “emanated from Washington,” though Issa himself conceded that that excerpt was not definitive. 

But in a letter to the top Democrat on the Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Issa appeared to back away from his pledge, arguing that releasing the transcripts would “needlessly jeopardize the integrity of the investigation and hamper the Committee’s ability to get to the truth.” Experts, he contested, are useful and “serve to provide important updates to the public” and “empower other witnesses to become whistleblowers.” 

During his appearance on CNN, Issa called White House Press Secretary Jay Carney a “paid liar” and claimed that the spokesperson is “making up things about what happens in calling this local rogue,” leading several Republicans to speak out against his tactics. A week later, Cummings appeared on CNN to challenge the Chairman. “I want those transcripts to be released,” Cummings said. “I’m willing to come on your show next week with the Chairman with the transcripts if he agrees to do that. If he doesn’t, I’ll release them by the end of the week.”

Tweet of the Day: May 29, 2013 (Farewell Michele)

Why Some of That IRS Scrutiny Was Warranted

From the New York Times: 

When CVFC, a conservative veterans’ group in California, applied for tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service, its biggest expenditure that year was several thousand dollars in radio ads backing a Republican candidate for Congress. 

 The Wetumpka Tea Party, from Alabama, sponsored training for a get-out-the-vote initiative dedicated to the “defeat of President Barack Obama” while the I.R.S. was weighing its application. 

And the head of the Ohio Liberty Coalition, whose application languished with the I.R.S. for more than two years, sent out e-mails to members about Mitt Romney campaign events and organized members to distribute Mr. Romney’s presidential campaign literature. 

Representatives of these organizations have cried foul in recent weeks about their treatment by the I.R.S., saying they were among dozens of conservative groups unfairly targeted by the agency, harassed with inappropriate questionnaires and put off for months or years as the agency delayed decisions on their applications. 

But a close examination of these groups and others reveals an array of election activities that tax experts and former I.R.S. officials said would provide a legitimate basis for flagging them for closer review.

FBI (And Many Others) Investigate Michele Bachmann

Someone this crazy should have been investigated ages ago.

Another Reason the IRS "Scandal" Isn't A Real Scandal

Why the IRS "Scandal" is Not Obama's Watergate

From The Guardian: 

On the Watergate investigation:

The senators were, after all, working with a raft of indisputable material, including the January 1973 convictions of former President Nixon aides G Gordon Liddy and James W McCord, Jr. on charges of conspiracy, burglary, and wiretapping in connection with the June 1972 Watergate break-in, and the April 1973 resignation and firing of other top White House staffers. The senators could afford to be methodical: there had been criminal activity, authorized and carried out at the highest level of the administration, and no amount of grandstanding would further dramatize those already damning facts. The committee set out to establish, in Senator Howard Baker's notorious words, "What did the president know and when did he know it?"

On the Internal Revenue Service incident:

But here's the critical fact: there's been no finding of criminal activity in the Obama administration, and the FBI's opening of a criminal investigation of the IRS should lay to rest accusations that the administration has failed to take the matter seriously. 

As Carl Bernstein, one of the reporters who broke the Watergate story, pointed out, there is no evidence the president ordered, much less knew about, the IRS scrutiny of conservative groups' tax-exempt applications. The Treasury Department's Inspector General report concluded that despite the fact that IRS personnel had used "inappropriate criteria" to identify which applications to subject to additional review, personnel told the IG that "the criteria were not influenced by any individual or organization outside the IRS". 

Until such time as there is concrete that President Barack Obama orchestrated or had knowledge of what happened with the IRS, calling it his Watergate is a misleading attempt by his political enemies to stir up hatred against him. Yet again, here is an example of the right making claims without the facts to back them up. How predictable.

Heritage to GOP: More Scandal, Less Doing Your Actual Job

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

From The Grio: 

In a letter to members of Congress, which was obtained by NBC News, Heritage Action for America, the lobbying arm of the Heritage Foundation (which recently found itself in hot water over the racial IQ theories of the co-author of their widely panned immigration reform study, Jason Richwine, who resigned from the think tank last Friday), urged Republicans on Capitol Hill not to govern, and instead, to focus on the would-be “scandals” plaguing the Obama administration. 

The letter, which is addressed to House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, trumpets the negative media buzz surrounding the White House, saying that, “for the first time, the activities of the Obama administration are receiving a sustained public vetting.  Americans’ outrage over Benghazi is amplified by the Internal Revenue Service’s intimidation of conservative grassroots organizations and a cascade of negative headlines.  There is the real sense the Obama administration has been less than forthright with the American people, the press and lawmakers...” 

...“To that end, we urge you to avoid bringing any legislation to the House Floor that could expose or highlight major schisms within the conference.  Legislation such as the Internet sales tax or the FARRM Act which contains nearly $800 billion in food stamp spending, would give the press a reason to shift their attention away from the failures of the Obama administration to write another ‘circular firing squad’ article...”

Another Homophobe in Another Gay Sex Scandal

From the Huffington Post:

A Scottish cardinal on Sunday acknowledged having engaged in unspecified sexual misbehavior, apologized for his actions, and promised to stay out of the church's public life in a statement that comes at an awkward time for the Vatican.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien had been Britain's highest-ranking Catholic leader until he resigned Monday from his position as archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, a departure prompted by a newspaper report about unnamed priests' allegations that he acted inappropriately toward them.

O'Brien initially rejected the claims, saying he was resigning because he did not want to distract from the upcoming conclave of cardinals that is due to pick a successor to Benedict XVI, who resigned the papacy Thursday. O'Brien also became the first cardinal to recuse himself from the conclave because of personal scandal; other voting-age cardinals have in the past stayed home because of infirmity or because they were prevented by their governments from participating.

On Sunday, the Catholic church in Scotland issued a statement quoting O'Brien as saying that there had been times "that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal."

"To those I have offended, I apologize and ask forgiveness," the statement continued. "To the Catholic church and people of Scotland, I also apologize. I will now spend the rest of my life in retirement. I will play no further part in the public life of the Catholic church in Scotland."

The Wrap-Up: July 2, 2012

While Texas and Montana Republicans have adopted a decidedly homophobic platform, D.C. Republicans are going in a different direction.

Here is a prime example of the magnanimous leadership we can expect from the Tea Party.

Sources are saying the Chief Justice John Roberts switched his decision on the individual mandate despite efforts by his fellow conservative jurists.

Despite how Roberts ruled, conservatives need not worry about what side he is on.

A poll performed after the Supreme Court's decision show a slight increase in support for the Affordable Care Act, including a sizable jump in independent support.

The family of Tyler Clementi talked late last week about their son's suicide, the ensuing trial of Dharun Ravi, and the Tyler Clementi Foundation.

The University of Texas-Austin is investigating a dubious study (performed by one of its faculty members and funded by the National Organization For Marriage Discrimination) that alleges to show that gay-parenting is dangerous. The study's methodology is extremely flawed.

And lastly, a look back at 25 political gay scandals.

Best Mugshots Ever

This should look so much worse given what he did. Then again, he better look good with a $400 hair cut.

Scandal Lies: Conservatives & Liberals

Here's the problem with what this guy said: HE IS WRONG!!!

When New York Governor Eliot Spitzer (D) was caught in a sex scandal, he resigned. When New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevy (D) was caught in a scandal, he resigned as well. In other words, even though President Clinton did not resign, some Democrats have resigned in such situations.

Conversely, when South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford (R) was caught on the "Appalachian Trail," he resisted resigning. When Nevada Senator John Ensign (R) was caught in a scandal, he did not resign until it was clear that his colleagues were about to kick him out of the Senate because of enormous ethics violations. Louisiana Senator David Vitter (R) is in office to this very day even after it was revealed he was involved in a prostitution ring. Not only that, but his fellow Senate Republicans gave him a standing ovation upon his return to the chamber.

To sum it all up, neither party is consistent when it comes to how they handle their own personal scandals or those of their fellow party members. When people like this Matt Barber character claim that they do, let alone that those who share their ideology have the "moral high ground," they are either deluding themselves, or lying to their followers.