Lets remember, McDonnell's Donor-Jonnie Williams-Has Been Cooperating With Prosecutors for Months

[kpete]

How McDonnell's Wife Flipped The Political Scandal Script



********************

The McDonnells were both indicted this week on public corruption charges for allegedly accepting and concealing tens of thousands of dollars in payments and gifts from Williams. The case against them begins with the conversation about the dress. In the government's telling, it was Maureen McDonnell who initiated the gifts-and-cash aspect of the McDonnells' relationship with Williams. When one of the governor-to-be's senior aides later pushed back against the idea of Williams buying her inauguration dress, Maureen got mad.

"I need to talk to you about Inaugural clothing budget," she wrote in an email to the aide on Dec. 21, 2009. "I need answers and Bob is screaming about the thousands I'm charging up in credit card debt. We are broke, have an unconscionable amount in credit card debt already, and this Inaugural is killing us!! I need answers and I need help, and I need to get this done."

Maureen later told Williams she would take a "rain check" on the dress.

The indictment against the McDonnells is full of similar moments, which portray the former Virginia First Couple, and Maureen in particular, as the takers in their relationship with Williams. (Here's a good place to remember that Williams has been cooperating with prosecutors since the summer.) The result is a reversal of a standard scandal script. Instead of a donor shaking down a politician, it was the politician and his wife allegedly shaking down the donor.


Donor Jonnie Williams, Star Scientific are cooperating in probe of Gov. Robert McDonnell
AUGUST 3, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/donor-jonnie-williams-star-scientific-are-cooperating-in-probe-of-gov-robert-mcdonnell/2013/08/03/64547572-fb7f-11e2-8752-b41d7ed1f685_story_1.html

[FSogol]

1. K&R. Loving the fall of the GOP's wunderkid, Bob McDonnell.