Former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell’s bid to avoid conviction on corruption charges may hinge on convincing a jury he did nothing more extreme than his predecessors in a state noted for its lax government ethics.
McDonnell, a former rising star in the Republican party once mentioned as a presidential contender for 2016, stands accused with his wife, Maureen, of helping a Virginia businessman promote his dietary supplements in exchange for lavish gifts that included more than $165,000 worth of vacations, loans, private plane rides and a Rolex watch.
As jury selection begins today in federal court in Richmond, the McDonnell case — the first public corruption trial of a governor in the state’s 226-year history — is putting Virginia’s political ethics in the spotlight along with the popular ex-governor’s conduct.
The state in 2012 ranked 47th in a national integrity index compiled by the non-partisan Center for Public Integrity. It’s one of only nine states that lacks an ethics commission with enforcement powers and one of four without campaign finance limits. While McDonnell was in office, Virginia officials could accept gifts of any size as long as they were disclosed, and gifts to family members or companies owned by officials didn’t have to be reported.
SUPPLEMENT MAKER
The nub of McDonnell’s defense is that while he accepted gifts, as his predecessors have, he performed no official acts for supplement maker Jonnie Williams, offering him only the kind of assistance any governor might give a state businessman.
“Not everything a public official does to benefit a donor is an ‘official act,’ or every photo-op would be a crime,” John Brownlee, one of McDonnell’s lawyers, wrote in a court filing.
To explore the conduct of previous occupants of the governor’s mansion, McDonnell’s defense team subpoenaed Amy Bridge, the director of the residence during the tenures of his immediate predecessors, Democrats Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, now both U.S. senators.
In a sign of the controversy surrounding the prosecution, five former Virginia attorneys general, three Democrats and two Republicans, filed papers in court in April supporting McDonnell’s bid to dismiss most of the 14-count indictment he faces, which includes charges of conspiracy, honest services fraud, obstruction and making false statements.
‘WREAK HAVOC’
Much of the indictment is based on an expansive interpretation of U.S. law that “would wreak havoc upon the public life of Virginia by casting a shadow of federal prosecution and imprisonment across normal participation in the democratic process,” they wrote.
U.S. District Judge James Spencer, an appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, refused to consider any briefs filed by the former chief legal officers of the state.
“The best case for McDonnell is to show that there were gifts showered on other public officials in Richmond comparable to what he received,” said Steve Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. “We may be on the verge of seeing a very, very extensive airing of the Old Dominion’s dirtiest political laundry.”
Even if the McDonnells can convince jurors the governor wasn’t corrupt, they still have to explain away other charges such as a false statement count for allegedly failing to disclose loans from Williams on an application for refinancing property and an obstruction count against Maureen, who’s accused of lying to investigators.
RUNNING MATE
A former chairman of the Republican Governors Association, McDonnell, 60, had been mentioned as a possible running mate for presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 2012.
His national political aspirations were curbed in early 2013 when the Washington Post and other news outlets reported on a litany of gifts from Williams to the McDonnell family and on the efforts by the governor and his wife to promote Anatabloc, a tobacco-derived dietary supplement crucial to the survival of Williams’s Star Scientific Inc. (STSC) The company is based in Glen Allen, Virginia, the McDonnell’s hometown.
One gift that drew intense scrutiny was $15,000 to pay for a wedding meal at the governor’s mansion for Cailin McDonnell, the first couple’s daughter.
Prosecutors can show that the McDonnells did help Williams market Anatabloc. Maureen McDonnell, 60, took trips with Williams to Florida and Michigan to help promote the product at the businessman’s expense, according to evidence in the record.
EXECUTIVE MANSION
The McDonnells hosted a luncheon in August 2011 at the executive mansion on Richmond’s Capitol Hill to try and spark research interest in Anatabloc from officials at the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University.
The ex-governor’s lawyers will argue “that there was no quo for the quid,” Farnsworth said.
One challenge for prosecutors may be the credibility of Williams, who has been granted immunity in exchange for his testimony against the McDonnells.
A former car salesman described by people who know him as charming, generous and skilled at promotion, Williams made millions of dollars developing and selling equipment to help correct near-sightedness. He eventually acquired a Bombardier jet and a $2.3 million Virgina estate with its own baseball diamond.
CIGARS, TOBACCO
Williams founded Star’s predecessor company in 1990 and shifted its focus from cigar and cigarette tobacco to dietary supplements.
He also has had several business failures and once paid $295,000 to settle allegations by the Securities & Exchange Commission without admitting liability.
Star lost $231 million over the past decade, according to SEC filings. In December, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration ordered it to stop false marketing claims about Anatabloc. Williams stepped down as CEO in December, around the time the company changed its name to Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals Inc.
McDonnell met Williams when the entrepreneur began letting the then-gubernatorial candidate use his airplane for campaigning, according to the indictment.
Williams’s attorney, Jerry Kilgore, didn’t respond to an e-mailed request for comment on the case.
Even if McDonnell is found not guilty, the gifts and favors involving Williams will prevent him from fully restoring his reputation, said Bob Holsworth, a longtime Virginia political analyst based in Richmond.
“He might be acquitted but he won’t be completely vindicated,” Holsworth said.
The case is U.S. v. McDonnell, 14-cr-00012, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia (Richmond).
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Zajac in Washington at azajac@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net Fred Strasser, David E. Rovella