We are now in the fifth week of former Governor Bob McDonnell’s trial.  He is on the witness stand being cross examined by prosecutor Michael Dry, an assistant US state’s attorney.  It has not been an easy day for the Governor. Mr. Dry has been relentless and at times the Governor has shown his frustration.  Who can blame him?[read_more]
Follow live updates on McDonnell’s trial here.
Governor Bob McDonnell had no bigger supporter than me when he ran for Attorney General and Governor. Â He was the perfect Gubernatorial candidate, running a flawless campaign and winning easily. Â I knew he would do great things for all the people in the Commonwealth. Â Then he pushed through the biggest tax increase in the history of Virginia and celebrated! Â I couldn’t believe that a Republican Governor who ran as a conservative would do that to us. Â I have yet to see any benefit from his massive tax increase. Â Everyone in Northern Virginia saw a 20% increase in our sales tax, along with a slew of other new taxes and fees. Â For what? Â We still can’t get to Richmond on Friday or Saturday without sitting in traffic for hours, nor can we return from Richmond to northern Virginia on Sundays. Â Fees for commuters in Fairfax and Loudoun continue to rise with no decrease in traffic on any road. Â Where’s all the transportation tax money going? Â Certainly not to roads. Â That was the beginning of my disenchantment with our ‘conservative’ Governor. Â Expanding metro with tax dollars from across the state to benefit the 1% who ride metro was next. Â Why are taxpayers in the poorest parts of our state paying for a metro in the richest counties in the nation? Â So less than 1% of people in Loudoun can ride a subway to work, a subway heavily subsidized by the rest of us?
Adding insult to injury, to get the massive tax increased passed McDonnell made a deal with the democrats in the General Assembly to expand medicaid in Virginia to add an additional 400,000 people to the rolls.  Without Senator Dick Black and the #BlackorBust amendment  that expansion would have cost the taxpayers BILLIONS in the near future.  I had to face the facts. There was nothing conservative about Bob McDonnell.
I don’t know if McDonnell’s acceptance of all of the gifts and loans (totaling $177,000) was legal or not but I know they have raised my level of disappointment in my Governor. Â He should have known better. Â We expected better. Â Republicans are held to a higher standard and we meet that standard.
McDonnell had so much promise.  He had a beautiful family, gorgeous wife and children, a daughter in the military, twin sons at the best public school in the nation, the University of Virginia.  He was a kind and thoughtful man. I was thrilled to meet him, thrilled to have my picture taken with him.  I was proud of him! He ran as a conservative and won easily with just under 59% of the vote.  His future was limitless. He could  have become Vice President and even  President. He could have added to the long list of Presidents from Virginia.  He threw it all away with a series of liberal political moves to benefit his transportation tax increase coupled with poor decisions in his personal life.  Blaming his wife doesn’t change those facts.  I am very sad and extremely disappointed in our former Governor.  He coulda been a contender. I wanted him to be a contender.
18 comments
I’m sorry, but I’m having a hard time understanding what crime has been committed. All I see is a Governor who accepted some gifts and a wife whom nobody likes. Where is the hard evidence – and I mean HARD EVIDENCE – that there was a deliberate quid pro quo? All I see is a prosecutor trying to get the jury to convict without really conclusive proof. If I were on the jury, I would need to see far, far more than what the prosecutor has produced.
perhaps the simple act of taking the gifts while in office is enough? We pay our politicians enough, they don’t need the extras
very well written and I like many other conservatives throughout the Commonwealth feel the same way.
Sure would like to know who told the Virginia Retirement Fund folks about Star Scientific. Why in the world were they buying Star Scientific stock for their portfolio? I understand they had $80,000 worth of the stuff.
I had forgotten that! Yikes.
Jeanine, I share and feel your pain. Each time I try and visit my father’s house in Lucketts is a reminder of just what happens when taxes are raised to build new roads. Rt 15 is worse than ever, with no end in sight, and the money gets wasted and no one knows where it goes. Pitiful. Just glad that Joe May and Bev Sherwood were tossed from office.
We are so fortunate that a citizen activist, a man of the people, my friend Dave LaRock now represents us in the General Assembly.
Did you run this post by Brian first? He has a very high standard for what should be talked about concerning the trial and I would hate for you to run afoul of the very important afl-cio affiliated attorney. He is closely monitering ever word here.
LOL! So we’ve noticed!
I think it’s clear that my last point stung, because this is better. Glad to see I can help improve the editorial standards over here.
We aim to please!
“… gorgeous wife …” ? Better she had been gracious and unpretentious.
I can’t say if she is gracious and unpretentious or not. I don’t know her. I’m sure she has many friends who would use those adjectives to describe her.
Read the letter that Maureen McDonnell’s entire staff wrote to her advising they could no longer tolerate her abuse. Stunning!
Great article…I feel the exact same way. I was working on the McDonnell campaign before he was officially running.
I can deal with the devil when he has horns and a pitchfork, but when he comes in wearing a suit, carrying a bible in one hand and the republican creed in the other now that’s a devil that’s hard to stomach .
Well said. It’s been difficult for so many of us. We expected so much more from him.
good article…I understand your frustration. The best thing I can say is no matter what he is/was a bunch better than McAuliffe! The thing with his defense…that is a strategy thing probably concocted between the lawyers. I can count on one hand the number of lawyers I would actually trust and I used to work with many of them in NO VA.
The Governor and his family are in my prayers, I too share the same disappointments.