David Mills
From the New York Times‘ report of the corruption trial of former governor of Virginia Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen, accused of giving political favors to a businessman who gave them a lot of money, a lot more money than friendship would seem to explain:
Another time, after thanking Mr. Williams for funds to help cover expenses for some real estate investments, Mr. McDonnell sent an email to his policy director just six minutes later telling him to meet to discuss how to advance Mr. Williams’s products.
The aide’s reply: “We need to be careful with this issue.”
Mr. McDonnell’s defense argued such interventions were not improper; they are what all elected officials do to promote state businesses. “To criminalize this bedrock principle,” John Brownlee, one of the former governor’s lawyers, said, “would make felons of virtually every person who’s held public office.”
And this is a defense how?
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