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Washington Post Op-Ed: Bob McDonnell Innocent
Posted by: Washington Post ()
Date: September 09, 2015 06:45AM

Just wanted to make sure you saw the powerful Op-Ed in the Washington Post over Labor Day Weekend by former White House counselor C. Boyden Gray dealing with Bob McDonnell's case. Key excerpts are below:

"When public officials break the law, they must be punished. But when prosecutors stretch laws to criminalize everyday contact between the people and their elected officials, those prosecutors must be stopped. Democracy and the rule of law are threatened by public corruption, but they are threatened every bit as much by those who would erect a wall between people and their representatives......"

.....the case involved no allegations that McDonnell doled out favors one normally would consider "official acts": government contracts, favorable regulatory or prosecutorial treatment, or the enactment of favorable legislation. Rather, the official acts that McDonnell allegedly undertook were nothing more than speaking with aides and arranging a single meeting between an aide and the supporter.

To criminalize such discussions and a meeting required an unprecedented expansion of federal bribery laws, stretching the definition of "official acts" further than the Supreme Court has allowed."
"..... when prosecutors and judges stretched the bribery statutes beyond reasonable limits, the case grew well beyond the narrow facts at hand. It now raises much more significant questions about the right of the people to meet with their elected representatives and representatives' obligation to meet with the people.

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Re: Washington Post Op-Ed: Bob McDonnell Innocent
Posted by: FXxNN ()
Date: September 09, 2015 06:50AM

No one ever accused McDonnell of taking bribes (at least, not in court). The accusation was that because he accepted gifts (legal) and then arranged a meeting between a staff member and the gift giver (also legal) that the combined acts, while legal under Virginia law, were somehow in violation of Federal law.

That's the stretch that the Supreme Court will consider.

If they go against him, watch for a lot of politicians to quickly retire.

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Re: Washington Post Op-Ed: Bob McDonnell Innocent
Posted by: Hillary C. ()
Date: September 09, 2015 06:51AM

All we wanted was to tarnish him enough so he would not run for President in 2016. Mission accomplished. Everything else is collateral damage.

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Re: Washington Post Op-Ed: Bob McDonnell Innocent
Posted by: Not News ()
Date: September 09, 2015 07:04AM

Same story as last year about this time, different author:

"Consistent with these principles, the McDonnell jury’s 90-page instructions informed it that it could not convict the ex-governor for the things it likely found most distasteful: his soliciting personal gifts, exercising terrible judgment or prompting underlings to help a guy who paid for a family wedding. Rather, the verdict rested on whether, in all these perfectly legal actions, the jury perceived the knowing winks and nods that are all the law requires to turn donations into federal felonies. That should send chills down the spines of public officials across the country. Which, admittedly, might not be so bad."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-mcdonnell-verdict-shows-how-easily-prosecutors-may-criminalize-politics/2014/09/05/3128202a-3519-11e4-9e92-0899b306bbea_story.html

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Re: Washington Post Op-Ed: Bob McDonnell Innocent
Posted by: Nothing There ()
Date: September 09, 2015 07:25AM

FXxNN Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> If they go against him, watch for a lot of
> politicians to quickly retire.


Good.

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Re: Washington Post Op-Ed: Bob McDonnell Innocent
Posted by: causeican ()
Date: September 09, 2015 08:55AM

What a farce! Like people don’t do business this way. It’s business for crying out loud! ugh. That’s what it’s all about. You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. I hate sore losers. They’re everywhere.

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Re: Washington Post Op-Ed: Bob McDonnell Innocent
Posted by: WingNut ()
Date: September 09, 2015 09:35AM

I've got no great love for McD and I really DGAF if he goes to prison, but only if this will become the standard for all politicians from this day forward, which I seriously doubt it will.

I definitely think he could have sent that zit faced asshole Mark Warner packing if he had been on the ballot. Hard to believe political rivalry had nothing to do with the zealotry of the prosecution.


idontlikebeingrightaboutshitlikethisbutiam



Edited 21 time(s). Last edit at 5/31/1967 05:57AM by WingNut.

Last edit at 11/30/2015 01:37PM Last edit at 5/14/2015 03:52PM Last edit at 1/28/2014 05:57AM Last edit at 11/29/2015 01:10PM Last edit at 3/14/2011 11:52PM Last edit at 7/20/2012 04:07AM
Last edit at 6/29/2013 11:18PM Last edit at 3/19/2011 01:02PM Last edit at 3/26/2012 09:07PM


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Re: Washington Post Op-Ed: Bob McDonnell Innocent
Posted by: Cdhu6 ()
Date: September 09, 2015 10:02AM

The political machine was after him to stop his further rise to power. I think this was not just about Rolex watches, but rather a maneuver to remove a threat. I'm not a big fan of McD, but this type of politically driven prosecution is disturbing.

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Re: Washington Post Op-Ed: Bob McDonnell Innocent
Posted by: Snake Oil ()
Date: September 09, 2015 10:12AM

McDonnell was convicted in a court room. Now he just needs to do his time for taking bribes and shopping trips.

The VA governors mansion is NOT FOR SALE or RENTED out to the highest bidder for political favors. The mansion belongs the people of VA. Not some rich guy hawking snake oils.

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Re: Washington Post Op-Ed: Bob McDonnell Innocent
Posted by: Bill.N. ()
Date: September 09, 2015 11:41AM

This is not the first time we have seen formerly high ranking government officials writing to complain about how the government stretched the law in order to convict some politician or other public figure. Yet these same formerly high ranking government officials are nowhere to be found when a prosecutor is stretching the law much further in order to prosecute Joe Sixpack for some crime. Wonder why?

Given that he was a conservative Republican I thought McDonnell was an OK governor. I am not sure I would have voted to convict him if I had been on the jury. As the story from the chef and others started coming out though it sounded like McDonnell was operating up to the line, so I can see why others might convict him.

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Re: Washington Post Op-Ed: Bob McDonnell Innocent
Posted by: eAgle eyez ()
Date: September 09, 2015 07:52PM

gah, HRC breaks all sorts of laws and runs for President. McD gets a watch, a loan and a ride in a car and is a felon.

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Re: Washington Post Op-Ed: Bob McDonnell Innocent
Posted by: Inducements ()
Date: September 09, 2015 09:16PM

causeican Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What a farce! Like people don’t do business
> this way. It’s business for crying out loud!
> ugh. That’s what it’s all about. You scratch
> my back and I’ll scratch yours. I hate sore
> losers. They’re everywhere.


In the private sector this is EXACTLY how you do business.

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