We learn today that Gov. Bob McDonnell has engaged the services of Emmet Flood, a partner at Williams & Connolly, to advise “McDonnell, administration officials and others as the governor attempts to navigate the legal and political waters that have engulfed the last year of his term and threaten to swamp his legacy.”
Given Flood’s past experience as a lawyer for both Dick Cheney and Bill Clinton, it is safe to assume not only that McDonnell understands the gravity of his situation, but also his need for an experienced fixer. I know from experience that Williams & Connolly partners don’t come cheap. McDonnell is prepping for a possible worst case scenario. As he should.
Meanwhile, Del. Bob Marshall is mulling legislation that would add some clarity and additional reporting requirements, to the state’s ethics laws regarding gifts:
…his draft legislation would require adult family members of elected officials and certain state employees to report any gift of $100 or more from anyone who does business with the state.
That provision would also apply to spouses, legal dependants or other relatives sharing a home with a public official.
Furthermore, his proposals includes another reporting stipulation: gifts made by someone who engages in business with Virginia within 12 months of the giving must be disclosed in that circumstance.
And it would mandate a five-day reporting window for any gift valued over $100 made to General Assembly members during a regular legislative session.
Current law requires public officials to disclose gifts over $50, a rule that doesn’t apply to their relatives.
Nothing here about gifts from people who wish to do business with the state, or seek other favors from it. But it is a work in progress.
And in light of all this, and also of Independence Day, perhaps it’s a good time to recall George Mason’s words in Virginia’s Declaration of Rights:
That no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.
Think about that as stories of political gifts, lawyers, ethics rules and much more parade across the landscape in the months ahead.
