Poor Bob McDonnell. You know what his problem is? It’s not that he took some arguably questionable gifts/loans or what have you… no, no, no.
It’s that the poor Governor of Virginia doesn’t make enough money, according to Business Insider’s Josh Barro:
The Governor of Virginia makes $175,000 a year, and that is, in some sense, a lot of money. It’s about three times the median household income in the state. It’s plenty of money to live a nice lifestyle on.
But it’s not nearly enough money to match the lifestyle of the sort of people you become surrounded by when you are a powerful political leader. And while some people have the ability to make peace with that (Pope Francis comes to mind), many don’t.
Pause.
So let me get this straight: the best way to ensure that politicians making six-figures don’t take gifts and loans and other questionable items is to throw more money at them?
Somehow, papering over moral hazards by throwing money at them seems a tad bit… I dunno… suspect….
UPDATE: …and just in case you were worried about how our poor chief executive ever gets by, Virginia’s governor ranks as the 4th highest paid in the nation.
As mentioned in the comments, the very idea that we have to pay our public officials to keep them honest?
“I’m not saying you have to pay for protection… but bad things happen to good people everyday. Right, Twitchy?”
Well, pardon us Virginians if we politely disagree with that premise. It might work in New York, but not here.
