Late Friday, Gov. Bob McDonnell made public his letter to the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors telling them, in effect, to clean up the Teresa Sullivan mess, or get out. Here is the letter’s text:
The operative phrase: “I want final action by the Board on Tuesday. If you fail to do so, I will ask for the resignation of the entire Board on Wednesday. Regardless of your decision, I expect you to make a clear, detailed and unified statement on the future leadership of the University.”
It doesn’t get much clearer than that. And while it’s an open question as to whether McDonnell’s demand carries any legal force (members of the Board of Visitors are not at-will appointees) he has put them in a box. They can bungle the Tuesday meeting and still keep their jobs. But they will be twisting in the political wind if they do so.
