To hear the prosecution’s witnesses today, the Governor can yell at anyone who gets in his way. To hear the defense side of things, Bob McDonnell didn’t do anything to help Star Scientific.
The prosecution called Bob McDonnell’s former chief of staff, Martin Kent, whose testimony ranged across many topics — advice to the Governor on when gifts from friends had to be disclosed, the Governor’s belief that the investigation that had come to focus on him was still limited to the investigation of the larceny charge that Maureen McDonnell brought on Executive Mansion Chef Todd Schneider, and the power that the Governor has over public universities and over the Virginia Tobacco Commission. This last topic is the thread that the prosecution hopes will tie together the bribery conspiracy charges.
Jonnie Williams testified that his plan — which was really HIS plan, not the plan of the rest of the leadership at Star Scientific, was that he would interest researchers at UVA Medical School, VCU Medical School and Johns Hopkins Medical School in Anatabloc, and that if they would use the $25,000 checks that he gave them at an August 30, 2011 lunch at the Governor’s Mansion to cover the costs of preparing a grant application to the Virginia Tobacco Commission, the Tobacco Commission would then give the schools big grants to study Anatabloc. The schools make money, Star Scientific gets its product studied without having to pay for the studies, and hopefully some research is done that validates Anatabloc as a dietary supplement or, perhaps, even an anti-inflammatory agent.
The key to all of this, he decided, was to get Governor McDonnell to let particularly the state-owned medical schools to apply to the Virginia Tobacco Commission, and then to get the Republican-dominated Tobacco Commission to approve potentially millions of dollars in grants.
The prosecutors need to prove that the Governor actually had such power, if Williams’ plan is going to sound credible. To that end, Martin Kent testified about the governor’s power of appointment of the Tobacco Commission and universities. Kent testified that the Governor had the power to make appointments to the Board of Visitors, for example, and he could ask sitting members for their resignations but could not fire them. To demonstrate that ability to influence events at the universities, the prosecution introduced McDonnell’s letter to the University of Virginia Board of Visitors concerning the firing of UVA President Teresa Sullivan in 2012. He wrote, on June 22, 2012:
But let me be absolutely clear: 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.
This is offered to show that the Governor has authority, or at least influence, over a lot that goes on at state universities. (Personally, I think this actually helps the defense — their closing argument is going to be that Bob never intended to exercise any improper influence, and they’ll argue “We know that Bob McDonnell knows how to get assertive and we know that he knows how to use the power of his office. But he never did it on behalf of Star Scientific, did he? He never threatened to fire UVA leaders, or to withhold funding, or anything.”)
The prosecution also called two McDOnnell Administration officials — Sara Wilson, former Director of Human Resource Management, and Lisa Hicks-Thomas, former Secretary of Administration, who both testified about a March, 2012, meeting where Bob McDonnell was talking about Anatabloc and giving something of an endorsement of the product. But both also testified that they didn’t feel that Governor McDonnell was trying to pressure anyone to do anything in connection with Anatabloc.
Another witness was Michael Uncapher, Bob McDonnell’s former brother-in-law.
Bob McDonnell is married to Maureen McDonnell, but he also has a sister named Maureen McDonnell. Maureen the sister had been married to Michael Uncapher. Maureen the sister and Bob were the two main actors in the MoBo Realty LLC that was so badly underwater financially on rental properties. Uncapher testified that the LLC was expected to lose $50,000 a year; it basically existed to allow the McDonnell family to have beachfront property, calling it an investment. Some years, the loss was covered by the Governor’s father; Virginia Beach Dr. Paul Davis contributed $50,000 one year. Uncapher testified that Maureen the sister had an annual income of about $500,000, so there should not have been any need to worry that the LLC was going to bring them all down financially. He was aware that Jonnie Williams had given money to the LLC, and he was under the impression that Williams was doing so as an investment in the LLC.
Right at the end of the day, former Attorney General Jerry Kilgore began his testimony. Kilgore testified that he had received campaign contributions of about $100,000 dollars from Jonnie Williams during his political career, but that he had never taken personal loans from him running for office. Kilgore had run for Attorney General in 2001 and for Governor in 2005.
Jerry Kilgore’s testimony will also serve to underscore the interrelationships of political power and money in Richmond, in ways that will probably on balance help the prosecution make its point that a Virginia politician doesn’t have to rant and rave and order people to do illegal things to accomplish what he wants done.
Jerry Kilgore said Williams became a client of his in 2011 after Williams wanted access to Tobacco Commission funds. Jerry’s wife is head of the Virginia Foundation for Health Youth, which is funded by the Tobacco Commission. Jerry’s brother Terry has been Chairman of the Tobacco Commission since January, 2010. 18 of the 31 members of the Tobacco Commission are appointed by the Governor.
So the interrelationships become clear — Jerry Kilgore was the Republican Attorney General who had been Bob McDonnell’s predecessor as AG. Jonnie Williams hires Jerry Kilgore to lobby Jerry’s twin brother, Terry, Chairman of the Tobacco Commission, to award grants to study Williams’ pet project, Anatabloc.
As has often been said about Virginia government, what is particularly astonishing is NOT the things that are done that are illegal — it is the things that are done that are perfectly legal.
Jerry Kilgore’s testimony will continue tomorrow morning.
