Ken Cuccinelli, the Tea Party/GOP candidate for governor in Virginia, is struggling to save his campaign from a pair of slow-moving — but unrelenting — scandals that cast doubt upon his character and integrity.
To be clear, neither of these scandals are Whitewater-esque: There really is a “there” there. Cuccinelli really did accept thousands of dollars in gifts from the CEO of Star Scientific. He bought and sold stock in the company, and failed to report the transactions as required by law. He did all of this while holding office as Virginia’s Attorney General. And he did all of this at a time he was legally obligated to defend against a lawsuit Star Scientific filed against the Commonwealth of Virginia.
(As an aside, imagine learning your divorce lawyer concealed that she had accepted thousands of dollars from your ex-spouse while the case was pending. That’s very similar to what we have here.)
CREW Files FEC Complaint Over Coal Company’s Coerced Campaign Donations
While Cuccinelli was literally sleeping in Star Scientific’s bed, he was also using the power of his office to benefit a Pennsylvania coal and gas company, Consol Energy. Beginning in 2010, Cuccinelli (and other lawyers in his office) took steps to help Consol avoid paying coal-bed methane royalties owed to Virginia landowners. Here again, the money trail is damning. Over the first seven years of Cuccinelli’s political career, Consol contributed a total of $3,500 to Cuccinelli’s various campaigns. In contrast, in the three years Cuccinelli has been using his AG office to benefit Consol, they’ve given his campaigns more than $140,000.
One might think that an embattled politician struggling to overcome the headwinds of scandal would be cautious before accepting fat envelopes of cash from extreme and unsavory donors.
Not Cuccinelli.
According to Cuccinelli’s most recent campaign finance filing, his most generous individual contributor (and largest donor after the Republican Governors Association), is (Bob) Murray Energy Corporation. Less than a month ago, on Aug. 27, Cuccinelli took $30,000.
Remember this? Same guy..
So that’s Cuccinelli’s largest individual donor from the last cycle. $30,000 from an extremist billionaire that is funding an Obama impeachment effort, that allegedly extorts money from his low-wage employees, and fires his workforce wholesale in fits of spite when electoral results disappoint him.
In light of the Consol and Star Scientific scandals, Murray’s status as the largest individual donor to Cuccinelli’s campaign should raise questions in Virginia: What does Bob Murray expect in return for his investment? (It’s worth noting that Murray Energy has no mining presence in Virginia.) What promises has Cuccinelli made to Murray Energy and Bob Murray? Does Murray Energy have any pending business before the state of Virginia? Does Bob Murray have any business before the Office of the Attorney General?
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