Related: Virginia and the VA
"Jury ends day 2 of talks in ex-Va. governor trial" Associated Press September 04, 2014
RICHMOND — Jurors put in a full day of deliberations Wednesday without reaching a verdict in the public corruption trial of former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen.
They began reviewing five weeks of testimony and scores of exhibits Tuesday afternoon and have now deliberated about 13 hours. They return Thursday morning.
The McDonnells are charged in a 14-count indictment with accepting more than $165,000 in gifts and loans from former Star Scientific Inc. executive Jonnie Williams in exchange for promoting his company’s nutritional supplements.
An expert said jurors feel invested in the case after spending five weeks listening to testimony and are probably taking a methodical approach to deciding each charge.
‘‘Jurors take this job very seriously,’’ said Jill Holmquist, president of the American Society of Trial Consultants.
She said the longer a decision takes, the more disagreement it reflects among jurors.
McDonnell testified that he did not do anything special for Williams in exchange for the gifts and loans. McDonnell said that he arranged meetings for Williams with other government officials but that he did the same thing for countless others seeking the collective ear of the state.
The McDonnells also attended several events promoting Williams’s supposed cure-all, Anatabloc, and hosted an event at the governor’s mansion that Star billed as a product launch. McDonnell said there was nothing out of the ordinary about those events, either.
However, prosecutors emphasized that others who were given access to state officials and a public relations boost by the first couple’s appearance at company events were not simultaneously lavishing the McDonnells with gifts. The haul for the McDonnells included $20,000 in designer clothing and accessories for the then-first lady, a $6,500 Rolex watch for her husband, $15,000 to cover catering for a daughter’s wedding, free vacations and golf outings, and $120,000 in low-interest loans.
Williams testified under immunity that he spent money on the McDonnells to get their help promoting Anatabloc. He also addressed a defense attorney’s claim that Maureen McDonnell had developed a ‘‘crush’’ on him, saying he had no idea she felt that way and that he considered the relationship strictly business.
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"Former Virginia governor, wife convicted of corruption; McDonnell, once rising GOP star, faces prison time" by Trip Gabriel | New York Times September 05, 2014
RICHMOND — Former governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia and his wife, Maureen, were convicted of corruption in federal court Thursday, after a trial that shattered the political career of the one-time Republican star and peeled back the couple’s private life to the bone.
As he was pronounced guilty on 11 counts of conspiracy, bribery, and extortion, Bob McDonnell covered his face with his hands as his head fell nearly to the defense table. His wife, convicted on nine counts, looked straight ahead. There were sobs from the seats behind them where their five adult children and other family members sat.
The seven-man, five-woman jury returned its findings on the third day of deliberations here, in US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Both McDonnells, who now face years in prison, were acquitted of lesser charges of making false statements on loan applications. Maureen McDonnell was convicted on a charge she alone faced, of obstructing a grand jury investigation by trying to make a gift of $20,000 worth of designer dresses and shoes appear to have been a loan.
The verdict provided an emphatic coda to a trial that began with an investigation of the McDonnells’ acceptance of a Rolex, Armani dresses, free trips, and other luxuries, and turned into a cringe-inducing, tabloid drama of marital strife.
“This is a difficult, disappointing day for the commonwealth,” said Dana J. Boente, the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, whose office prosecuted the McDonnells. “When public officials turn to financial gain for official actions, we have little choice but to prosecute the case.”
Asked whether Bob McDonnell would appeal, his lawyer, Henry W. Asbill, said, “Of course,” adding that he was “shocked” by the verdict.
Over the six-week trial,McDonnell, 60, offered a few upbeat words as he entered and left the courthouse each day. His reaction upon the first utterance of “guilty” around 3 p.m. suggested he was stunned.
The McDonnells were indicted on 14 counts stemming from what prosecutors said was a scheme to sell the office of governor for $177,000 in gifts and cash from a dietary supplements executive.
Limited by law to one term as governor, Bob McDonnell, who left office in January, was in the mix as a possible running mate for Mitt Romney in 2012 and was highly popular in Virginia until his career cratered with the corruption investigation. The case rattled the entire state’s political class, which had never had a governor indicted.
While other governors around the country have faced corruption charges in recent years, none of those cases unfolded in the national glare like the McDonnell melodrama. That glare was magnified because the unexpected defense of the former governor — elected as a social conservative and an exemplar of traditional family values — was that his picture-perfect marriage was a sham.
Bob McDonnell, who carried his wife over the threshold of the executive mansion the day of his inauguration, portrayed her in his testimony as a harridan whose yelling left him “spiritually and mentally exhausted.”
The defense used the self-debasing portrait to argue that the McDonnells were too estranged to conspire criminally to trade favors with the vitamin executive, Jonnie R. Williams Sr.
The jury, which heard 67 witnesses over five weeks, had the task of deciding whether gifts from Williams and Bob McDonnell’s actions on his behalf over two years added up to bribery and extortion.
At issue was whether the McDonnells accepted the largesse with corrupt intent.
They were not forbidden under Virginia ethics laws from taking $120,000 in undocumented loans from Williams, nor the goodies he bestowed — including a golf bag for the governor, Louis Vuitton shoes for his wife, and a $15,000 check for their daughter’s wedding at a time the couple owed $31,000 on their credit cards and were hemorrhaging money on beachfront property.
The defense argued that actions Bob McDonnell took on behalf of Williams’s company, Star Scientific, the maker of Anatabloc, were merely political courtesies.
But prosecutors argued that McDonnell’s actions followed so closely after Williams’s gifts that they were strong circumstantial evidence of a corrupt bargain. At one point, McDonnell e-mailed an aide to come see him about “Anatabloc issues” just six minutes after discussing a $50,000 loan with Williams.
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My whole read on this is McDonnell had to be removed from contention in 2016 for whatever reason. Only reason he was busted and only reason trial was covered so much by muh paper.
"Maduro replaces Venezuela’s longtime oil chief" by Fabiola Sanchez and Joshua Goodman | Associated Press September 04, 2014
CARACAS — President Nicolas Maduro has replaced Venezuela’s longtime oil boss and economic czar, sidelining the most prominent voice within his administration for pragmatic reforms to tackle a deep economic crisis.
Rafael Ramirez had served as oil minister and president of the state-run oil giant PDVSA for more than a decade, earning a reputation as a loyal servant of the late Hugo Chavez’s socialist revolution. He saw his power within the government expand dramatically a year ago when Maduro tapped him as vice president for economic policy, giving him effective oversight of everything from the country’s foreign currency reserves to the price of gasoline.
As part of what Maduro called a new assignment, Ramirez was designated foreign minister and given a newly created position of vice president for political sovereignty.
Maduro’s Cabinet shuffle Tuesday night was widely anticipated after his ministers collectively offered their resignations two weeks ago.
Asdrubal Chavez, an engineer and cousin of the late president, will step in as oil minister, while current Finance Minister Rodolfo Marco Torres will be top economic policy maker.
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Decide for yourself whether the Venezuela coverage has been good or not.
This scandal has pretty much faded along with all the other Obummer scandals. Congress appropriated money so problem solved. Forget they real rea$ons for the scandal in the first place:
"Veterans watchdog: VA managers lied about delays" by Matthew Daly | Associated Press September 10, 2014
WASHINGTON — Managers at more than a dozen Veterans Affairs medical facilities lied to federal investigators about scheduling practices and other issues, a government watchdog said Tuesday.
Richard Griffin, the VA’s acting inspector general, said his office is investigating allegations of wrongdoing at 93 VA sites across the country, including 12 reports that have been completed and submitted to the VA for review.
‘‘The rest are very much active,’’ Griffin told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on Tuesday. Griffin’s office has been investigating VA hospitals and clinics across the country following reports of widespread delays that forced veterans in need of medical care to wait months for appointments.
Investigators have said efforts to cover up or hide the delays were systemic throughout the agency’s network of nearly 1,000 hospitals and clinics.
So that promotions and bonuses could be paid on time.
While incomplete, Griffin provided the panel with a snapshot of the results so far.
Managers at 13 facilities lied to investigators about scheduling problems and other issues, he said, and officials at 42 of the 93 sites engaged in manipulation of scheduling, including 19 sites where appointments were canceled and then rescheduled for the same day to meet on-time performance goals.
Sixteen facilities used paper waiting lists for patients instead of an electronic waiting list as required, Griffin said.
Easier to cover up and leave no trail.
Lying to a federal investigator is a crime, although Griffin said no one at the VA has been charged.
That is this government all over.
The FBI and Justice Department are investigating allegations of wrongdoing at the Phoenix VA and other sites.
Translation: cover-ups in progress.
Griffin was testifying on an investigative report by his office on delays in patient care at the troubled Phoenix veterans’ hospital, where a whistle-blower first exposed long delays and falsified waiting lists. A resulting scandal led to the ouster of former VA secretary Eric Shinseki in the spring.
Shinseki falling on his sword not enough.
The Aug. 26 report said workers at a Phoenix VA hospital falsified waiting lists while their supervisors looked the other way or even directed it, resulting in chronic delays for veterans seeking care. The inspector general’s office identified 40 patients who died while awaiting appointments in Phoenix, but the report said officials could not ‘‘conclusively assert that the absence of timely quality care caused the deaths of these veterans.’’
But at least the admini$trative bonuses got paid on time!
Investigators identified 28 patients who experienced ‘‘clinically significant delays in care’’ that negatively affected them, Griffin said. Of those patients, six died, he said.
In addition, the report identified 17 patients who received poor care that was not related to delays or scheduling problems, Griffin said. Of those patients, 14 died.
Three high-ranking officials at the Phoenix facility have been placed on leave while they appeal a department decision to fire them.
I think they should have to go fight Obama's wars.
Griffin said the report by his office provides the VA with ‘‘a major impetus to re-examine the entire process of setting performance expectations for its leaders and managers.’’
Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald called the report troubling and said the agency has begun working on remedies recommended by the report.
‘‘I sincerely apologize to all veterans who experienced unacceptable delays in receiving care at the Phoenix facility and across the country,’’ McDonald said Tuesday.
That's make it all better. It's never too late to apologize or say your sorry.
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