Sentencing for former GOP Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell was handed down this afternoon by a federal judge. He could have seen 20 years in prison, the government wanted at least 10 years, the judge limited the maximum to 6 1/2 to 8 years, and Bob here ended up with 2 years prison and 2 years probation.
For hour upon hour before sentence was passed, the court heard accounts of Mr. McDonnell’s good works, and the judge said they were a mitigating factor. But, he said: “A price must be paid. It breaks my heart.”
Nearly 450 people, including Mr. McDonnell’s relatives and their friends, had written letters seeking leniency to Judge Spencer. Some spoke of the former governor’s generosity with the homeless. Others noted his devotion to the Roman Catholic Church. Still others said he had always taken care to notice the lowest rungs of the political ladder during campaigns.
Most striking were the letters from Mr. McDonnell’s family members. One daughter, Jeanine McDonnell Zubowsky, wrote to Judge Spencer blaming her mother, Maureen McDonnell, who was also convicted of various charges and is to be sentenced in late February.
Ms. McDonnell “has always been concerned about getting discounts or freebies,” Ms. Zubowsky wrote.
“This was one of the main reasons she would not communicate with him,” she said. “She hid her coordination with people for free or discounted things or services, and she didn’t communicate with my dad because she knew he would not approve.”
Ms. Zubowsky offered another reason for leniency, noting that she is to give birth to his grandchild soon.
As Leo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort said in “Wolf of Wall Street” after being sentenced and facing the prospect of actual prison, “Then I remembered. I’m rich.”
McDonnell’s angling to stay out of prison on bond pending appeal, so who knows if he’ll even go to jail. Bonus points too for McDonnell’s daughter freely throwing her own mother under the Virginia Department of Corrections bus to save dear ol’ dad. Mrs. McDonnell’s sentencing is February 20th, by the way.
That’s going to be a fun hearing, I think.
Barbara
No fan of the governor but I anticipated that he would receive 2-3 years in prison. If his actions had harmed specific individuals (like the Pennsylvania judges who incarcerated juveniles in exchange for bribes) he would have gotten a lot more. Likewise, if his actions had resulted in the specific diversion of state funds to Williams (as happened in the Phil Hamilton case) he also would have gotten a lot more time. That’s my take on the whole situation. Federal prisons are crowded and we are seeing pretty modest sentences for non-violent offenses without required minimums when these kinds of plus factors are not present.
Amir Khalid
Does “two years” mean a year, and then time off for good behaviour?
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid:
Federal prisoners serve 85% of their sentence.
Doug r
Must be new sentencing guidelines. Thanks Obama!
Elizabelle
I think 3 years would have been a more responsible sentence than 2 (the guy was Attorney General, no less), but even 2 is double what Transvaginal Bob turned down.
He was thanking the Lord Jesus Christ as he finished his public, post-sentencing remarks.
Reports to prison February 9. He won’t be at Maureen’s sentencing.
mai naem mobile
@Barbara: Don Siegelman didn’t harm people either and he got 7 years in a federal prison, which seemed intentionally to be at a facility far from his family and they took him in shackles right after the trial. At his appeal a couple of weeks ago, he asked for the handcuffs to be removed so he could write notes, being that he had been a lawyer, and the prosecution objected because that wouldn’t be following protocol.
Svensker
Eric Garner got shot dead for selling loosies but, hey, talking bout white privilege is a racist trope.
raven
@Svensker: He wasn’t shot,
ruemara
I’m rather liking what China does to officials convicted of corruption.
Amir Khalid
@Svensker:
Eric Garner wasn’t shot, he was strangled.
Barry
@ruemara: “I’m rather liking what China does to officials convicted of corruption.”
Except that it’s almost certain that those people fall into two categories –
1) Schmucks who had to be used as an example so that the their more corrupt higher-ups could look honest.
2) Very occasionally, some higher-up who lost a political battle, in a terminal fashion.
Randy Khan
I’m not surprised, even if I think a longer sentence would have been more appropriate. Personally, I doubt he ends up reporting to jail before his appeal, so maybe he’ll be there to see what happens to the woman he threw under the bus. (She apparently was there for him today, but I wouldn’t count on such a gracious act on his part, particularly since he’s already been sentenced and it won’t help him in any way.) It will be something of a travesty of justice if she gets a longer sentence than him, as she wasn’t the one elected and given the public trust, but I have a suspicioin that’s exactly what’s going to happen.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Barry: I did business there for several years. I can vouch for the veracity of your statements.
China is essentially one big pile of corruption all the way to the very top. Don’t pretend that what the Chinese do is any form of justice. The person who gets shot is usually guilty of nothing more than participating in the system, or not giving his full cut to his boss.
When they execute their first-ever general, you’ll know that they’ve finally gotten serious about corruption. Not until then.
Villago Delenda Est
This vile shitstain should languish in a cell FOREVER.
Villago Delenda Est
@Elizabelle:
This crap alone should merit summary execution.
Barbara
@mai naem mobile: The reason the sentencing guidelines were put in place was to try to lessen the disparity between sentences for similar offenses. Now that they are advisory judges can go back to incorporating random factors into the sentence. I am not as familiar with the Siegelman case, so I don’t want to comment too much, except that the trend of lighter sentences has definitely picked up in the last few years. There is definitely unfairness in sentencing, my point is that I am not surprised, and I thought the prosecutor was overreaching in its legal arguments regarding perjury and the “value” of the offense. Phil Hamilton was sentenced by a judge in the same district to 9-1/2 years in prison for public corruption — however, as I alluded to above, he was able to manipulate legislation so that the state paid him a salary out of state funds that were allocated to the university that hired him (the funds were contingent on him being hired).
Elizabelle
WaPost graphic on sentences for politicians. McDonnell’s is way lenient. The strangest part is the 6.5 to 8 year guidelines, and the sentence comes in at a quarter of minimum. Hello?? Even three years (almost half of minimum) would be more proper. The guy was Attorney General.
NYTimes and WaPost commenters saying sentence was too lenient. Prosecutor apparently left the courtroom looking very angry.
Roger Moore
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
This. Some of my coworkers are the children of party officials, and housing prices in nearby cities are well above their 2007 highs because of an influx of Chinese money. All the officials who can are parking cash and family members overseas where they’re beyond the reach of the Chinese courts. Some of that is that they’re genuinely corrupt, and any justice system worth its name would be coming after it. More of it is that they never know when they’re going to be served up as an example.
Elizabelle
And a Washingtonian magazine article on the chef who spilled the McDonnells’ improper acceptance of gifts and a wedding reception.
Be nice to the help.
Barbara
@Randy Khan: I don’t know about that. I read the live feed from the Washington Post and the judge noted that those who were blaming it all on McDonnell’s wife were “dangerously delusional,” rather strong words, because although she might have invited the viper into the house, it was the governor who allowed him to become involved in his business and financial affairs. I am guessing she will get the same or a slightly lighter sentence. The fact that so many have characterized her as having significant mental health issues that her husband basically ignored might actually be a factor in favor of a lighter sentence for her, in addition to the fact that she was not an elected official.
Just Some Fuckhead
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Elizabelle
@Barbara: What Barbara said.
I have some small sympathy for Transvag Bob — pretty obvious his wife has the grabs (Richmond Times Disgrace reported this week she’d asked an NFL quarterback for money “and don’t tell Bob” 25 years ago) BUT once it became apparent what she’d put into play, he needed to show some ethics and disclose/refuse the gifts.
He did not. Maybe he figured he was already damned, and that it was unlikely the misdeeds would ever come to light. But he did not; he bought into the scam. He scammed on his own. He was up on a bank fraud charge.
Interesting to me that someone touted as a bright GOP prospect (for president, yet) cannot manage his own family finances and is such a crappy lawyer.
Their party.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Barbara: Rod Blagojevich, 14 years. There’s accountability for corruption, just hardly ever any accountability for Republicans.
gene108
So the McDonnell clan are big Shakespeare fans? They seem to have internalized one of the themes from Macbeth.
Amir Khalid
I haz a confused. I am not a lawyer, but my belief was that “mitigating factors” had to do with the circumstances/context of the crime that might make it less heinous, rather than the convicted person’s general conduct apart from the crime.
Randy Khan
@Barbara: We’ll see, and I freely admit I have no inside knowledge at all here. She just doesn’t seem to have nearly as many people in her corner as the Governor, which perhaps explains a lot of what happened in the first place.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Elizabelle: Beautiful. There’s some people in my office who need to read this, but the ones who need to take a lesson from that story are the ones who never will.
geg6
Not at all surprising, but I’m just happy he got some time. He was crying and pleading for probation and I was completely convinced he’d get it. He’s gonna serve time and that’s always a good thing for assholes like this.
eemom
Fuck this shit. Scumbag.
Disappointed in that judge. From the way he presided over the trial I thought he was better than this.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Svensker:
If Eric Garner had been selling Star Scientific diet supplements, he coulda been Governor.
Kidding, he woulda still been kilt daid!
Elizabelle
@eemom:
The light sentence surprised me too. Was not expecting 6 or 7 years — incarceration is expensive and you don’t want people feeling sorry for their convict gov — but 24 months is too lenient.
Seemed out of character for the judge, and people are fussing about a double standard for the wealthy and well-connected. He served himself up for that.
Mandalay
Is appealing a two-edged sword?….does McDonnell risk getting hit with a longer sentence from his appeal, or would the prosecution have to make their own appeal for that to happen?
Villago Delenda Est
@Elizabelle: There are multiple standards of “justice” in this country.
If your skin is dark, the book is thrown at you…assuming you weren’t killed prior to trial.
If your skin is white, we’ll probably let you stand trial.
If you’re white and your income is high enough, particularly from a trust fund, we’ll slap you on the wrist Gently.
Barbara
@Mandalay: It could happen but it’s unlikely. @Elizabelle: The chef angle is even more unbelievable when you consider that it was one of McDonnell’s kids, probably Jeanine, who alerted the authorities that he was taking food. It explains why Jeanine is rabidly blaming her mother — she certainly won’t blame herself for the fall out of turning the chef in for what was small beer, forgive the pun, compared to what the McDonnells were siphoning off from Williams.
Mandalay
@Elizabelle:
But…..but…….but…..”He’s been punished enough,” Speaker William J. Howell of the Virginia House of Delegates said in court testimony.
Leave Bob alooooooooooooone!
Mike in NC
What’s next for Bob when he is set free? A lucrative job on K Street or Wall Street? A run for the US Senate? VP candidate in 2020?
There’s no downside if you’re a Republican lawbreaker.
Lavocat
We have no idea why the average American has ZERO faith in both the criminal justice system and Congress.
My guess is that Bobby will receive his Get Out Of Jail Free card and then win on appeal.
HOOCOODANODE!?
And all it will take will be connections and cold hard cash – the American way.
Lavocat
@Villago Delenda Est: Where you been? It’s right there in the Constitution. Somewhere in the back.
Lavocat
@eemom: I was shocked, too. Just like I’ll be shocked that the sun will rise tomorrow.
Hal
It’s disgusting how this family keeps blaming the mother. There was ample evidence that McDonnell was all in on receiving these gifts and was no way in the dark on what was going on. That daughter should be ashamed of herself. Not that Mcdonnell’s wife is innocent, but trying to pin all of this on the crazy wife who just can’t seem to stop spending her husbands money is ridiculous.
Lavocat
@Amir Khalid: Normally, you’d be correct – unless the defendant was rich, white, and male. Also gotta love the fact that he made sure to thank the all-powerful Jesus. I heard him say this on NPR. I was laughing so hard I had to pull to the side of the road. What a fucking douchebag this guy is.
Tyro
@Barbara: and not only that, but the daughter herself was carting off food from the kitchen in large quantities. If anything it was in the kids’ best interest to tell the chef, “I won’t talk if you won’t,” but they could get over the idea of the help doing better than they were.
Barbara
@Hal: It is disgusting. Maureen McDonnell seems like someone who was trying to fill an emotional void with material things, but her husband’s career soaked up all of his time without paying him a lot, hence, the search for sugar daddies. It’s both creepy and pathetic.
David Koch
@Barbara: So how did Blagojevich get a 14 year sentence – he didn’t hurt anyone and no money was ever exchanged?
Tree With Water
@Elizabelle: Maybe those prosecutors will take a cue from the NYPD and slow down.
McDonnell got off light because crime pays if you’re a republican politician. Never forget, those people and that party plotted and unleashed a war for profit a mere decade ago; incredibly, they were not held to account for that treason. They write law and flout it at will, and they take care of their own.
RSA
I wonder if Jeb Bush will weigh in:
mellowjohn
meanwhile, my former governor – Federal Prisoner 40892-424 – got 14 years for shopping a Senate seat around.
while i was never a big fan (full disclosure: i voted for him twice because of the idiots the Rs put up against him), i gotta say BLAGO GOT SCREWED.
Shana
@Barbara: To remind folks: While the chef was accused of taking food, he insisted that it was in partial payment for catering jobs he had done that was outside the scope of his regular duties as the governor’s chef. This is where the fact that Williams paid for the catering for the daughter’s wedding reception first came out.
Chris T.
He’s a member of the right club, you can’t send him to jail!
/sarcasm
Theodore Wirth
Not going to be fun as I am reminded that the death penalty can be administered on the spot under suspicion of selling loosies.