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| Anatabloc, a supplement from Star Scientific Inc., is at the heart of the McDonnell corruption case. Image: Anatabloc.com |
This
week began the
defense for former Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia and his wife
Maureen. The couple is accused of having
a quid-pro-quo relationship with former Star Scientific CEO Jonnie R. Williams
Sr., who reputedly gave the McDonnells more than $165,000 in return for using
the governor’s office to promote his tobacco-based dietary supplement,
Anatabloc.
The
defense intends to develop the case that the McDonnells’ marriage was in such
dire straights, they could not have worked together on such a scheme, while
federal prosecutors have already painted the couple as broke and willing to
trade on their position for cash and gifts.
McDonnell
himself is set to testify for the defense, but his wife is not.
Witness
testimonies were mixed. A cabinet
secretary for McDonnell testified that she was never instructed to give
preferential treatment to Williams. However,
another secretary stated that he only met with Williams once on McDonnell’s
orders and was not impressed, referring to him as the “Tic-Tac man” because he
was constantly handing out samples of his supplement.
These
reputation-attacking tactics went hand in hand with the prosecution’s tendency
to present McDonnell’s wife Maureen as the primary culprit. She was referred to by witnesses as a
“screaming tyrant” and a “nutbag,” not to mention possibly involved
romantically with Williams. McDonnell,
in contrast, was generally still regarded highly by prosecution witnesses, some
of whom said they would still work for him.
"An
essential part of it is to throw Maureen under the bus. The defense is
portraying her as troubled, irrational, and secretive,” said Robert D. Holsworth, a
former Virginia Commonwealth University political science professor who
attended most of the trial. "They haven't taken a single step to defend
her honor."
If it
can be shown that Maureen McDonnell was primarily responsible for the fraud,
she cannot be convicted, as she herself was not in public office at the time.
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