Monday, September 16, 2013

Tab surrounding ‘food embezzlement’ bigger than originally thought as new attorneys enter fray

The Richmond Times Dispatch said it succinctly, “Tab Grows.” If you’re a tax-paying Virginian (like me) you should be outraged (like me) by the continuous overspending of our money on high-powered legal teams, all in the name of a case about allegedly stolen food.

On July 11, ThompsonMcMullan’s attorney William W. Tunner was hired to act as counsel for the Virginia State Police in handling responses to Freedom of Information Act requests, “or other inquiries, investigations, or proceedings which flow from or are related to” the case involving Mr. Todd Schneider’s food embezzlement case.

In addition to Mr. Tunner’s hiring, attorney William Dinkin of the law firm Stone, Cardwell & Dinkin was hired to represent the Virginia police investigator working on the case against Mr. Schneider and the related federal and state gift probe of Bob McDonnell.

Regardless of who the lawyer or the law firm is in this case, they’re all getting paid more in an hour than what many Virginians make in the course of an eight-hour work day. All of the defendants and suspects in this case deserve a competent counsel, but up to $250 an hour goes far beyond a reasonable amount for taxpayers to spend.

So forgive me if I sound like the case levied against former Executive Mansion chef Todd Schneider is an unimportant affair that does not warrant the kind of legal spending that Virginia’s government has found comfortable dispensing. In the grand scheme of things, Mr. Schneider’s case is not important in terms of what is actually at stake for the people of Virginia. The legal case that could be forthcoming against Gov. 
Bob McDonnell however would be an important case for Virginia.


But Mr. Schneider’s case HAS become important to Virginians because the price-tag for this case continues to run sky-high. It’s a shame that Virginia government officials didn’t get the memo that fragrant spending of taxpayer dollars will no longer be tolerated, especially in economic times of ‘recovery’. 

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