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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