Virginia taxpayers just paid a quarter of a million dollars on a criminal case about food theft

If Gov. Bob McDonnell’s former chef, Todd Schneider, actually did ‘embezzle food’, regardless of the reason, it can’t be more than a drop in the bucket compared to the ‘legal’ fees that McDonnell’s all-star teams of attorneys have cost the taxpayers of Virginia. And notice, dear reader, that I said “teams of attorneys,” not “team.”

According to the latest sludge report about Gov. McDonnell and his legal lieutenant, the Virginia Attorney General’s Office retained a second law firm in the criminal case against Todd Schneider, Baker & McKenzie, that has sent the taxpayers a $100,000 bill, so far.  

And in their infinite concern for Virginia’s money, the first law firm that was retained to defend Gov. Bob McDonnell, Eckert Seamans, has billed the taxpayers $143,598. If this were Gov. Barack Obama, half of the state (more or less) would be screaming for the governor’s immediate resignation!

According to the AG’s Office spokesman, Brian J. Gottstein, “the Attorney General’s Office had two roles in the Todd Schneider embezzlement case: one as the prosecutor of Todd Schneider and one as counsel to potential witnesses in the case acting in their official state capacity — the governor and his staff.”

While I can’t argue that the attorney general made the wrong move to hire independent legal counsels to pursue the prosecution of former Executive Mansion chef Todd Schneider, what I am arguing is that the attorney general and his office did a poor job of “bargain shopping” for a well-priced and competent set of legal teams.

It is up to AG Ken Cuccinelli to explain why the case against Schneider will most likely run over the half-million dollar mark before the case is all said and done. While the AG’s campaign for governor has stressed economic frugality, Cuccinelli has shown little restraint in throwing away thousands of dollars on a case that, frankly, doesn’t mean a whole lot to the proverbial Virginian on the street.

This latest story of hypocrisy on the part of McDonnell and Cuccinelli once again illustrates a major reason why Ken Cuccinelli was dead in the water from the word “go” when he entered the race for governor and another reason why McDonnell should resign his position as governor of our state. Then again, who knows, maybe Virginians will get billed for McDonnell’s resignation party, too.