Aspirant for Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring calls for Justice Department investigation

The plot surrounding the scandal involving Star Scientifics’ CEO, Jonnie Williams Sr., Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, and Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli only thickened on Thursday after Sen. Mark R. Herring (Loudoun) called on the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the relationship between Williams, McDonnell, and Cuccinelli (affectionately known as the love trio).

Sen. Herring, alongside Justin Fairfax, is running as a Democratic candidate for Virginia’s attorney general position. So what a great break for Herring and Fairfax to get such a clear opportunity to capitalize on, at the very least, misconduct unbecoming of elected officials.

In a statement, Herring threw down the legal gauntlet: ““Over the last several days, Virginians have read about the extravagant gifts given to Governor McDonnell and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli by Chief Executive Officer Jonnie Williams and his company Star Scientific, which has business before the state.” You can almost hear the old Batman “Kaboom!” sounds following Herring’s statement.

Herring went on further to say, “The gifts and the cozy relationship between these individuals and this company have raised concerns in Virginians’ minds about what these gifts resulted in. In order to restore the public trust, I am calling for an outside and independent investigation to determine if any legal or ethical lines have been crossed, or if public policy has been influenced in any way.” My only point of departure with Herring’s statement is that right-minded Virginia’s have been concerned about McDonnell and Cuccinelli for some time.

As I discussed before, were we to turn over the rocks embedded in Virginia’s political soil, the “Star Scientific relationships” would probably be more of the norm rather than the exception. While this is merely speculation on my part, I’ll leave it to the well-paid journalists to figure it out in the near future (that is, to prove me right).

For now, however, it’s Cuccinelli and McDonnell under the media’s and the public’s scrutiny. Can you hear the great Don Henley song in the background, “New York Minute”? Well, it just may be that their relationship with William’s may be the end of their political aspirations, at least for a time.

And it all happened so fast, in the blink of an eye. How things can change in an instant and kudos to Sen. Herring (and I’m sure Mr. Fairfax concurs) on bringing this issue further up the legal food chain so that greater justice can have its day.