Like any good soap opera, Virginia’s Giftgate scandal only grows more interesting as time goes on.

The latest twist is that in early November, Attorney General Kenneth N. Cuccinelli II apparently sent a letter to Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Herring asking him to investigate whether Gov. Robert F. McDonnell violated state gift and disclosure laws.

The matter involves an undisclosed $15,000 payment by Jonnie R. Williams Sr., head of dietary-supplement-maker Star Scientific, for McDonnell’s daughter’s wedding meal in June 2011. State law requires disclosure of all such gifts worth more than $50.

What’s especially interesting is the timing. Apparently, the Cuccinelli’s office learned of the disclosure issue involving McDonnell in March 2012. Why did he wait about so long to do something?

It gets even more intriguing. The disclosure came from Todd Schneider, McDonnell’s former executive chef who faces felony theft charges at the center of this tangled affair. According to The Post, Schneider approached Cuccinelli’s office in March 2012 with information about the wedding gift. McDonnell later said that he did not disclose the gift because it had been intended for his daughter. At the time he went to Cuccinelli, Schneider had already been fired as the governor’s chef.

It is curious that Cuccinelli apparently waited seven months — from March until November — to seek some resolution of Schneider’s allegations. Was it because Cuccinelli himself was up to his eyeballs in gifts and apparent conflicts with Williams? He had accepted $13,000 in gifts from Star Scientific, including a free lake-house vacation, and had owned stock in the company, which he has since sold.

Did the November elections had anything to do with the timing?

Since then, Cuccinelli has asked to recuse himself from a number of legal matters in connection with the case, including representing the state in a tax case involving Williams and other matters.

Meanwhile, the FBI is reportedly investigating whether McDonnell performed any improper service for Williams in exchange for gifts. McDonnell’s wife, Maureen, had attended events in Virginia and other states to promote Star Scientific products.

What’s next?

Peter Galuszka blogs at Bacon’s Rebellion. The Local Blog Network is a group of bloggers from around the D.C. region who have agreed to make regular contributions to All Opinions Are Local.

Virginia and Maryland changed their gas taxes this year. Both proposals included weeks or months of debate, including public hearings before the legislature. The District made a similar change yesterday. The total time from the first news story about it to final vote? Less than a day.

In D.C.’s budget process, the mayor releases a proposed budget. Various council committees hold hearings over a period of weeks on their portions of the budget. Committee chairs then schedule markups, and just before the markups, release a draft of what they plan to change.

If the committee approves the changes, they all go to the council chairman, who then tries to assemble them into a budget. Habitually, the chairman releases his own budget late the night before the council is set to vote on the budget. If unexpected changes come up, that gives little time for residents to contact their council members.

When then-Chairman Vincent Gray decided to cut streetcar funding in 2010, for instance, most council members found out that morning. In a very short time, we, other blogs, residents using social media, and others were able to spread the word, which drove 1,000 calls to the chairman’s office in just three hours. Even so, it wasn’t in time to stop the council from cutting the streetcar program. Instead, after lunch, they had to take a separate vote to restore the funding.

[Continue reading David Alpert’s post at Greater Greater Washington.]

David Alpert is founder and editor of Greater Greater Washington. The Local Blog Network is a group of bloggers from around the D.C. region who have agreed to make regular contributions to All Opinions Are Local.

The District routinely bids public land out to private companies. Instead of money, the city demands amenities such as affordable housing, workforce development or a library. Sometimes, these deals work well. Sometimes, they’re just a bad deal, or developers renege on promises.

WAMU reporters Patrick Madden and Julie Patel have been delving into this issue in a series this week. Their Tuesday and Wednesday installments look at the ways public land deals and subsidies can go wrong.

Their week-long series frames the issue around the inappropriate influence of money in politics. If campaign donors get a leg up in the competition for deals, that is a serious problem, and good for Madden and Patel for giving it attention. However, campaign cash is only one of several possible reasons these deals can turn out bad. At the same time, they can also bring valuable benefits as well.

[Continue reading David Alpert’s post at Greater Greater Washington.]

David Alpert is founder and editor of Greater Greater Washington. The Local Blog Network is a group of bloggers from around the D.C. region who have agreed to make regular contributions to All Opinions Are Local.

Here is a link to a piece from Sunday’s Post on the various campaigns and their use (and misuse) of social media. It went to press before the GOP convention on Saturday, so it doesn’t capture what has happened since Saturday’s GOP convention. A couple of items worth noting:

1. Both Virginia and national Democrats were laying into EW Jackson on social media long before the last convention ballot. And within moments of his nomination, they were busy establishing the narrative that Jackson was a dangerous lunatic doomed to sink the entire GOP ticket. Contrast this with the cancellation of the media availability after the convention for the entire ticket. There are probably very good reasons for why the availability did not occur. But on press row, it looked and smelled like panic.

2. However, the GOP is beginning to pull itself together and develop a coordinated rapid response. They have the opportunity to turn the tables on Democrats with the June 11 primary, when the nominees for lieutenant governor and attorney general are chosen. I suspect they will have some real fun with those results…

[Continue reading Norman Leahy’s post at Bearing Drift.]

Norman Leahy blogs at Bearing Drift. The Local Blog Network is a group of bloggers from around the D.C. region who have agreed to make regular contributions to All Opinions Are Local.

Last week, I was invited to attend a concert at Evermay as part of the S&R Foundation’s Overtures series. While the music of classical guitarist Soichi Muraji was highly enjoyable and the ostensible point of the evening, the surroundings of Evermay can’t help but steal the show.

The S&R Foundation was set up by two Georgetowners, Dr. Sachiko Kuno and Dr. Ryuji Ueno. The husband and wife team made a fortune with their bio-med company Sucampo. The private couple splashed across the news several years ago when they bought the long-listed (and coveted) Evermay and Halcyon House estates.

The landmark historic Evermay Estate sited on over 3.5 acres in the heart of Georgetown. (Stuart Estler) Instead of living in these massive properties, they’ve converted them into use for their worthy foundation, which is focused on “support[ing] talented individuals with great potential and high aspirations in the sciences and arts, especially those who are furthering international cultural collaboration.” Music is a key objective of the foundation, and it began hosting concert series at Evermay last year.

I had heard good things about the series, but had not until last week attended a concert. And it is really quite an experience.

[Continue reading Topher Mathews’s post here at The Georgetown Metropolitan.]

Topher Mathews blogs at The Georgetown Metropolitan . The Local Blog Network is a group of bloggers from around the D.C. region who have agreed to make regular contributions to All Opinions Are Local.