Christian Activist Group Demands Criminal Probe of Jerry Falwell Jr.

This blog has previously noted stories concerning Jerry Falwell, Jr.'s possible use of Liberty University's assets to enrich himself, his family and friends - especially two young and very attractive young men - who have received sweetheart deals worth millions of dollars. Now, Falwell finds himself with a liberal Christian activist organization calling on the IRS - which polices non-profits spinning off wealth to corporate board members and officers - and Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring to investigate Falwell and the potential misuse and misappropriation of Liberty University assets. In the process, the organization also accuses Falwell of un-Christian conduct and perverting the Christian message.  Frankly, Falwell business transactions involving Liberty assets would seem to deserve a thorough investigation. NBC News looks at the continuing scandal following Falwell.  Here are story excerpts:

An activist Christian group has launched a petition drive to get the Virginia Attorney General’s office and the IRS to open criminal investigations into Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr.

So far Faithful America has collected 10,875 signatures and hopes to reach their goal of 15,000 by this weekend.

“The response has been great so far, more than we expected,” said Rev. Nathan Empsall, the organization’s Campaigns Director. “But that shouldn't come as a surprise given how fed up so many Christians are with the way Falwell and others have hijacked the Gospel to represent their hypocritical own self-interests rather than Christ's teachings of love and justice.”

The drive comes in the wake of exposés by Politico, The Miami Herald and other news outlets which have accused Falwell of, among other things, using the influential and ultra-conservative Christian college to enrich himself and his cronies.

Falwell is also alleged to have engaged in activities that run counter to the Christian college’s ethos like sharing photos of his wife, Becki, in French maid costume with employees, graphically describing their sex life, and drinking and dancing in Miami Beach nightspots.

Empsall, who is also a priest associate at the Episcopal Church of St. Paul & St. James in New Haven, Connecticut, said Faithful America has been critical of Falwell before “when he’s made, for example, anti-Islamic statements.”

“The difference is now we are calling for a criminal investigation because there has been this snowball of stories that point out that there is a potential pattern of criminal self-dealing at Liberty University,” he said. “We’ve always known this guy is an extremist and a hypocrite and he should face social consequences for that. This is the first time we’re calling for legal consequences.”

NBC News has reached out to Liberty University spokesman Scott Lamb and Liberty University Board of Trustees chairman Dr. Jerry Prevo for a response.

Faithful America is a left-of-center group that was founded in 2004 and affiliated with the National Council of Churches of Christ.

Previously, it launched a petition drive demanding the resignation of Franklin Graham from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for “preaching hatred and Trumpism” and another urging publisher HarperCollins to drop Focus on the Family founder James Dobson “for his discrimination against women, immigrants, and the LGBT community.”

Washington Post: Virginia Attorney General Race Should End with Recount

A number of posts on this blog have looked at the conjecture that failed GOP candidate Mark Obenshain might try to steal the Attorney General Race by throwing the contest into the GOP dominated Virginia General Assembly.  Even conservative Bearing Drift blog has opposed such a move as have numerous newspaper editorials around Virginia.  The Washington Post has joined this list as the first day of the recount saw Mark Herring's lead increase.  Here are editorial highlights:

A RECOUNT is under way to determine the winner of last month’s stupefyingly tight election for attorney general in Virginia. Whether the victor is state Sen. Mark R. Herring (D-Loudoun) or state Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg), both men should declare now, before results are announced by week’s end, that they will respect the outcome.

That seems so modest a proposition that we are abashed at having to argue its merits. It amounts to embracing the idea that candidates must respect the will of the voters, a convention sanctified by U.S. history, tradition, consensus and law.

Mr. Obenshain trailed Mr. Herring by 165 votes (out of 2.2 million cast) when the State Board of Elections certified the results on Nov. 25; that margin widened Monday, the first day of the recount, to 185 after a fraction of the ballots were reviewed. The trouble is that Mr. Obenshain has maneuvered to leave himself wiggle room for a challenge even if the recount confirms that he has lost. That would be a gross error.

If the General Assembly were to overturn the result of the recount in the absence of egregious evidence of fraud or malfeasance, it would amount to the nullification of the democratic process. That would be so whether it was done by the Republicans, who now control the legislature, or the Democrats, who have controlled it in the recent past and may again in the future.

No evidence supports his insinuations. There is no sign that oddities cited by the Obenshain camp — some ballots submitted late to the clerk’s office; others cast by voters who went to the wrong polling station or showed up without identification — amount to anything approaching electoral fraud or wrongdoing. To all appearances, the Republicans have been picking at nits. That’s par for the course in any recount. What’s important, though, is that the recount, once finished, should be the final word.

The big problem today is that the GOP no longer believes in democracy.  Instead, its base of extremists, religious zealots and white supremacists want to impose their toxic beliefs and policies on all citizens.  It is a frightening development.  

Herring Ad Highlights What VA Newspapers Are Saying About Mark Obenshain

Earlier I wrote about GOP Attorney General candidates lies and conniption fits about Mark Herring's ads that highlight Obenshain's true record.   And that record has been published by leading newspapers around Virginia, so it is not just something that has been fabricated by the Herring campaign.  I will be candid.  I have no use whatsoever for liars and hypocrites.  Obenshain's documented history shows that he is an extremist who is out to keep Virginia's women a subservient class that lacks the right to make decisions relating to their own bodies.  His reaction and despicable ad claiming that Mark Herring is "lying" about Obenshain's record confirms that the liar in this picture is Obenshain.  When he was backing all of these extreme, anti-women bills and proposed amendments, perhaps Obenshain should have though how those outside of his far right senate district would view his actions.   Blue Virginia quotes the Herring campaign on its effort to expose the real Mark Obenshain:

"Our latest ad highlights what news organizations are saying about Mark Obenshain - that he is going to continue Ken Cuccinelli's ideological agenda, focused on telling women what they can and can't do with their bodies," said Kevin O'Holleran, campaign manager for Democratic candidate for Attorney General Mark Herring. "Virginians are tired of the extreme Tea Party approach of Mark Obenshain and Ken Cuccinelli. Mark Herring will take the politics out of the office and put the law - and Virginians - first."

One can only assume that Obenshain believes that Virginian's are so stupid that they will believe his false shrieks of "lies" when his track record and extreme agenda is in full view for anyone who makes even a slight effort to check it out.  Obenshain is nasty individual and sadly an all too typical "godly Christian" liar.

A Successful Event for Mark Herring - Moving Virginia Foreward

L to R: Yours truly, Mark Herring and the Vice President of on Democrat Party of Virginia

Today was an extreme busy day, the highlight of which was an event that the boyfriend and I hosted at our home for Democrat Attorney General Candidate Mark Herring.  No matter what the issue, Mark Herring is on the future facing side of the issue while his opponent Mark Obenshain wants to drag Virginia back to a mythical 1950's era that never really existed.  And to the extent that Obenshain's vision of the 1950's did exist, it was a time of subjugation and inferiority for far too many people, particularly gays, women and non-whites.

Once the crowd left the event, it was a quick dinner with friends visiting from out of town at the Hampton Yacht Club and then back home to finish the clean up from the political event,  Tomorrow we leave on a cruise to the Bahamas and neither of us has packed the first piece of clothing!  As always, I will be paying for satellite Internet to tend to things at the law firm and to post as often as possible on this blog.

Democrats Launch Attack Ad Against Cuccinelli

This blog has looked at the highly unusual and unexplained situation where a staff attorney of the Virginia Attorney General's office was offering legal assistance and advise to two energy companies being sued by Virginia residents for allegedly cheating them out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in gas royalties.  The litigation is private litigation and does not involve the Commonwealth of Virginia or any state agencies.  Hence, there is no outward reason for the AG office's involvement.  Or is there? One of the energy company is an affiliate of a company that donated over $114,000 to Ken Cuccinelli's gubernatorial campaign.  Quite appropriately, the Democrat National Committee is running an ad asking that this matter be investigated.  The ad is above.

As noted before, I am well acquainted with the oil and gas industry and was with a large law firm with an extensive oil and gas practice and worked on lease litigation and royalty disputes.  I also was in-house counsel for a large oil company.  I know of nothing from this background that would justify the Attorney General's office being involved in a private lawsuit over leases and royalty payments.  Absolutely nothing.   Nothing that is other than a pay back to a large campaign contributor.  Cuccinelli is a menace and must be defeated in November.   

Washington Post Slam's Cuccinelli's Plan to Campaign at Taxpayer's Expense

For six decades with one exception - who also was a Republican for the record - Virginia Attorney Generals have resigned from office once they announce they candidacy for governor. The reasoning is simple: (1) it avoids any appearance of conflict of interest in the performance of one's duties as top attorney for the Commonwealth and (2) it avoids making taxpayers subsidize one's political campaign since the reality, the campaign will preempt the performance of one's paid duties (Mark Earley, a former law partner of mine, was AG and later ran for governor, so I know first hand the time demands of such a campaign). In short, resigning from office is the honorable and ethical thing to do. Which is exactly why Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli has said he will not follow the 60 year tradition. As with most Christianist extremists, Kookinelli talks alot about ethics and concern for taxpayers, but his actions tell the real story. The Washington Post is rightly appalled at Kookinelli's plan to campaign at taxpayer expense. Here are highlights from it's editorial on the issue:

IT’S EASY TO make the case — and we will, at a later date — that Ken Cuccinelli II, the attorney general of Virginia, already has done a lot to politicize the office he holds, and thereby diminish its status. Nonetheless, Mr. Cuccinelli seems intent on going a step further.

Having announced his intention to run for governor, Mr. Cuccinelli (R) is bucking more than 60 years of bipartisan Virginia history by refusing to do the right thing and resign. Instead, he is insisting on remaining the state’s top lawyer “until the last day of my term,” even as he holds fundraisers, attends events and campaigns for governor. Thus Mr. Cuccinelli will inevitably further politicize his office, adding a partisan cast to every significant move it makes.

Since the 1940s, 10 of Virginia’s 11 elected attorneys general have run for governor, and nine of them have resigned to do so. The past four, including Mr. Cuccinelli’s elected predecessor — the current governor, Robert F. McDonnell — were Republicans; the ones before that were Democrats.

If Mr. Cuccinelli’s intent is to invite cynicism and cast ill repute on the position he holds and the office over which he presides, he is doing a bang-up job.

In a letter to his staff, he attributed his decision to the fact that “the people of Virginia trusted me to be their attorney general, and I intend to give them four full years.” If so, they may also have taken him at his word — frequently stated while he campaigned — that he intended to run in 2013 for reelection as attorney general, which he described as his dream job. It turns out he didn’t mean it.

Now he pledges to give priority to his current job, and Virginians will have to hope that his legal decisions will not be colored by his candidacy.

In my opinion, Cuccinelli is a sleaze bag and a prime example of those who want to suckle on the government tit - something he claims to abhor - while expending his time and efforts elsewhere. Why does the term hypocrite come to mind?

AG Candidate Ken Cuccinelli Tries to Hide Extremist Views

I have written a number of times about Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell's efforts to market himself as a moderate in this years election contest for governor of Virginia - even though in actuality McDonnell is a puppet for Pat Robertson, James Dobson and the toxic Family Foundation. Now, Ken Cuccinelli, the GOP candidate for attorney general is apparently trying to use the same tactics as McDonnell even though as extremists go, Cuccinelli makes McDonnell look like a flaming liberal. Cuccinelli is a dogmatic Christianist who is anti-abortion in every case, would have gays rounded up and driven from the state if he could, and is a true Kool-Aid drinker when it comes to being a racist, anti-immigrant, anti-gay, religious extremist.

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Blue Virginia caught Cuccinelli trying to sanitize his campaign website to strip it of all its nut case fringe elements. Fortunately, a pre-sanitizing shot remains which shows Cuccinell's real nutcase agenda. If you want the Christian equivalent to a Islamic grand ayatollah, then Cuccinelli's your man. If you believe in secular government and religious freedom for all, then he MUST be defeated. Here are some highlights from Blue Virginia:
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[T]his is what it [the social issues page] used to look like, before he (apparently) started his faux-"moderate" makeover for the 2009 elections, just like Bob McDonnell. Fascinating.




This is what one finds now if they try to see where Cuccinelli stands on issues like marriage, gay rights, and abortion - the page has totally disappeard.

Again, it is absolutely critical that Cuccinelli's real positions be exposed and that he be defeated in November. He is nothing short of a clear and present danger to the rights and lives of other citizens of the Commonwealth. One has to ask again, where is the main stream media when it comes to reminding the public what McDonnell and Cuccinelli were preaching to the lunatic base of the GOP in prior years?

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P.S. Watch Cuccinelli talk about why he is not going to get a social security number for his soon to be born 7th child (something tells me that he's a "birther" too):