Virginia gubernatorial hopeful Ken Cuccinelli (R) has been dogged with questions about the $18,000 in gifts he received from Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams. Initially, the far-right state Attorney General said he couldn’t return the money because the gifts weren’t tangible goods — a defense that didn’t make any sense. Then he said he didn’t have $18,000 to spare.
This week, with just two months to go until Election Day, Cuccinelli announced he had donated the value of the gifts to charity. What’s more, his campaign insisted the candidate would not take a tax deduction on the $18,000 contribution.
But just to follow up, where’d the money go, exactly?
The Washington Post noted that Cuccinelli wrote a check to CrossOver Healthcare Ministry, which reportedly “provides free medical care to the homeless and working poor in the Richmond area.”
That hardly sounds controversial, though ProgressVA noted an unfortunate twist. Cuccinelli will donate the money to Crossover Healthcare Ministry, a Richmond-area free clinic. Crossover Ministry emphasizes on their website their clientele are primarily the working poor who are too poor to qualify for Medicaid. Cuccinelli has repeatedly and vocally opposed extending Medicaid coverage under Obamacare to provide affordable and quality health care coverage to low income Virginians. Joan McCarter added, “Yes, he’s donating the money to an organization dedicated to helping the people he has worked directly to screw.” With Cuccinelli, even charitable contributions intended to end an ongoing controversy generate a degree of controversy.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
