“I don’t see the purpose of the governor continuing in office when the trust between his office and Virginians has been so eroded,” Sen. Barbara Favola (Arlington) said Wednesday morning, shortly after making similar comments in a TV interview with Bruce DePuyt. “When you’ve broken that ethical bond, I don’t know to what purpose he can really execute the activities of his office effectively at this point.”
Favola made her comments in response to a story in Wednesday’s Washington Post that Virginia businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr. had given $70,000 to a corporation owned by McDonnell and his sister, a $50,000 check to first lady Maureen McDonnell and $10,000 to their daughter, Jeanine, to help defray the costs of her May wedding. Those gifts or loans came on top of $15,000 that, as The Post reported in March, Williams provided to cover the catering at the wedding of another McDonnell daughter, Cailin, in June 2011.
