If you’re a devoted Fox News watcher, you could be forgiven for not knowing about the major ethics scandal plaguing Virginia’s Republican governor, Bob McDonnell, which has also embroiled the state’s attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli. Cuccinelli, you may know, is currently the Republican candidate in a tight race to succeed McDonnell. So we were pleased to see the matter finally make the “latest news” section on FoxNews.com’s home page. But our astute reader, Brian C., noticed an important detail was missing from the story: McDonnell’s Republican party affiliation.
The Washington Post sums up the latest developments in the scandal:
A prominent political donor gave $70,000 to a corporation owned by Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and his sister last year, and the governor did not disclose the money as a gift or loan, according to people with knowledge of the payments.
The donor, wealthy businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr., also gave a previously unknown $50,000 check to the governor’s wife, Maureen, in 2011, the people said.
The money to the corporation and Maureen McDonnell brings to $145,000 the amount Williams gave to assist the McDonnell family in 2011 and 2012 — funds that are now at the center of federal and state investigations.
As Think Progress reports, even as Cuccinelli works to distance himself from the scandal, the records show his deep involvement.
We can just imagine the kind of breathless and relentless coverage this matter would get if McDonnell and Cuccinelli were Democrats. (Anyone remember Sestak-gate?)
But on Fox, it has been mostly crickets. Even now, it has not exactly gotten prominent placement on the front page.
Even so, Fox left out McDonnell’s Republican Party affiliation. I guess we can be grateful they didn’t label him as a Democrat. But maybe they’re saving that for later in the campaign.