Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial on ‘latest embarrassment’ of sleazy Terry McAuliffe

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10/31/13, “Today’s top opinion: Sleazy money,” Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial

“Terry McAuliffe’s campaign worked swiftly to limit the fallout from his latest embarrassment. Joseph Caramadre now rots in prison for stealing identities from terminally ill patients to further an investment annuity scheme — a scheme in which McAuliffe invested several years ago.

When the story broke recently, McAuliffe hastily donated his hefty gains from the deal — along with another big chunk of change Caramadre had given to McAuliffe’s 2009 gubernatorial campaign — to charity.

That’s fine, but it doesn’t answer any important questions. For instance: Why didn’t McAuliffe list the investment on his disclosure forms in 2009? And why did he think wagering on the estates of the terminally ill was an acceptable investment practice?

And perhaps most important, this point:

McAuliffe’s campaign says he was merely a “passive investor.” It is easy to be a passive investor in, say, Coca-Cola by purchasing shares in an index fund that aggregates stocks from hundreds of companies. It is not so easy to be a passive investor in an elaborate annuities scheme known to a well-connected few.

This suggests two possibilities: Either McAuliffe knew what he was investing in, and had no qualms about it; or he invested in a scheme he knew nothing about, simply because his buddies said it would be a good idea — a possibility that does not speak well of him either as a businessman or as the potential future overseer of Virginia’s economic development funds.

Which is it?” via Free Rep.

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