McDonnell to give away $5K from Navy vets charity

By Michael Sluss

RICHMOND

Gov. Bob McDonnell will give up a $5,000 campaign contribution he received last year from the self-described director of a Navy veterans fundraising organization that is under investigation in three states but that may soon be able to solicit in Virginia.

McDonnell is among a handful of prominent state officials and legislators who received contributions last year from Bobby Thompson, the Florida-based director of an organization called the U.S. Navy Veterans Association.

Thompson and the organization have been under scrutiny since March, when an investigation by the St. Petersburg Times raised questions about the organization's fundraising, its expenditures and the very existence of its national and state directors.

Thompson gave $67,500 to Virginia candidates and office-holders last year, shortly before U.S. Navy Veterans pushed for legislation to exempt certain veterans groups from having to register with the state to solicit. The bill passed the General Assembly unanimously, and McDonnell signed it into law before his staff could be alerted to concerns about Thompson and the organization.

McDonnell spokeswoman Stacey Johnson said Monday the governor will donate the $5,000 to another military veterans support organization that he has yet to identify.

"It's the right thing to do," Johnson said.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli received $55,500 from Thompson in August, including a $50,000 contribution received after Cuccinelli asked Thompson for a donation. That made Thompson the second-largest individual donor to Cuccinelli's campaign. Cuccinelli raised $3 million for his attorney general campaign and finished with a balance of $116,813.

Unlike fellow Republican McDonnell, Cuccinelli has not determined it is necessary to give up the funds.

"We don't assume someone is guilty based on circumstances that are out of the ordinary," Cuccinelli said in a brief phone interview.

Cuccinelli's political director, Noah Wall, said last week the contributions would be donated to military support groups in Virginia if Thompson "was convicted of wrongdoing relative to the misappropriation of funds, and contributions to our campaign came from money that was supposed to go to active-duty military or veterans."

State Sen. Patsy Ticer, D-Alexandria, was the only Virginia Democrat to get campaign money from Thompson, receiving an unsolicited $1,000 donation last year. At the request of a lobbyist for U.S. Navy Veterans, Ticer sponsored the bill creating a reporting exemption for certain veterans organizations that solicit in Virginia.

Ticer said the request seemed "benign." But after learning of the St. Petersburg Times investigation, she tried to get the governor's office to veto the bill.

Ticer said Monday that she hasn't met Thompson and wasn't aware she had received a contribution from him when she agreed to sponsor the bill. The state Senate was not up for election last year. Ticer said she will consider donating Thompson's contribution to charity.

Ticer's bill could allow U.S. Navy Veterans to resume soliciting in the state on July 1. But officials in the governor's office and with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said the organization first must file paperwork demonstrating that it qualifies for an exemption from annual registration requirements.

Ticer's bill adds an exclusion for veterans posts or veterans organizations that have tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)19 of the federal tax code.

VDACS spokeswoman Elaine Lidholm also said the department is not investigating U.S. Navy Veterans because the group is not currently soliciting in the state. However, authorities in Florida, Missouri and New Mexico are looking into the group's activities, according to the St. Petersburg Times, which conducted a six-month investigation of the group.