The state’s GOP leadership has apparently peaked into the Democrats playbook and decided to commit fratricide. Bitterness and recriminations are threatening to extend the controversy even further. Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine must be giddy. A former GOP state treasurer, Richard F. Neel Jr., has filed a conflict of interest complaint, alleging that the prosecutor, a Republican, tried to minimize the political damage to Atty. Gen. Jerry Kilgore. In so doing, he’s entrapped Virginia U.S. Sen. George Allen into the feud.
The complaint asserts no wrongdoing by Allen, but it is the first document to draw such explicit connections between [Paul J. McNulty, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia who prosecuted the case], prominent figures in the eavesdropping case and the popular first-term senator and former governor.
Allen was surprised at the claims and said he has never communicated with McNulty throughout the 2 1/2-year investigation.
“Let him exercise his prosecutorial discretion. I will note there have been several convictions in the prosecution of the wrongdoers,” Allen said after addressing Monday’s gathering of Virginia’s electoral college at the state Capitol.
The complaint also exposes conflicting personal allegiences (sic) within the leadership of the state GOP that have been forever ripped apart by the eavesdropping scandal. Neel is a close friend of Matricardi’s and contends that Matricardi became a scapegoat so that the role of others within the party _ and their punishment _ might be minimized or avoided.
After Thomson resigned as party chairman, Neel sought the position to which Kate Obenshain Griffin, an ally of Allen and Kilgore, was eventually appointed. Neel was the state party’s treasurer until this year.
If you’re a Democrat, you’ve got to love the irony of the GOP’s self-flagellation. I don’t know the politics of Neel but wonder if this has anything to do with the ideological split among Republicans. Any thoughts or insights are appreciated.