Two points to the Charlottesville Daily Progress‘ Kate Andrews for getting Rep. Virgil Goode to say something of substance for her front-page article today about MZM. Not only does she describe MZM’s contributions to Goode and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics FOIA request for information about Goode’s relationship with MZM, but she asked him — and got an answer — about one of the charges that has been leveled against him:
“I’ve gotten PAC contributions and some from individuals” at MZM, Goode said. If any individual employees were pressured to make such contributions, as was reported in a Copley News Service story recently, “I have no knowledge of it,” he said.
That marks the first occasion that Goode has denied anything of which he’s been accused in the MZM scandal. Or, at least, denied knowledge of it.
There’s another choice quote here that I like, mostly because it shows how totally different that the Fifth District of Virginia is from the rest of the world:
Goode said his contributions from MZM and some of its employees the past three years are similar in size and nature to contributions he received in past years from tobacco interests, which have suffered a decline in the sprawling rural 5th District.
Can you imagine an elected official saying anything like that anywhere else? “Yeah, sure, I’ve taken a hundred grand from these guys, but I used to take that from cigarette companies, so whatever.” But this is the Fifth, where tobacco was once king, so that is the logical answer.
Goode’s answer, however, just isn’t true. Let’s look at his contributions from tobacco in every election since he became a member of the House:
1996: $13,200
1998: $21,500
2000: $24,000
2002: $18,600
2004: $15,750
And how much has Virgil Goode taken from MZM’s PAC, employees, and their spouses in the past two election cycles? $101,176. Per annum, that’s well over 200% as much as Rep. Goode ever received from the whole of the tobacco industry (not just one company) in his best year with them, 2000.
It’s not smart of him to lie to a member of the media in his district. He’s going to need them on his side in the coming weeks.