It’s great to watch the other shoe slowly drop in the Kilgore case. When last we left our intrepid Virginia Attorney General, some of his staffers had been accused, indicted, and even convicted for eavesdropping on a Democratic teleconference, but our bold adventurer continued to maintain that he didn’t know nothin’ ’bout nothin’.
Now, the head of Jerry Kilgore’s campaign for governor, Ken Hutcheson, has admitted that he knew about the eavesdropping, just a day after it took place, but that he didn’t know it was illegal. (Sure thing, bub.) Better still, Kilgore’s chief of staff, Anne P. Petera, listened to a tape recording that was made of the conversation. Now the 30-some Democratic plaintiffs have asked for permission to question these two, among others, prior to the trial in December, George Whitehurst reports.
It’s looking more and more like everybody but Kilgore knew what was going on. It would be both amazing and pathetic if the Attorney-freaking-General was the only guy that didn’t know about illegal activity in his own office.
Not that this concerns Republicans, or so they say. The thing is, though, that Kilgore hasn’t announced that he’s running for office yet. The guy’s raising money like mad, out there shaking hands and asking for support, but he hasn’t announced. His opponent, Democrat Tim Kaine, certainly hasn’t made any secret about his candidacy. Former Governor Jim Gilmore, a respected Republican for no apparent reason, has been unwilling to endorse Kilgore. And, starting last week, a funny thing happened — Jeff Schapiro, over at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, has started speculating on other potential Republican nominees, including Russ Potts (Winchester), Ken Stolle (Virginia Beach), and William Wampler Jr. (Bristol).
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again — Kilgore is going down in flames, and better later than soon. That’ll be all the less time for the Republicans to scramble and find themselves a replacement.