To those of us who are familiar with Jim Gilmore’s budgeting practices as governor, it comes as no great surprise to learn that his secretary of finance has been sentenced to ten years in prison for defrauding the state of $4 million, as Rosalind Helderman reports in the Post. In 2001, serving on the Tobacco Commission as the governor’s representative, John W. Forbes II encouraged the group to give a $5 million grant to the Virginia Literacy Foundation—his own organization. (One of the largest-ever Tobacco Commission grants.) Of that $5 million, over $4 million went directly to Forbes and his wife.
Those of us in the Fifth District are familiar with the Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission. That’s the state-established organization that oversees the state’s $1.23B tobacco settlement, which they distribute in the form of small grants to organizations trying to improve the economy and social fabric in Southside and the southwest. For community groups, it’s all about the Tobacco Commission.
Over on Bacon’s Rebellion, Peter Galuszka contextualizes all of this, with Jim Bacon posing some important questions:
The story is much bigger than Forbes — and that’s saying something because Forbes’ behavior is unforgivable.
I would like to know this: How did Forbes get his little piece of boodle? What was the process for approving the grant? Who had to sign off on it? What mechanisms existed to see if Forbes would deliver what he promised to deliver? Was any follow-up ever conducted? How was Forbes’ misappropriation caught?
Someone associated with the Tobacco Commission ought to be wearing egg on their face.
These are all important questions that the public deserves an answer to. That’s our money that was stolen by our secretary of finance.
Waldo – it’s important to note that the Tobacco Commission doesn’t receive ALL of the MSA money. They receive the lion’s share (50%), but 8.5% goes to the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth (formerly the Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation). VFHY is severely underfunded and doing great work to prevent youth tobacco use. Their funding was actually cut last fiscal year (from 10% to 8.5%) of the settlement money, and their mission was doubled to include childhood obesity prevention.
I didn’t know that—thank you for that clarification, Cathleen!