Emails show that Puckett job was in the works before he resigned from Va. Senate

GOP Secured Majority After VA Dem Promised Job, Phone And Car

The Democratic state senator in Virginia who recently stepped down and handed Republicans the majority was poised to get a state job with employee benefits, a cell phone and possibly a car, as well as a judgeship for his daughter, according to emails obtained by the Washington Post.

Virginia State Sen. Phillip Puckett (D) was supposed to go work for the Republican-led state tobacco commission. Emails between Puckett and Tim Pfohl, the panel's interim director, reveal that the two were negotiating as May 29 the terms of Puckett's exit and that Pfohl was going out of his way to avoid an appearance of impropriety or quid pro quo.

Puckett would also be allowed to write his own job description, which was set to be, "Senior advisor to the Commission." His start date was to be June 25.

Puckett's surprise resignation on June 9 flipped the evenly divided Senate to the GOP by one vote, giving them an upper hand in the battle with Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) about whether or not to expand Medicaid under Obamacare. (Republicans are dead set against expansion.) After outrage by Democrats and questions of impropriety, Puckett quickly took himself out of the running for the tobacco panel job.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/phillip-puckett-emails-phone-car-job-medicaid


Washington Post
E-mails show that Puckett job was in the works before he resigned from Va. Senate

The head of the state tobacco commission warned that the panel would create the appearance of “manipulating” power in the Virginia Senate if it announced that it was hiring Sen. Phillip P. Puckett on the same day he gave up his seat, according to e-mails released Thursday.

Tim Pfohl, interim executive director of the commission, said in a June 5 e-mail to Puckett, a Democrat from rural Russell County, that he had begged Del. Terry G. Kilgore (R-Scott) to delay making it known that Puckett was getting a top staff job with the commission. Kilgore is chairman of the commission.

“Phillip: Terry spoke to us today about announcing your role w/ the Commission in conjunction with what he said is your intention to announce your Senate plans tomorrow,” Pfohl wrote. “I implored him to ‘decouple’ those announcements for the sake of the appearance of the Commission manipulating the Senate balance of power and starting WW3 w/ the Governor’s administration.”

Pfohl went on to say that the commission’s executive committee still planned to meet a few days later to give Puckett the job.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/emails-show-that-puckett-job-was-in-the-works-before-he-resigned-from-va-senate/2014/06/27/5d3b62ae-fda0-11e3-8176-f2c941cf35f1_story.html

emails
http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/local/e-mails-show-puckett-job-in-works-before-resignation-from-va-senate/1061/