Terry McAuliffe was once referred to as the “booking agent of the Lincoln Bedroom.”
But in a twist of irony, the Democrat is coming out hard against expensive political perks that he seemed to once enjoy, now that he’s a candidate for governor of Virginia again.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Thursday that McAuliffe is pledging to sign an executive order forbidding himself or his family from receiving gifts worth more than $100.
“Virginia taxpayers deserve to know that their elected officials are representing the commonwealth first,” McAuliffe said. “I’m committed to enacting these common-sense rules via executive order when I am elected and working with the General Assembly to make them permanent and cover members of the legislature.”
McAuliffe’s reason for the pledge is clear: he is trying to draw attention to gifts received by Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell and and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the GOP candidate for governor.
Yet McAuliffe — the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and Clinton confidante — has a colorful history when it comes to gifts in politics.
“For decades, Mr. McAuliffe traded access for money, ensuring that big companies — not people — were in control, all the while pocketing millions through his proximity to power,” Andrew Roos, the campaign manager to former Virginia Del. Brian Moran, said in 2009. “Brian Moran will take no lectures on ethics from the booking agent of the Lincoln Bedroom and the architect of the Business Leadership Forum.”
The New York Times reported in 1999 that during the Clinton administration, the controversial usage of letting donors stay in the Lincoln Bedroom “grew out of a memorandum Mr. McAuliffe wrote to Mr. Clinton’s secretary in early 1995.”