07/31/14: Which version of McDonnell is the real one?

This op-ed appeared in The Virginian-Pilot on the date shown.

THE SECOND day of the McDonnell trial brought the bombshell revelation of a splintered family. I couldn’t help but remember the former governor’s 1989 thesis, which was made public during his gubernatorial campaign. In it, Bob Mc-Donnell lamented the breakdown of the traditional family and proposed specific policy proposals to curb it.

Either McDonnell didn’t take his own advice, or the defense is just an effort to win an acquittal. In either case, the Bob McDonnell of 1989 wouldn’t recognize the Bob McDonnell of 2014.

Throughout the thesis, McDonnell argues for the preservation and strengthening of the traditional family unit, consisting of a working father, a homemaking mother and their children. “The intact two-parent family,” McDonnell declares, “has been the foundation of a healthy society, the best hedge against poverty among children, and the time-tested institution for the transmission of culture and values.”

This is the version of the McDonnell family that was projected throughout his long career in public service. His campaign literature always included pictures of them; his television ads featured them. As recently as May, the couple held hands as they exited the courtroom after a hearing on the dismissal of some of the charges.

Even though the couple hired separate attorneys and made motions to be tried separately, most observers saw little to suggest that the two of them were not united; the moves, most said, were trial strategy. The separate arrivals Monday sparked some questions that were quashed rather quickly.

Tuesday’s opening statements changed all of that. Separately, their attorneys referred to the marriage as broken. On the witness stand, their daughter spoke of having to make an appointment to see her father.

I can’t help but feel sympathy for the governor’s family. It doesn’t matter if this is just trial strategy — perhaps an overemphasis on normal family conflicts — having this aired in public must be humiliating. If it is true, the private agony of the deterioration of his family must be devastating to McDonnell.

If it is true, it’s going to be hard to convict the couple of conspiracy charges when they weren’t speaking to each other. But questions remain about its truthfulness. Not only was the couple seen holding hands just months ago, reports are that they jointly celebrated their birthdays together a few weeks ago at their home.

That doesn’t sound like the broken family outlined in opening statements; it sounds like a tactical decision to win an acquittal, at least on the 11 charges of corruption in the indictment. Those charges, as I’ve written before, should have been dropped, anyway.

The other three charges, though, are unlikely to go away. Two of them relate to a failure to disclose debts on loan applications. No amount of sympathy for the McDonnells can excuse that behavior.

McDonnell version 2014 may be doing what’s necessary to save himself from jail. It is at the expense of the vision of McDonnell version 1989.