Democratic National Committee Communications Director, Mo Elleithee issued the following statement today regarding Ken Cuccinelli's Star Scientific gifts scandal:
“Ken Cuccinelli's announcement today that he will donate $18,000 to a Richmond-based charity to offset the gifts he accepted from Star Scientific is curious. As recently as two weeks ago, he rejected the notion that he needed to return any gifts because he had done nothing wrong. That begs the question -- if he feels he did nothing wrong, why donate the money to charity? The only logical explanation is that he is struggling to find a way to fix his continued slide in the polls and growing credibility gap with voters. Voters have every reason to question his trustworthiness, and this politically calculated move won't change that. Relenting under pressure while taking no responsibility is not the same thing as leadership.”