The $6,711 box of ‘food supplement’ and other gifts to state officials — UPDATED
From oag.state.va.us.org
Today, the Virginia Public Access Project released information from personal financial disclosures by Virgina’s three leading officeholders: Gov. Bob McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.
There’s a bunch of interesting information there. Among the most interesting was gifts the officials accepted in 2011.
Gov. Bob McDonnell led the gift-taking, with more than $50,000 worth of bennies bestowed on him by admiring people and organizations. A lot of it was travel, such as for flights, food and lodging.
The largest single donor of gifts to the governor was Alexander B. McMurtrie Jr., a lawyer whom McDonnell appointed to his Commission on Government Reform & Restructuring.
McMurtrie donated $12,232 to McDonnell. On vpap.org, that’s broken down as $3,080 for a flight to South Bend, Indiana and $9,242 for a “Round-trip Flight from Richmond to South Bend to speak at Notre Dame.” Both of those are undated so it’s unclear if they were for the same event.
Cuccinelli, who was elected attorney general in 2009 and is now running for governor, accepted about $35,000 in gifts, compared to less than $3,500 worth in 2010 and gifts totalling $279 in 2009. (By contrast, Cuccinelli’s opponent for the 2013 GOP gubernatorial nomination, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, racked up a little more than $10,000 in gifts in 2011).
Cuccinelli also disclosed the single largest amount in gifts from any single donor: $12,965 from Jonnie R. Williams Sr., a former tobacco magnate who now heads Star Scientific Inc.
According to Forbes.com, Star Scientific “is engaged in the development of dissolvable smokeless tobacco products that deliver fewer carcinogenic toxins through the utilization of the innovative StarCured tobacco curing technology.”
Williams gave Cuccinelli the use of a lake house and a boat valued at $3,000, transportation to a meeting in Kentucky valued at $3,254, and “a box of a food supplement” valued at $6,711.
Wow. That sounds like a lot of food supplement. It must have been a large box. I wonder what it was — collodial gold, perhaps? Something else?
I’ve emailed the AG’s spokesman, Brian Gottstein, to find out more. I’ll update when I hear back from him.
Update #1: Here’s what Brian Gottstein, a spokesman for the attorney general told me about the gift in question:
“It is an experimental food supplement called Anatabloc, developed by Mr. Williams, a friend of the attorney general’s. It was an unsolicited gift that the attorney general received after he asked Mr. Williams what his latest project was. The AG found out the value after looking it up online when he reported the gift.”
The price of Antbloc on Amazon.com is $100 for 200 lozenges, which would suggest that Williams laid 13,400 lozenges on Cuccinelli. Gottstein didn’t answer the question about what Cuccinelli did with them.
So I sent him back this response:
“Brian,
Thanks for the answer. Is the AG using it? (From what I can tell, it sounds like Mr. Williams gave him a 12-year supply). If he’s not using it, what happened to it? Is it in his office?
Sincerely,
Dan Casey
Update #2: Here’s AG spokesman Brian Gottstein’s response to the questions above:
“I don’t know. I don’t get into those types of personal questions with him.”
Here’s what AP had a while back about Antabloc:
GLEN ALLEN, Va. (AP) — Star Scientific Inc. said Tuesday that it is now selling a new dietary supplement that is designed to reduce inflammation.
The supplement is called Antabloc. Star said it contains antabine, an alkaloid found in plants including tobacco, eggplant, green peppers, and green tomatoes, and also contains Vitamin A and Vitamin D3. The supplement is intended to help the body maintain healthy levels of inflammation. The company is conducting one clinical trial of Antabloc and plans to start two others in 2011.
Star Scientific sells dissolvable smokeless tobacco. Antabloc is its second nutritional supplement. The company already markets CigRx, which is intended to reduce cigarette cravings.
Note from Dan: My earlier eyeballed estimate of the gifts total for Cuccinelli was $40,000, which was too high. That’s been changed to $35,000, which is more accurate.
January 30, 2012 - 2:23 PM
I must have missed the article on free benefits that Kaine received when he was governor.
Dan come on now, only Dems and dirty liberals ever play that crony capitalism, quid pro quo, back scratchin’ game. Remember TPR Tarzan: Koch money good, Soros money bad.
Just call the guv MoochDonnell. Right, pammala?
It doesn’t both me that they accepted gifts. I just want to know what the box of food supplement worth $6,711 was. And what KC did with it.
Still no word from Brian Gottstein on that.
It’s a years supply of Slim-Fast so he can keep his boyish figure.
Maybe a years supply of Red Bull so he’ll have the energy to file all those lawsuits.
Caviar? Truffles? Crepes? Filet mignon? Lobster tail?
Lobster tails supplement the clarified butter, made from the milk of Virginia cows.
There’s one kind of supplement out there that costs $350 per bottle of 30. It’s called Celegren. Maybe he gave KC a case of 20 bottles?
“Benefits:”
Stimulation of specific cells concerned with obesity, arthritis, chronic fatigue, asthma, degenerative brain disease, osteoporosis, sexual dysfunction, male impotence and other metabolic ailments.
Enhancement of stamina and energy levels.
Boosting of your sex drive, potency, endurance and vitality.
Reduction of pre-menopause syndrome and dealing with the onset of menopause.
Improvement of intellectual alertness.
Improvement of blood circulation.
Revitalizing the body’s immune system and defense mechanisms.
A visible increase in the radiance and of glow of the skin.
An improvement in your skin’s resilience, tone, texture and overall complexion.
Maximum regeneration and hydration of your skin.
An increase in your metabolic rate.
“Side effects:”
“Some may feel sleepy, some may experience a high metabolic rate or hunger. There may also be a chance of constipation which, however, should disappear after taking it for more than ten days, after which the benefits of Celergen will generally start to take effect.”
Here’s betting you’ll never find out what the supplements are, or you’ll be told that the amount was a typo.
Terps…I dont think you missed it.
Its up to you to go get it.
You want to be spoon fed here.
Maybe you are just so used to Fox News
telling you all you need to know and that
you expect facts (real or conjured) to float
effortlessly into your lap.
Sharpen your shovel and
Dig Son.
What is food supplement anyway.
Is that something that goes with dinner?
Like Cabernet? Or Dogfish Head with Garlic bread
Or is it something Ahhnold drinks to keep from
attracting girly men.
Lobster for the Mobsters…
Buttah for the restuvus.
If it was in Kentucky
It was likely 6000 lbs of special herbs and spices
Or enough to get one store through Wednesday.
KFC will be rebranded (in secret)
Kenny-s f’n Chicken
Dan@4:40
That’s that same stuff that Ponce De Leon discovered down in Florida. I think they bottle it from an old cesspool in St Augustine. I understand that Rush is one of their prime customers.
WOW..no coach ticket flights for these guys. $7,500 for a trip from Richmond to North Carolina for Cuccinelli?
Dan, you should have a contest thread for who guesses what the food supplements were.
The post has been update now, Bill Perdue. It’s a food supplement made from tobacco.
Someone should inform the AG before he tries it:
Under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), the dietary supplement or dietary ingredient manufacturer is responsible for ensuring that a dietary supplement or ingredient is safe before it is marketed. FDA is responsible for taking action against any unsafe dietary supplement product after it reaches the market. Generally, manufacturers do not need to register their products with FDA nor get FDA approval before producing or selling dietary supplements.* http://www.fda.gov/food/dietarysupplements/default.htm
Souinds like something you might want to dissolve in a good glass of whiskey before you drink it just to make sure you kill whatever bugs it might have in it. Or maybe you crush them up and smoke them in your crack pipe.
10,000 here, 20,000 there, that’s chump change. I’m more interested in the 12.5 billion in tax preferences that were in effect for 2008 (versus the 14.3 taxes actually collected) See Roanoke Times Jan 29, 2012. Too bad we can’t find out who received these tax preferences, and see who made what contributions to who. That would be interesting reading.
It took me a good 10 minutes to actually find this product on the Internet. I looked for Antbloc, then Antabloc and realized it was “Anatabloc” Sheesh! Come on. It’s like Christian was editing this.
So far, just googling, I read this wonder-drug marked as a supplement may help with or is attached to the following maladies: Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Alzheimers, coronary artery disease, diabetes, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Then you have a lot of hoo-ha from “doctors” and “researchers” and a lot of videos of organic chemistry designed to cloud the brains of those who want to believe in a cure-all solution to all their problems.
This is yet another in the long list of companies and people capitalizing on human feelings of fear of death and pain.
But the most telling is the disclaimer at the bottom of their website:
“This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.” Well then, why is it marketed as such? This is such a sham, I think you’d probably be better off taking a sham-wow, cutting it up into small pieces and snorting it.
So Dan…
Celegren…(almost sounds like Soylent Green,
Says side affects include constipation.
,,and take it for 10 days and then
“the benefits of Celegren GENERALLY will begin to take effect.”
Generally to me means it probably wont work.
As for the constipation that comes cheap
2.99 for a pint of Skippy-s.
(that too is of course a myth!)