Recently, a diary on Raising Kaine explained how Del. Johnny Joannou (D-79) "used his public office to hire on with a company under investigation by federal and state regulators on racketeering charges so that they could delay the case against them." The article explained:
Here's the deal. Seven years ago this month, Joannou was hired by Mutual Benefits Corporation (MBC), one of the largest "structured settlement" companies in the nation. What are structured settlements, you ask? Well, some folks call them "dead peasant" scams instead - buying the insurance policies of elderly or terminally ill patients for pennies on the dollar and then cashing in when they die.A futures market in death, in other words.
Lovely, huh? Well, it gets worse, as Joannou "filed at least two legislative continuances on behalf of MBC." Joannou did this by using the "legislative privilege" section of Virginia law (Section 30-5 of the Virginia Code). This law allows members of the General Assembly who are attorneys to obtain an automatic delay of any pending legal matter if the legislature is currently in session, or if the legislator is attending a committee meeting or on other official legislative business.
Joannou obtained these postponements on July 11, 2000 and October 12, 2000, delaying the fraud case against MBC until December 5, 2000, a period of five months. Significantly, the General Assembly was never in session during this period of time.
Equally interesting is the fact that Joannou disappeared from the case's legal records after obtaining the second delay. The obvious conclusion is that Joannou was hired as MBC's legal counsel solely to obtain the postponements and delay the investigation-and not because of any expertise on the legal issues involved.
The bottom line is that Johnny Joannou constantly claims that he is a "friend of the little guy" and a champion of working people against the greed of big corporations, but his actions in this case prove that this is as far from the truth as is humanly possible. In fact, Joannou's role in this scandal - using his position as a legislator to help a corporation engaged in the worst kind of fraud to delay justice - clearly proves how empty his campaign rhetoric is.
Fortunately, Democrats have a great choice this year in Henry Light, who was unanimously and strongly endorsed by Raising Kaine. In addition, former Gov. Mark Warner will be appearing at a fundraiser (tomorrow, May 19) for Light, a very clear statement about where he stands on this race.
Perhaps the support of RK and Mark Warner for Henry Light is because, unlike the current incumbent, Light is a real Democrat, from the "Democratic wing" so to speak. Light is a strong progressive who believes in environmental protection, making health care more affordable, protecting a woman's right to choose, and ensuring that Virginia's kids get the best education possible.
In contrast, Joannou has been called "one of the most dependable Republican votes in the House of Delegates." Joannou opposed Gov. Mark Warner's plan to fix the state's unfair tax system, and instead voted to millionaires a tax cut.
The choice for Democrats in this race is crystal clear: Henry Light for good, clean, progressive representation in the Virginia House of Delegates!
P.S. Check this out to see how the pro-Republican Virginia Property Rights Coalition named Johnny Joannou (DINO) and Ken Cuccinelli (right-wing "R") "Bi-partisan Heroes of the 2006 Legislative Session."
For your next assignment, see if you can get one of the papers or TV stations in his district to give a damn about this story.