WASHINGTON – The wife of Virginia’s governor made roughly as much money as a teacher’s starting salary to consult for the philanthropic arm of one of Virginia’s major coal companies.
The money Maureen McDonnell earned is raising more questions about Gov. Bob McDonnell’s finances and his business relationships.
She made $36,000 to serve as a philanthropy consultant to the United Co., The Washington Post reports.
According to the the governor’s annual financial forms for 2011 and 2012, McDonnell disclosed that his wife was a paid trustee of a family charity, the Frances G. and James W. McGlothlin Foundation. The McGlothlins are one of the wealthiest families in Virginia.
But James McGlothlin says Maureen McDonnell was never named to the board of the $21 million foundation. Instead, she became an adviser to the foundation and to the coal company for philanthropic efforts and was paid by the coal company, McGlothlin says.
McGlothlin says Maureen McDonnell attended two or three meetings with the company and foundation.
McDonnell listed the information about his wife’s relationship to United Co. as a paid trusteeship and not as a job, the Post reports. By doing so, no information had to be provided about the amount of her compensation.
By law, elected officials have to disclose when an employer pays a spouse at least $10,000 a year.
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