When he was governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell proudly embraced his inner homophobe. He signed an executive order stripping state employees of anti-discrimination protections, defended the state’s ban on adoption by gay parents, and called the state’s ban on marriage equality “the right decision.”
So, of course, now that McDonnell is no longer in office and is standing trial for corruption charges, he’s living with a priest who was arrested for having sex with another man in a public place.
Really.
Rev. Wayne Ball was arrested in Norfolk in 2002 for “frequenting a bawdy place,” which is Virginian for cruising area. He and another man, also arrested, were found in a parked car, presumably discussing the finer points of the latest papal encyclical. Ball pled guilty to lewd behavior and was subsequently reassigned to another Church, in the fine Catholic tradition of protecting priests at all costs. The charge was dismissed after
McDonnell and Ball have been friends for years, with Ball presiding at the wedding of McDonnell’s daughter (to a man, just to be clear). Of course, the wedding itself is among the corruption charges against McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, which allege that they received inappropriate gifts and loans totalling at least $165,000 from a local businessman.
The trial has been spectacularly messy, with McDonnell essentially blaming all of his woes on his wife’s romantic delusions. McDonnell moved out of the house he shared with Maureen months ago to bunk at Ball’s parish house.
Ball has been a vocal supporter McDonnell, complaining in a blog post about how unfair the legal system has been to McDonnell because it forced him to talk about marital problems. “Is there any person at all who would want to stand up in public and tell the whole truth about their life?” Ball asked.
We wonder if he would be willing to answer that question for himself.
Jerry12
As Shakspear (sp?) said in one of his plays, “Me Thinks Thow Doest Complain To Much.”
mcflyer54
This is truly laugh out loud funny. Who wants to talk about their marital problems in public when they have the option of sweeping all the messy details up under the rug? Give me a break. This case isn’t about marital problems, it is about bribes, graft, pay-offs and quid pro quo. McDonnell knows that and so does his bunk buddy Father Closet Case.
NG22
It would be *so* hilarious if the two of them were fucking. Great practice, too, if he goes to jail.
D P
Geez, you can’t make this stuff up! I’d like to hear Bill Maher get a hold of this material!
natriley
It just shows how gays can be footballs kicked around by a man like the Governor who seeks to benefit from the animosity towards us. However, please don’t sneer at the priest. He certainly doesn’t deserve a comparison to molesters. After all it is the police and the community that commit an evil act when they arrest people for getting off in an automobile. The adults are blameless, the government is the creep.
vive
I am uncomfortable that the writer thinks it is okay to pile on to the priest for being arrested for “frequenting a bawdy area.” Is police oppression of gay men and criminalization of gay sex now just hunky dory just because the victim in this case was a priest?
Bad Ass Biker
@vive: I have no problem with piling on the priest. After all, they are supposed to live a life of celibacy and the church and most priests claim to be opposed to homosexuality. It is called hypocrisy.
natriley
Well Biker when I find your sexual life and morals match perfectly then perhaps I can condemn a priest for hypocrisy. I think having sex is natural. Molesting young people hurts, and it shouldn’t happen. Even if it is true we can overreact.
PerryBrass
This piece reminds me, and anyone else for that matter, of our beloved ex-mayor in NY, Rudy Giuliani who was vocally against same-sex marriage, but that did not keep him from moving in with “two of my best friends,” a wealthy gay couple in Queens, after Big Guilly’s marriage to Donna Hanover went south. And even further south, into divorce. Politicians rarely think of themselves as being hypocrites. They just think that “other people do’t think the way we do.”
Now that’s a REALLY!”
J.T.
If Cardinal Dolan were in charge, McDonnell would still be in office, his wife would be sued for defamation, and Fr. Ball would still be waving his dick at passing motorists at the I95 rest stop.
Xzamilio
@vive: It sure damn is okay… especially when said priest aligns himself with a denomination that promotes homophobia and ignorance about sex in general. I don’t see him taking issue with the attitudes of the Church regarding human rights, so I’m not going to get all up in arms over him getting busted for playing wiener slap with some random guy.
inbama
@vive:
Wayne Ball is helping Bob McDonnell, who persecutes of gay people, dupe a jury into thinking this corruption case is just about marital problems.
http://frwayneball.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-three-word-problem.html
DickieJohnson
Bob McDonnell is a true d*cksh*t, if ever there were one. I hope he’s cellmate with “Big Sylvester” or some other 400 lb. thug mofo. However, he’ll probably be sent to a “country club” jail for a year.
NoCagada
@vive: Could have been any “straight” man…it’s the hypocrisy, stupid.
enlightenone
Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, what a pathetic excuse for a man! So many sociopaths in politics. Surprising, not really, but not helpful for world progress. President Obama truly would have earned his wavy, gray hair after 8 years holding it down. Thank God he has his family, friend, faith, basketball and golf. Yes, golf!
enlightenone
@D P: Nothing gets pass Bill!
vive
@Bad Ass Biker, @NoCagada, @Xzamilio, it is not the job of the law and the police to enforce a priest’s vow of celibacy, not to mention the guy he was with. There is a long history of police persecution of people for gay sex in spaces where straight sex would have been overlooked. Oppression is not suddenly okay just because you don’t like the person being persecuted. And by the way, do you even know of the views of this particular priest when you state that he a hypocritical? (In any case, hypocrisy is not grounds for arrest.)
Cam
Well NO WONDER his wife was so angry at him. She was married to a closet case.
Bauhaus
What a joy to see this pig and his wife squirm. Governor vag*na probe, covenant marriage, phonier than thou, fiscal responsibility, pull yourself up by the bootstrap, family values, Bob. He now resides with his gay college roommate, a priest. The priest was caught doing the nasty with a man in a parked car. The priest is just another phony. They make a great couple.
The Washington Post has excellent coverage of the trial, and beats anything on Netflix. Oh, SpongeBob and Mo took $177,000 of gifts and loans, not $165,000. This pig refused to expand Medicaid coverage to poor working Virginians under the ACA, yet he was lavished with gifts and money from a man he didn’t even know before he became governor of Virginia.
McDonnell’s audacity and hypocrisy is astounding.
inbama
@Bauhaus:
Couldn’t have said it better.
Wish we had a “like” button.
Kangol
@Bauhaus:
You’re so on the money. The Washington Post‘s reports on the trial are like the scripts for a soap opera.
And seriously, gay Fr. Ball? You couldn’t make that one up.
Both of the McDonnells, the Republican hypocrite and his greedy, grasping wife, need to spend time behind bars for a good while.
Stuart McDonald
I hate to say it, but the implication here that ex-Gov. McDonnell might be having a sexual relationship with a homosexual priest might in the jurors’ minds give credence to his Defense claim in his trial that he and his wife could not get along and therefore could not have conspired together to take all those bribes for official acts on behalf of the rich bribe-giver.
enlightenone
@Stuart McDonald: Frankly, one hasn’t anything to do with the other. A lame defense is a weak defense!
Jim Guinnessey
Misery loves company.
Cam
@Stuart McDonald: said… “McDonnell might be having a sexual relationship with a homosexual priest might in the jurors’ minds give credence to his Defense claim in his trial that he and his wife could not get along and therefore could not have conspired together to take all those bribes for official acts on behalf of the rich bribe-giver.
___________________________
Or it shows that they HAD been lying and conspiring for years to hide this fact.
Bulls Eye
Is there any doubt that he’s a blatant liar? During the 22 months he says his wife was insufferable, he managed to take 18 family vacations with her. He claims his wife took all the items, and the never took anything from the businessman. But he never paid a cent to play at that business man’s very expensive golf club, where he received free golf bags and clubs. And he says he didn’t know where he got that Rolex watch — one of bribery items at issue — because the gift said it was from Santa.
And it’s beyond sad that this “Family Values” guy, is so wiling to lie, and throw his wife under the bus, trying to save his sorry ass from serving time in jail.