McDonnell says daughter returned $15,000 wedding gift to Star CEO 

Gov. Bob McDonnell said Wednesday that one of his daughters has repaid the $15,000 at the center of the family's gift scandal.

Also Wednesday, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said he has no plans to repay the more than $18,000 in gifts he received from the same benefactor, Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams.

Gifts from Williams that Cuccinelli lists in his financial disclosure statements include a $1,500 catered Thanksgiving dinner, private jet trips and vacation lodging. "There are some bells you can't unring," Cuccinelli, the Republican nominee for governor, told reporters.

McDonnell disclosed the repayment of the gift that helped cover catering costs at Cailin McDonnell's 2011 wedding reception a day after he said he plans to return all gifts from the Star Scientific CEO that still are in his possession.

On Tuesday, McDonnell said that his eldest daughter, Jeanine, had returned the $10,000 gift Williams had given her for a pre-wedding event before her May nuptials.

"My eldest daughter returned her engagement gift and my daughter Cailin has returned her wedding gift," McDonnell told reporters Wednesday after an unrelated event at the state Capitol.

"There are others that are in the process, tangible items that are in the process of being returned," he said.

The $15,000 check covered most catering costs of the June 2011 wedding of Cailin McDonnell at the Executive Mansion.

McDonnell did not disclose that Williams gift, explaining that he was not legally obligated to report it on his disclosure forms because it was a gift to his daughter.

State law requires elected officials and others to disclose any gift in excess of $50, but it does not place the same reporting requirement on gifts to immediate family members.

McDonnell said Wednesday that he has not pegged a total value of gifts he will return.

Last week the governor's private legal team announced that he had repaid about $124,000 in loans with interest to Williams.

McDonnell also declined Wednesday to give a timetable for when other gifts would be returned, but said he's in the process of working with counsel.

Also Wednesday, Del. David Toscano, D-Charlottesville, the House minority leader, said McDonnell should repay the state for the cost of the private attorneys Cuccinelli appointed to represent him and governor's office staff in the criminal case involving former Executive Mansion chef Todd Schneider and related matters, including Williams.

Cuccinelli appointed Anthony Troy to represent McDonnell in the Schneider case.

The first legal bill Troy submitted to the state exceeded $53,000.

McDonnell said on WTOP radio this week that "the only reason there's even private counsel involved is because the attorney general made a decision that he had a conflict of interest and could not provide counsel to me."

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