The Free Lance-Star, a local daily newspaper in Fredericksburg, Virginia, said it accidentally identified the governor whose corruption charges were vacated Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court as sitting Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), rather than former Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell.
The paper splashed the bold-faced headline “McAuliffe’s Bribery Convictions Tossed” on its front page story about the high court unanimously throwing out McDonnell’s corruption convictions.
The paper’s editor, Phil Jenkins, attributed the “major mistake” to an editing error in a note posted online Tuesday morning. He said the paper has “been struggling to adapt” to new software and staffers strayed from the normal editing process for the design.
“But none of that excuses what was a massive and embarrassing error,” Jenkins wrote. “We failed to live up to the standards our readers expect. And for that, we sincerely apologize.”
McDonnell, who served as governor from 2010 to 2014, was convicted along with his wife on federal corruption charges in September 2014 for accepting more than $175,000 in luxury gifts and loans from a Virginia businessman. The Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that McDonnell did not undertake an “official act” on the businessman’s behalf, ceding that while the ex-governor’s behavior was “distasteful” and “tawdry,” the court’s original interpretation of the federal bribery statute was overly broad.
