Virginia Gov. Bob Mcdonnell (R) has been renting his home outside Richmond, Va., to the state’s new health commissioner, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on Wednesday.
Dr. Cynthia Romero, who became state health commissioner in January, has been renting the McDonnells’ $835,000 home in Henrico County, a McDonnell spokesperson told the newspaper. Details were unavailable, but the Times-Dispatch estimated that McDonnell’s mortgage payments for the house total $2,800 a month.
Prior to her appointment by McDonnell as health commissioner, Romero was chief medical officer at Chesapeake Regional Medical Center.
According to the Times-Dispatch, McDonnell and his wife purchased the Henrico County home in 2006, when he was the state’s attorney general. They currently have an adjustable rate mortgage on the property for $696,000, with an interest rate of 2.625 percent. The assessment on the house is $651,077. McDonnell and his family also have mortgages on two rental properties, which were purchased between 2005 and 2007 for a total of $3.8 million. Those properties are currently assessed at around $3.2 million. The McDonnells also have partial ownership of several other rental properties.
TPM asked McDonnell’s spokesperson on Wednesday if he could confirm when Romero moved in to the McDonnells’ house, and if further details of the rental agreement would be made public.
“I don’t know and we will not be making any further details available,” Rich Galen, the spokesperson, responded.
