The Danville Register and Bee–the paper that originally broke the story about Rep. Virgil Goode’s connections with the “gay coming of age” movie, Eden’s Curve, and Goode’s earmarks to its producer–just released a very good editorial explaining their reasons for running the original story and why they believe there are serious ethical issues at play here. 

The Charlottesville paper also added to the story by pointing out that, not only was the earmark given to the theater operated by the producer of the movie, but the man paid to do the $3.5 million renovation the earmark was for is one of Goode’s biggest campaign contributors. 

Goode is saying he has no idea why he was thanked in the credits of the movie and had no idea the kind of movies being made and shown in the theater he earmarked tax-payer dollars for, despite the fact that his press secretary and wife both sit on the theater’s board and his press secretary had a speaking role in the film.  In an attempt explain how this could be so, Goode’s press secretary is now saying that he never read the entire script of the biggest film he has ever been a part of and never actually watched the movie he acted in.  

The issue here is the hypocrisy of it all, and the lies and cover-ups that follow.  Rep. Goode has been fanning the anti-gay flames in his district for years.  He beat his last opponent by going after the fact that he had a gay daughter, and Goode led off his attack against his current opponent in this race by hitting him on gay marriage.  Now Goode is being called not only for his cronyism and misuse of tax-payer dollars, but for the consequences of cronyism: taxpayer money isn’t spent on things that align with their priorities and values.  It’s fitting that Goode is starting to reap what he sowed.