What if we've been looking at the Phil Puckett scandal backwards?
From the moment that Virginia State Senator Phil Puckett resigned on June 9, 2014, many commentators--myself among them--have raised the question of whether the GOP leadership in Virginia's General Assembly conspired to bribe Puckett with a judgeship for his daughter and a job for Puckett at the Tobacco Commission with a six-figure salary.
If that is how we understand the transaction between Puckett and the General Assembly Republicans, then we face a hurdle in prosecuting them: was Puckett's resignation an "official act"? In "Va. officials skeptical of U.S. interest in Phillip Puckett’s resignation from state Senate" by Laura Vozzella, Matt Zapotosky, and Jenna Portnoy, these three Washington Post writers describe the obstacle prosecutors face in looking for an "official act."