Briefs

Local and VCU

McDonnell uses obscenity by mistake

Bob McDonnell, the Republican candidate for governor, used an obscenity during a live interview on a Washington-area radio station on Friday.

A campaign spokesman said last night that McDonnell was trying to say “funding” but instead said another word.

“It was an unfortunate stumble over the words, and Bob McDonnell apologizes for the mistake,” stated McDonnell campaign spokesman J. Tucker Martin in an e-mail.

WTOP radio host Mark Plotkin asked if McDonnell would consider increasing state gasoline taxes to help pay for the transportation budget. McDonnell said no and uttered the expletive in his response.

“So no tax will be raised during your four-year term?” Plotkin asked.

McDonnell answered: “I’m going to find other ways to be able to fund transportation. I’ve outlined 12 (expletive) funding mechanisms that are creative, that are entrepreneurial.”

Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Councilman fires back at TMZ regarding Chris Brown

Richmond City Council member Doug Conner stated he was misquoted on celebrity gossip Web site TMZ.com in a story posted Friday about singer Chris Brown’s community labor work in Richmond.

TMZ reported Conner gave them details about the type of work Brown will do as part of his sentence for a conviction for beating his ex-girlfriend, singer Rihanna.

The site reported that “Richmond City Councilman Doug Conner – who works with the city’s hard labor program – tells us Brown will begin his 8-hour work day at 8:00 a.m. when a Department of Corrections bus picks him up, along with 30-40 other offenders. Conner says Brown will wear a reflective orange vest and pick up trash and litter along highways and roads. He’ll also have to trim brush along medians, remove gang graffiti from the VCU campus, and wash the inside and outside of law enforcement vehicles.”

Conner fired back today with an e-mail saying TMZ got it wrong.

“The statements and information ascribed to me yesterday in the article on the celebrity news Web site TMZ regarding singer Chris Brown are inaccurate and untrue,” he wrote. “I have no personal knowledge of, or information regarding, the singer Chris Brown.”

Conner also stated in his e-mail that “Richmond, Virginia does not have a ‘hard labor program’ ” and “Virginia Commonwealth University does not have gang graffiti.”

Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch