June 14, 2013 – TriCities – Virginia GOP says Puckett has most to gain from prolonged gas royalty court case

Virginia GOP says Puckett has most to gain from prolonged gas royalty court case

Posted: Thursday, June 13, 2013 8:09 pm | Updated: 4:53 pm, Fri Jun 14, 2013.

BY MICHAEL L. OWENS | BRISTOL HERALD COURIER

Virginia Republicans said Thursday that the Democratic state senator calling for a state investigation into how Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s office has handled a federal gas royalties lawsuit is also the person with the most to gain from a prolonged court case.

Sen. Phillip Puckett, D-Lebanon, is an official of the Abingdon-based bank holding the escrow account with nearly $28 million in royalties. He should have mentioned that he had a conflict of interest when he jumped into the political fray over the case, GOP leaders said.

A Republican Party of Va. teleconference audio clip is embedded near central and left in that page.