Rachel Maddow traces the discovery of the missing ballots in Fairfax County, starting with Ben Tribbett’s declaration that it appeared that around 3,000 ballots were missing from District 8. Ben Tribbett is the blogmeister of NotLarrySabato blog as well as a local democratic.
The real crime here is the way those provisional ballots have to be counted. I have never heard of anyone having to go in person to defend their ballot. Several facts remain clear. Cuccinelli should have resigned as Attorney General. There is simply too much room for conflict of interest, especially with some of his prior …well..no nice way to say this, conflict of interest. He chose not to follow tradition and do the right thing.
So is this a fair charge against Cuccinelli? Should he have spoken up for the Violence Against Women Act?
The Cooch also has other problems. His track record on reproductive rights is abysmal. He has his own watch group who tags along behind him called Cooch Watch. You can follow them on coochwatch.org.
He also has received more than $18,000 from Johnnie Williams. Supposedly his aids shielded him from much of what was going on with Governor McDonnell. That is sort of a non-excuse. wesh i had thut of
Once the Supreme Court decides a case, we are stuck with the laws involved, whether we like the law or not, unless you are Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.
Last month, three judges on the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit deemed a Virginia anti-sodomy law unconstitutional. The provision, part of the state’s “Crimes Against Nature” law, has been moot since the 2003 US Supreme Court decision overruled state laws barring consensual gay sex, but Virginia has kept the prohibition on the books.
Now Virginia attorney general and Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli is asking the full 4th Circuit to reconsider the case. Cuccinelli wants the court to revive the prohibition on consensual anal and oral sex, for both gay and straight people. (The case at hand involves consensual, heterosexual oral sex, but, as the New York Times explained in 2011, it’s “icky”: The sex was between a 47-year-old man and two teenagers above Virginia’s age of consent.)*
Why? Why? Why? Cuccinelli needs to just give it up. What adults do in their own homes–in their own bedrooms is really no one’s business, especially the government’s business. The Supreme Court decision Lawrence v. Texas pretty much decided this one in 2003. In striking down the Texas law, the “anti-sodomy” laws of many other states were invalidated. Virginia is one of those states.
SINCE WORLD WAR II, 10 of Virginia’s 11 attorneys general have run for governor. Nine of those 10, Democrats and Republicans alike, resigned to do so, and for good reason: They were loath to politicize an office whose effectiveness and prestige depend on making legal judgments untainted by politics.
Despite that wise precedent, Virginia’s current attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli II (R), has refused to follow suit. He has clung to his position even as he angled for his party’s gubernatorial nomination, bringing a cloud over his office and casting doubt on its ability to act impartially as the state’s legal counsel.
Virginia’s attorney general says a Hampton judge lacked jurisdiction to order the release of an imprisoned man whose accuser recanted her sexual assault allegation.
Brian Gottstein, a spokesman for Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, says Jonathan Montgomery’s case is a tragedy. But he says in an email today that Circuit Judge Randolph West’s order exonerating Montgomery and vacating the final two years of his sentence is void under state law. He says Montgomery probably needs to petition the Virginia Court of Appeals for a writ of actual innocence, which Cuccinelli will support.
Montgomery’s father, David Montgomery, says his son should be released immediately. He says the attorney general’s office is holding an innocent man captive.
MANASSAS, Va.—A local church on Friday denied a Washington Blade staff writer access to an anti-gay marriage gathering at which Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli spoke.
A woman who was standing near the entrance of Reconciliation Community Church in Manassas in front of two men wearing dark suits who appeared to be security personnel asked this reporter for identification and proof of media affiliation after he identified himself as a Blade staff writer. He proceeded to show her his drivers’ license and business card.
At least one board member said members of the panel felt threatened by a memo from the office of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli that warned board members could lose legal representation from the Attorney General’s Office if they ignored its advice.
In June, the board had voted 7-4 to exempt existing abortion clinics from the new construction standards, only to have Cuccinelli’s office refuse to certify the regulations.
Ken Cuccinelli’s witch hunt against climate scientist Michael Mann was stopped by the Supreme Court. Good for UVA for failing to roll over and play dead. However, in the wake of this law suit are a lot of unpaid bills. UVA had to raise about $600,000 to cover its legal costs . Then there are the bills generated from the State Attorney General’s office. Let’s hear Cuccinelli try to tell us to ‘stop the spending.’ He has lost his fiscally conservative street cred.
This witch hunt was motivated by Cuccinelli’s own personal political agenda rather than from anything real that happened or any reasonable suspicion of wrong-doing while Dr. Mann was in residence at UVA. The newly elected attorney general had a bug and he rashly wasted the taxpayers’ money pursuing his own silly paranoid anti-scientific endeavors.
Mr. Cuccinelli’s inspiration appears to have been the conspiracy theorizing that emerged from the so-called Climategate scandal, in which global-warming opponents stole scientists’ e-mails — including a few of Mr. Mann’s — and then misinterpreted them to justify their activism.
Now that the Supreme Court has shut Mr. Cuccinelli down, what’s left is a range of consequences that can only hurt the commonwealth. The university had to raise nearly $600,000 for legal fees — money the cash-strapped university should have been able to use for something productive. On top of that are the public resources of the attorney general’s office that Mr. Cuccinelli wasted. Scientists in Virginia now have reason to wonder whether they will suffer similar pressure if they publish research government officials don’t like. And, because of some of the Supreme Court’s legal findings, the powers of the attorney general to pursue actual fraud have been clipped.
How many scientists will not want to work at UVA because of the climate of fear inspired by Cuccinelli? Virginia has a long history of enlightenment that goes back to the time of Jefferson, Washington, and even further. To have Cuccinelli try to ride his wave of anti-intellectual hocus pocus through the state at our expensive is simply unacceptable. Mr. Jefferson would not like his school under attack and Virginians are tired of this administration causing them continual embarrassment.
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied Virginia’s petition to have its lawsuit against federal health-care legislation bypass appellate review and be heard directly by the court.
As a result, the lawsuit will continue on its current path to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is scheduled to hear the case May 10 in Richmond.
It’s R on R. The Stewart/Cuccinelli saga plays on.
Corey Stewart, head bloody but unbowed, takes another poke or two at the Attorney General of Virginia, Ken Cuccinelli. Actually, it was a bit more than a poke. He compared the AG to a first year law student. This comparison is before he paints the AG as a ‘pro-Amnesty liberal.’
The opinion showed that that provision had the potential to “run afoul” of federal law.
The memo also stated that Stewart’s proposal also contained provisions similar to those found in Arizona’s illegal immigration law that were enjoined by federal court.
“He said that the federal district court’s decision in Arizona was binding on Virginia. That’s simply untrue. Any first-year law student would tell you that that’s incorrect,” Stewart said.
Ouch. Moving right along, one has to figure out how Corey Stewart, a mere county supervisor, is going to get legislation passed on an omnibus illegal immigration package after another state, Arizona, has brought on national attention, lawsuits, and injunctions from the federal courts. Perhaps, after all this, Stewart, who is not a state legislator, wasn’t planning anything really happening with the Virginia Rule of Law Campaign anyway.
That’s what we’re trying to do is take Prince William County’s policy and adopt it on a statewide basis,”Stewart said.
Stewart’s latest proposal contains considerably more provisions than the Prince William County resolution and Cuccinelli objected to many of those provisions, including one that allows a person’s immigration status to be allowed in any court.
So what is the Virginia Law of Rule Campaign then if all Corey is trying to do is find someone to pass the Prince William County resolution?
… the additional provisions were a list of various pieces of legislation introduced by various states across the nation.
“It was never meant to be introduced as legislation,” he said.
Stewart said he was surprised at the opposition from Cuccinelli’s office.
“I’m very disappointed. I run into a lot of opposition in fighting illegal immigration and almost all of that opposition comes from either pro-amnesty and the Washington Post and other liberals. I certainly didn’t expect this attack from the back by Cuccinelli,” Stewart said
So what is the Virginia Rule of Law Campaign really? What is Corey objecting to? Why is he sporting it around? If it wasn’t supposed to be legislation, what was it supposed to be? Perhaps it was just a fund-raising tool for Corey. If he put a bunch of BS and bluster out there, got people hooked and donating money, then he didn’t have to do anything with it at all. He could just take people’s money and keep feeding them bull.
So why the mock fighting with Cuccinelli? It’s just a plain ole pissin’ contest.
Wonders never cease to amaze us. Even a broken koo koo clock is right twice a day. It seems that Elena and Moon agree this one and only one time with AG Ken Cuccinelli. Over what, you might ask, knowing that the earth has not begun to rotate backwards and that something must be up.
It seems that the Office of the Attorney General has created a side by side response to Corey Stewart’s Virginia Rule of Law Campaign. The gods must not be happy because Corey got spanked– big time spanked.
There must be an internal war going on in the Virginian Republican Party, or perhaps, Cuccinelli just wants Corey Stewart out of his way since Corey has been making ‘higher office’ noises. The AG could have quietly gone to the state Republican higher ups and told them to kill Corey’s proposal before it ever got into the General Assembly. He could have easily told them that the governor didn’t like it, especially since Governor McDonnell has been rather stand-offish over the entire immigration issue.
But Cuccinelli didn’t let Corey Stewart’s baby bill die a quiet death. He did a public smack down and apparently the OAG released the comparison.
Obviously the AG sees the Virginia Rule of Law Campaign for exactly what it is: a cheap political ploy created to get Corey Stewart’s name in lights and usher him on in to higher state or national office. Corey should know he can’t ride that horse into town again and he is no Jan Brewer. Even the AG has limits on how many times he wants the state of Virginia to be sued.
[Note: the matrix showing side by side comparison was not issued by the OAG. That arrangement was made for comparison purposes.]
It appears that the AG sends a strong message implying that the Virginia Rule of Law Campaign verbage is simply a sloppily crafted piece of legislation. Stewart either violates the Virginia or U.S. Constitution or adds new laws we can’t afford at every turn. Cuccinelli points out each legal oversight, point by point.
So what caused Cucinelli to turn on Corey Stewart? Why would he shoot holes in Corey’s great claim to fame? Is this a case of clothes-lining (or in this case, piano-wiring) one’s politicial rival? Is this a rift in the Virginia Republican Party or is this just a general shake down? Will there be turf wars in Prince William County? Is Corey sufficiently embarrassed? Will he call on old friends to help him regain his political dignity?
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and his sidekick, Sideshow Bob (Marshall) have quite a dog and pony show going. Marshall asks a question of a controversial nature and AG answers it, thus setting the Old Dominion on a collision course with civil liberties each and every time. Does anyone notice a pattern?
Loudoun County’s controversial debate over public displays on the courthouse lawn now has the ear of Virginia’s top attorney.
State Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli on Aug. 24 issued an opinion saying Loudoun County can erect holiday Christmas displays on public property as long as the displays represent other faiths and beliefs.
The opinion came at the request of state Del. Bob Marshall (R-south-central Loudoun).
Rachel Maddow does an excellent job of showing how rights can be taken away by making whatever it is that people are trying to do inaccessible. Inaccessibility substitutes for making an act illegal. Its a rather cowardly, un-democratic means of getting one’s own political way. Maddow also interviews the executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Maddow explains how hospital regulations would financially burden abortion providers rather than making abortion safer (Double wide hallways, swinging doors, 15 mile proximity to emergency room, etc.) Cuccinelli’s explanation is vague and full of weasel words, so that the average Virginian really doesn’t know what is being said.
Cuccinelli attempted draconian, technically illegal abortion legislation while he served in the Virginia Senate. He was unable to ever pass his legislation. Now he attempts to circumvent legislation by simply declaring his opinion to be law. His attempts to codify his own opinion won’t fly for long.
Cuccinelli will not last. Most people don’t like having other people in their bedrooms. It remains to be seen if McDonnell will execute Cuccinelli’s opinion into state policy. Meanwhile, Cuccinelli has driven Virginia so far to the cultural right that he endangers other Republicans who might not be extremists.
Finally, Maddow addresses something the rest of us have been aware of for a long time. There is a tendency to bully those who are pro-choice. Many pro-choice people feel too intimidated to admit they are pro-choice, much less hold their legislators accountable for their votes. Every woman in Virginia must decide that the women of Virginia are capable of making their own morally appropriate choices. They need to decide today that they will not allow others to define them. Pro-choice is not being pro-abortion and do not let anyone tell you it is.
The Right Wing extremists are all howling with delight over their boy Ken Cuccinelli socking it to them thar femi-nazis…..the pro-aborts. It must be full moon. Let’s take a look at what their glee is over:
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has given a ruling that has the potential of skirting around legislation that the General Assembly as refused to enact since the early 1980’s. Attorney generals’ opinions are not legally binding, as court rulings are.
The latest stunt that AG Cuccinelli has pulled is filing an amicus brief on on behalf of Arizona, along with 8 other states. Bacon’s Rebellion Blogspot has an interesting take on the antics of the AG and just how much he is costing the commonwealth:
Sooner or later, someone is going to have to pay for the dogma-saturated legal forays of Kenneth Cuccinelli, Virginia’s firebrand Attorney General.
It’s a shame because hardly any of Cuccinelli’s high-profile legal actions seem to be worthy cases that protect citizens of the Old Dominion. Instead, his actions are aimed at firing up the hard-right fringes of the Republican Party and maybe dragging some in the center along as congressional elections approach this fall and General Assembly races follow next year.
Meanwhile, “The Cooch’s” legal initiatives are getting some substantial push-back and they are far from litigation slam-dunks.
