Saturday, March 13, 2010

Cuccinelli Flips McDonnell the Finger - and Contradicts AG's Office in Moore Case

I have stated on a number of occasions that in my opinion Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is certifiably insane. He is utterly unable to disconnect his religious extremist fantasies from objective reality and hopefully will, sooner or later, do something so off the wall that he finds himself impeached and thrown out of office. In an effort to stop worldwide mockery of the Commonwealth of Virginia (including Jon Stewart's "Gaywatch - the Virginia Addition"), Gov. Bob McDonnell signed Executive Directory 1 (2010) which included statements 100% contrary to both his own prior opinions and statements not to mention Cuccinelli's March 4, 2010 missive to public colleges and universities. One would think that Cuccinelli would have gotten the message after his "public spanking" as one news report described it, but that would be a mistake. Instead, Cuccinelli on his own initiative or on the directions of The Family Foundation reaffirmed his anti-gay policy to colleges and universities. While I do not trust Bob McDonnelll whatsoever, he is not certifiably crazy and it may turn out to be Cuccinelli who is the one ultimately spells the death knell for McDonnell's ambitions for higher office. Here are highlights from the Washington Post on Cuccinelli's continued lunacy:
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Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II said Friday that it remains his legal advice that the state's public colleges and universities should remove language dealing with sexual orientation from campus anti-discrimination policies.
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Cuccinelli (R) said he continues to believe that the institutions are limited in their ability to adopt such policies without authority from the General Assembly. The legislature has repeatedly declined to put legal protections for gay men and lesbians into Virginia code. "What I said in my March 4 letter was accurate advice under Virginia law, and it still stands," Cuccinelli said in brief comments to reporters . . .
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Cuccinelli said he does not contest one of the McDonnell directive's central legal conclusions: that discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation violates the U.S. Constitution, which courts have found protects individuals against irrational bias.
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Jon Blair, executive director of the gay rights advocacy group Equality Virginia asked McDonnell on Friday to appoint a special counsel to enforce his directive. Blair said Cuccinelli's position on the issue makes him and his staff unable to offer legal services on the issue. In a letter to the governor, Blair thanked McDonnell for his directive, which he called a "real step forward," but asked that governor go beyond what Blair termed its "largely symbolic promise" by pushing for legal protections in Virginia code
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Given that Cuccinelli concedes McDonnell's point on the U. S. Constitution barring discrimination based on sexual orientation, it will be most interesting to see what the AG's office argues on March 31, 2010, in Moore v. Virginia Museum of Natural History. That concession is 108 degrees opposite of the AG's office's stance in its briefs and other filings in the Moore case. Does this statement by Cuccinelli mean his office is going to retract its statements in Moore? Obviously, he cannot have it both ways.

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