You can always depend on Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli - or Kookinelli as he is less than affectionately referred to by Virginian's embarrassed by Cuccinelli's lunacy and ongoing generation of negative press for the state - to do two things: (1) take action and make moves to get his name in the press and (2) bash and denigrate LGBT citizens whenever possible. Keeping with his past conduct, Kookinelli utilized the foolish missteps of Atlanta based law firm King & Spaulding and defense of DOMA to get his name in the press and send yet another message that LGBT citizens are not welcome and certainly will not be afforded civil law equality on his watch as Virginia Attorney General. I'm sure Kookinelli's stunt played well with the coven of Christianists at The Family Foundation - Daddy Dobson's Virginia affiliate - even though rational and sentient Virginians are shaking their heads in dismay. Kookinelli talks about Virginia needing firms that are committed, yet its Kookinelli in my opinion that needs to be committed - to a mental institution. Both the Huffington Post and the Washington Examiner have highlights on Kookinelli's latest batshitery. First this from Huffington Post:*
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) is terminating his office's relationship with law firm King & Spalding after the firm decided to drop its defense of the controversial Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) last week.
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"King & Spalding's willingness to drop a client, the U.S. House of Representatives, in connection with the lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was such an obsequious act of weakness that I feel compelled to end your legal association with Virginia so that there is no chance that one of my legal clients will be put in the embarrassing and difficult situation like the client you walked away from, the House of Representatives," Cuccinelli wrote to firm partner Joseph Lynch in a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner.
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According to the letter, Cuccinelli said: "Virginia does not shy away from hiring outside counsel because they may have ongoing professional relationships with people or entities, or on behalf of causes that I, or my office, or Virginia as a whole may not support. But it is crucial for us to be able to trust and rely on the fact that our outside counsel will not desert Virginia due to pressure by an outside group or groups."
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"Virginia seeks firms of committment, [sic] courage, strength and toughness, and unfortunately, what the world has learned of King & Spalding, is that your firm utterly lacks such qualities," he added, according to the Washington Examiner. He also said that the firm would not be able to reapply for special counsel status for the state of Virginia as long as he was attorney general.
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The Washington Examiner adds these following highlights:
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A copy of the letter was made available to The Washington Examiner. A request from the newspaper for a response has been emailed to [Joseph] Lynch [at King & Spaulding].
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As Attorney General, Cuccinelli represents Virginia state agencies in court in the same attorney- client relationship as a private individual who retains a lawyer to represent him in a legal case.
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The firm had been retained by the Virginia AG's office Sept. 15, 2009. Cuccinelli said the firm was being terminated "effective immediately."
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It is noteworthy that the AG's office has only utilized King & Spaulding since 2009 and - having bid on AG office RFP's in the past myself while in a former law firm - most legal work goes to Richmond, Virginia based mega firms that perennially under bid other firms to keep their strangle hold on the state's legal business.
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