Cuccinelli Refuses to Answer Voters on His Aid To Gas Companies Against Taxpayers

In addition to his own Jonnie R. Williams, Sr./Star Scientific bribes gifts scandal, Ken Cuccinelli has another problem which seemingly will not go away: his office's improper assistance to gas companies in a civil lawsuit where Virginia landowners are seeking to recover millions in gas royalties they have been shortchanged on.  While Kookinelli denies any connection, the parent company of one of the gas company litigants just happened to give Kookinelli over $100,000.00.  Was it a pay back?  Was it a bribe?  Kookinelli will not say and stormed out of a forum when reports continued to ask about the linkage between the money and his office's improper conduct in a civil litigation matter.  Worse yet, Kookinelli had State Troopers stop reporters from approaching him.   

As noted in prior posts, I once was in a law firm that represented a who's who of oil companies in Alabama.  Later, I was in-house counsel for an oil and gas company.  Never, ever in any of the litigation that I experienced did we receive assistance from the office of a state attorney general in civil lawsuits over royalties. NEVER, EVER.  In my view, this is a huge story and Kookinelli needs to be forced to answer reporters' questions.  If not, a formal investigation needs to be launched.

Huffington Post has details and a video clip of Kookinelli refusing to give Virginians an answer about the seeming linkage between his office's conduct and large money donations.  Here are highlights:

• After siding with Consol Energy in a dispute regarding gas royalties for Virginia landowners, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli received over $100,000 [1] from Consol Energy and its subsidiaries. Our question for Mr. Cuccinelli is simple - given the conflicts of interest in taking money from a company involved in a lawsuit with landowners, will he give the money back?
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• The Checks and Balances Project (C&BP) attended a forum yesterday with Mr. Cuccinelli at George Mason University's Koch-funded Mercatus Center and which was organized by fossil fuel front group, Consumer Energy Alliance.
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• After the forum, Mr. Cuccinelli took a few questions from reporters before abruptly walking off after C&BP asked about the more than $100,000 he has received from Consol.  Here's what happened:
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• C&BP: "You've received over $100,000 from Consol Energy since you sided with them? Will you give that money back?
  
  Mr. Cuccinelli: "I did not receive $100,000 since I sided with them. I received $100,000 in contributions since I opposed them.
  
  Mike Stark (from FossilAgenda.com): Then why did they give you $100,000?
  
  Cuccinelli: I'm the only candidate who's proposed a solution to the gas. [inaudible]
  C&BP: I've heard you say that before... but do you...
  
  Cuccinelli: If you don't have an actual question, thank you very much. [Ends press conference after only five reporters out of approximately 30 had asked questions.]
  
  C&BP attempted to get an answer after the press conference before one of the two state troopers escorting Mr. Cuccinelli stopped C&BP from walking towards the Attorney General to ask the question.

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• The Virginia landowners who Mr. Cuccinelli has sided against have already asked him to give the money back and C&BP asked him again yesterday. He reacted by walking away from a press conference. Mr. Cuccinelli should answer the question - and clean up any potential conflicts of interest by returning campaign payments from Consol Energy and its subsidiaries, which are currently embroiled in a lawsuit with Virginia landowners.
  

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• [1] Mr. Cuccinelli accepted more than $140,000 in Consol contributions after issuing an advisory opinion as Attorney General that limited the jurisdiction of Virginia Gas and Oil Board in June 2010.  That opinion marked the first of several Consol-friendly actions Mr. Cuccinelli has taken as Virginia's Attorney General. Two months later, in August 2010, Mr. Cuccinelli sided with Consol and against Virginians in a lawsuit to recover improperly withheld royalties. Finally, Mr. Cuccinelli, went to bat for Consol again earlier this year when he issued another advisory opinion that local jurisdictions in Virginia may not use zoning laws to establish a moratorium on fracking until they can be sure their water tables will not be polluted.