Cuccinelli Is Screwing Virginia Taxpayers

I have long argued that GOP gubernatorial candidate has always wanted Virginia taxpayers to be forced to help underwrite his campaign, hence his refusal to resign as attorney general as has it been the tradition in Virginia for decades.   Cuccinelli has wanted to draw a full time salary while working part time at best.  A new analysis of his schedule confirms that he has been campaigning - 74% of the time - more than he has been working - a mere 26% of the time.  The Virginian Pilot has details.  Here are highlights:

That same-day juxtaposition - attorney general in the morning, candidate in the afternoon - shows seesawing commitments that lately have tipped the balance of Cuccinelli's campaign.

A Virginian-Pilot analysis of Cuccinelli's office and campaign schedules for July, August and part of September suggests he has spent more time on the trail than behind his desk while earning a $150,000 annual state salary, plus health benefits for his nine-member family.

According to the schedules, he was in his office seven of 22 work days in July, four of 22 days in August, and just three of nine the first two weeks of September. That equates to roughly 26 percent of the total work days over that period.

Remaining attorney general while seeking higher office has given Cuccinelli a platform, but also been a nagging campaign issue, as evidenced by his physical absences.

The campaign also has been hampered by the gift scandal orbiting Cuccinelli and his office, as well as its role in a legal dispute between Southwest Virginia landowners and energy companies over natural gas payments. Those episodes allowed critics to cry conflict, charges Cuccinelli could have more easily avoided if he'd left office, and undercut an argument that McAuliffe is unscrupulous.

His decision proved a boon for Virginia Democrats already loaded to hit Cuccinelli for his views on gay rights, abortion and climate change, all demonstrated during his high-profile tenure as attorney general. They have hounded him since January to resign - a state tradition followed by the six prior attorneys general who ran for governor - and they gained ammunition when he stayed.

Cuccinelli is a self-centered extremist (a trait he shares with his supporters at The Family Foundation) and it sounds like he needs to return a huge chunk of his pay check back to Virginia tax payers.

Ken Cuccinelli's False Attacks on Terry McAuliffe

Cuccinelli = Dishonest Liar

In the 2013 Virginia gubernatorial contest, there is lots of real evidence of Ken Cuccinelli's ethical failures and influence peddling: $18,000 in gifts from Jonnie R. Williams, Sr., stock dealings in Star Scientific, $100,000 from the parent of an energy company that received improper legal assistance from the attorney general's office in a lawsuit with Virginia landowners and tax payers, etc.  And then there are all of Cuccinelli's frivolous lawsuits that have gone down in flames squandering Virginia taxpayer resources in the process.  Oh, and then there's the significant growth of the AG's office under Mr. Small Government Cuccinelli.  What does one do if you are Cuccinelli?  Attack his opponent with innuendo and claim that there's fire of scandal where there isn't any.  If Cuccinelli's lips are moving, it is safet to assume he's lying. A column in the Washington Post looks at Cuccinelli's dishonest attacks on McAuliffe.  Here are excerpts:

My first concern is the furor over Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe’s misadventure with GreenTech Automotive, which makes small electric cars in Northern Mississippi after skipping past Virginia during its search for a plant site.

The campaign of Republican contender Kenneth Cuccinelli is making  a lot of hay over some rather vague accusations’ involving McAuliffe, and that seems to be as much as they have on Terry. The New York Times and The Post have weighed in with stories about the car company and a related financial firm that involves Hillary Rodham Clinton’s brother.

Basically, McAuliffe got into business with a man named Charles Wang to build little battery-powered cars. Part of the strategy involved getting visas for some business people from China under a legal program that has been around for about two decades. McAuliffe may have done a bit of informal lobbying to expedite the visa processs, as far as I can tell.

In sum, at least from what we know so far, McAuliffe got involved in a business that didn’t live up to expectations. He should have told voters he’d bailed on the firm sooner than he did.

A little perspective. There are lots of business problems out there. Here in Richmond, the region lost some big companies during the Great Recession, including mass retailer Circuit City, mortgage firm Land America and chip-maker Qimondo. The Post has such financial problems that it is being bought by Jeff Bezos of Amazon.

Where’s the smoking gun in these cases?

And then, as noted above and in the column, there's Cuccinelli's own record:

The attorney general bought stock in a firm involved in a tax case his office was prosecuted. He did not immediately disclose the holding. He also accepted $18,000 in gifts from the owner of the firm . . .  One of his assistants was criticized by a federal judge for acting as an advocate for two large energy companies in a legal battle over natural gas rights. One of the firms is a major contributor to Cuccinelli’s campaign.

Nothing here is going to send Cuccinelli to jail, but how do McAuliffe’s problems with GreenTech measure up as ethical transgressions when compared to Cuccinelli’s?

The fact is, they don’t, barring more revelations about GreenTech.