Ken Cuccinelli has run the most disciplined campaign of all the candidates, keeping teh crazy – his own and that of his supporters – under wraps. If you don’t follow politics closely – and let’s face it, few do – then you’d have no idea just how far out he is. On the surface, he’s a good looking, likable guy.
The quote above, though, comes from David Lampo, Vice President of the Log Cabin Republican Club of Virginia, in an op-ed piece published on the Augusta Free Press.
No real libertarian has a record (like Mr. Cuccinelli does) of
- Opposition to repealing the state sodomy law, even though it was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court
- Opposition to allowing private companies to offer health and life insurance benefits to domestic partners of their employees
- Opposition to prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation for state and local government employees
- Opposition to allowing local governments to choose what benefits they give their local employees
- Opposition to any kind of legal protections for gay and lesbian couples, even the limited rights embodied in domestic partnerships or civil unions
- Support for banning gay/straight alliances in public high schools
- Support for state funding of abstinence programs
This comes on the heels of a statement issued earlier Wednesday, a copy of which was sent to the Washington Post.
“That Mr. Cuccinelli would make such incendiary and prejudicial remarks as a candidate for the state’s highest legal office is truly frightening, and we call on him to apologize for injecting his personal and hateful opinions into this race,” said David Lampo, vice president of the Log Cabin Republican Club of Virginia. “The overwhelming majority of Virginia voters, 90 percent according to Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio, support a policy of employment nondiscrimination for state employees. We hope voters evaluate very carefully a candidate who intends to let his personal beliefs and prejudices guide his decision making as Attorney General.”
Prompting this outrage from a member of his own party was a statement Cuccinelli made to The Virginian-Pilot and which was included in the paper’s editorial:
He [Cuccinelli] declined to commit to a nondiscrimination policy against gays and lesbians observed by former Attorney General Bob McDonnell: “ My view is that homosexual acts, not homosexuality, but homosexual acts are wrong. They’re intrinsically wrong. And I think in a natural law based country it’s appropriate to have policies that reflect that. … They don’t comport with natural law. I happen to think that it represents (to put it politely; I need my thesaurus to be polite) behavior that is not healthy to an individual and in aggregate is not healthy to society.”
Just yesterday, I was talking to a Republican friend of mine who knew nothing about Cooch and had met him at a local meet-and-greet. He hadn’t seen the Pilot editorial but at my urging, was going to take a look at it.
(Rant on: my friend’s a pretty smart fellow. But he knew more about the candidates in the NY-23 race than he knew about the candidates in Virginia! When I talked to him about redistricting, he had little clue about what it meant. But then we talked about his own House representative and he complained about his rep being primarily in the adjoining city of Portsmouth. I explained to him how that came about: Republican redistricting in 2001 to get rid of his previous representative. So much so that representative no longer even had a district. All of a sudden, redistricting made sense to him. If the smart folks aren’t paying attention to our politics, heaven helps us all. /rant)
Wednesday, Democratic AG candidate Steve Shannon sent a letter to Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell, asking that Cuccinelli recant the position he laid out to the Pilot editorial board. I doubt McDonnell will do so, for two reasons.
One – despite McDonnell has said that he doesn’t believe in discrimination against gays and lesbians, as this Pilot editorial mentioned, McDonnell has no intention of renewing Executive Order #1, either.
He has promised to end an executive order prohibiting employment discrimination based on sexual orientation within the state work force.
And two – McDonnell knows that Cuccinelli supporters will help drive his own numbers up.
The record on Cuccinelli is clear:
- The Washington Post cautions that Cuccinelli “peddles outmoded, half-baked and prejudicial theories about homosexuals.”
- The Roanoke Times says “Cuccinelli is a crusader against a woman’s right to choose, gay rights, workers and any effort to confront climate change.”
- And, of course, the Virginian-Pilot points out that “Cuccinelli’s election would bring embarrassment to Virginia, instability to the state’s law firm and untold harm to the long list of people who don’t fit his personal definition of morality.”
For once I agree with the Log Cabin Republicans: the future of our party demands that Cuccinelli be defeated. Actually, the future of Virginia demands that he be defeated.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
I’d rather have him than someone who doesn’t have a clue what the AG does. Shannon didn’t know the divisions of the office. Shannon didn’t think the special session was necessary. Shannon called for Hamilton to resign; obviously doesn’t realize he would have to recuse himself if he ever were to win the election.
Cooch may believe all those things, but I guarantee you he will uphold the laws as they are written. Shannon doesn’t even know what the law is.
You sometimes seem to be a reasonable guy, Max, and then you write the crap above.
So Cooch can sprout off the names of the office divisions. BFD. Naming them doesn’t mean you understand what each division does.
And my understanding is that you guys are wrong on the Hamilton thing.
None of that matters.
Cooch has said he will NOT uphold a law he doesn’t agree with. So how can you guarantee that he will, when he says he won’t?
Shannon lies, he tells the people in SW Va that he will uphold the right to own and carry guns and tell the Liberals of Northen VA that he will fight for gun control, That is all the proof I need to know who Shannon really is! Women want to right to kill the unborm, gays want whatever rights, What about my rights? I believe in the right to life for all, I believe in marriage 1 man 1 womman. Who is standing up for what is right not what you want.This nation has become a nation that it is all about “I”, not what is right. They want laws passed to protect whatever they want today, what will it be in a week, maybe they should be able to marry two men or two women. It is not about what feels good to you today. It is about what is right. Do you not know right from wrong. I do. Don’t get me wrong! I do not hate anyone, it is not about not likeing someone’s life style. That is their choice but don’t ask me to support it.
When your posed with a simple question and instead go back to the 04 budget and refuse to answer the question, it looks pretty bad. I know you have seen the video. Ken clearly understands that criminal proceedings are only a small part of the AG office.
As for Hamilton. Steve doesn’t understand it at all. Hes running to be AG. Cooch never called for Hamilton to resign because he knows the AG is the one who may have to decide the outcome of this case. Shannon calling for him to resign means he must recuse himself from the matter if he wins.
If Shannon knew what was going on and he really cared about having justice, he would have kept his mouth shut until he won and then prosecuted Hamilton to the full extent of the law. As it is right now, if Shannon wins, he won’t be able to play any part in the case.
Shannon’s so called bill to solve Melende-diaz would have actually made the problem worse, he said Cooch voted against it when it never came out of committee, and he called the special sessions unnecessary and a political stunt. Thats strike 3 as far as knowing what the job of the AG is.
As for, “Cooch has said he will NOT uphold a law he doesn’t agree with. So how can you guarantee that he will, when he says he won’t?” I do recall him saying that, so you’re right, I can’t guarantee it. I just feel strongly that someone who actually understands the job will do better than someone who thinks the entire job of the AG is public safety.
You are repeating Republican talking points, Max. There are a lot of people who disagree with the interpretation that Shannon is wrong to have spoken out on the Hamilton matter.
As for Melendez-Diaz, Cooch was right to call for a special session. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. But the “fix,” as I understand it, wasn’t a real fix and will likely have to be done again.
That someone would serve as the top lawyer for ALL of the people of VA and refuse to uphold any law he decides is not only unconscionable, but illegal. That is a greater threat to our democracy than anything.
Come on now Vivian, you are the master of Dem talking points!
Well, Mr. Lampo is entitled to his opinion — they’re like a**holes, something else with which Mr. Lampo is undoubtedly intimately familiar — but he’s not entitled to oppose a Republican nominee for public office in the ensuing election and persist in calling himself a “Republican,” by definition.
Shannon is running for the position of Commonwealth’s Attorney, not the Attorney General of Virginia. Shannon should have spent some time reading about what the role of AG was before he decided to run for the position.
I don’t think Shannon needs to find out what the AG does. Its not like he will ever be AG.