Cuccinelli wastes taxpayer money...again

June 27, 2012

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports, "A legal challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency's greenhouse gas regulations by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, energy industry groups and several other states was rejected Tuesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. The three-judge panel, composed of one Republican and two Democratic appointees, ruled that the EPA was 'unambiguously correct' in using existing federal law to address global warming. 'This is how science works,' the unsigned opinion said."

Progressive Point: Virginians expect our Attorney General to spend his time making our lives better--focusing on crime prevention and consumer protection. Instead of doing his job, Ken Cuccinelli has used the Attorney General's office to chase frivolous and ideological lawsuits with our taxpayer dollars. But even after the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington flatly rejected his crusade against the EPA, Ken Cuccinelli is still determined to spend our taxes on his own partisan priorities rather than doing his job.

Most Virginians would get the message if a three-judge panel told them the EPA was "unambiguously correct" in addressing global warming and, "this is how science works." By using his office for his personal agenda, Ken Cuccinelli is neglecting the job he was elected to do--represent the Commonwealth and the people of Virginia. Ken Cuccinelli shouldn't have to be told how science or democracy works.

Get the Facts:

• Yesterday's decision also comes just two days before a ruling on another ideological lawsuit for which Ken Cuccinelli is also using the office of Virginia Attorney General. Tomorrow the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on health care reform legislation which Cuccinelli is also using taxpayer dollars to challenge. (Richmond Times-Dispatch, June 27, 2012)


• Cuccinelli has also used the office of the Attorney General to influence the regulatory process of women's health clinics in order to, in effect, end a woman's right to choose and access to safe and legal abortion services in the Commonwealth. (Virginia Coalition to Protect Women's Health, December 3, 2011)


• In another ideologically centered case where Ken Cuccinelli abused the powers of his office to pursue political priorities, he used his office to launch a two-year investigation into a professor at UVA where he put, "himself and his opinions above thousands of conscientious Virginians who are trying to maintain our wonderful streams, forests, oceans, and summer days for our children and grandchildren -- and that's elitist... A UVA professor named Michael Mann believes human activity is driving global warming. Ken Cuccinelli does not -- or, at least, the big donors, national extremists, and Tea Partyers who he likes to cater to don't. So Cuccinelli decided that because Professor Mann (an employee of a public university) was a beneficiary of taxpayer dollars, that his research (which Cuccinelli disagreed with) was 'fraudulent' -- and that the Attorney General's office could subpoena Mann's emails and records to prove the fraud. It was a breathtaking overreach, a plain abuse of power." (New Dominion Project, March 12, 2012)


• Also regarding the UVA case, "The university had to raise nearly $600,000 for legal fees -- money the cash-strapped university should have been able to use for something productive. On top of that are the public resources of the attorney general's office that Mr. Cuccinelli wasted." (Washington Post, March 11, 2012)


• Cuccinelli is also refusing to resign from office while he simultaneously runs for Governor. "Having announced his intention to run for governor, Mr. Cuccinelli (R) is bucking more than 60 years of bipartisan Virginia history by refusing to do the right thing and resign. Instead, he is insisting on remaining the state's top lawyer 'until the last day of my term,' even as he holds fundraisers, attends events and campaigns for governor. Thus Mr. Cuccinelli will inevitably further politicize his office, adding a partisan cast to every significant move it makes." (Washington Post, December 7, 2011)

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