Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli wants to be the state’s next governor. But he has been dogged by an ethics scandal involving gifts he received from the head of a company that has sued the state. So last week, Cuccinelli tried to put the issue to rest by saying he’d contribute $18,000 — the value of his questionable gifts — to a medical charity, saying, “I’m trying to wipe the slate clean here so we can focus on what’s gonna matter in people’s lives in Virginia in the next four years.”
Of course, Cuccinelli’s contribution doesn’t magically wipe away questions about his character. And there’s plenty of other evidence for Virginians to consider about the character of his record, and what four years of Cuccinelli as governor could do for — or rather to — the state.
If Ken Cuccinelli wants to convince Virginia voters that he’s not going to govern as a right-wing culture warrior, he’ll have to do more than trying to “wipe the slate clean” on his ethical standards. He’ll have to erase from the public record his own extreme record. And that will be a lot harder than writing a check.
Cuccinelli says his campaign is focused on jobs and the economy, but his extreme record as a state legislator and attorney general makes it clear that he considers himself commander-in-chief of the Religious Right’s culture warriors.
He has bullied members of the Board of Health into adopting his anti-choice extremism. He has smeared and tried to defund Planned Parenthood. He even slams comprehensive sex education programs. As the Washington Post noted this week, he “was instrumental in ensuring that new regulations will result in the closure of many of the state’s abortion clinics.”
As a state senator, Cuccinelli was one of a handful of sponsors of an unconstitutional “personhood” bill that would have criminalized many common forms of contraception. Cuccinelli hasn’t disavowed his support for “personhood” bills or their goal of making abortion illegal. But as a candidate for governor, he is trying to distance himself from the effects such legislation would have on women and families in Virginia. He claims that such legislation, which would grant legal rights to an egg at the moment it is fertilized by a sperm, wouldn’t interfere with access to birth control. He is not telling the truth…
