{ the Confounding Conserv a tive}
determining life or death based on only circumstantial evidence,” he says. “I just believe we have to be absolutely sure be- fore we authorize the state to take a life.”
Monday is karaoke night at Blues BBQ in Roanoke. About 30 people are in the joint, sampling the bourbon selection, when a tall, slim guy in a suit takes the microphone. And starts rapping.
Now what you hear is not a test — I’m rappin’ to the beat! ... Well it’s on ’n’ on ’n’ on ’n’ on The beat don’t stop until the break of dawn.
“He had a smile on his face, and he
was boogieing while he was singing,” re- calls head chef Bobby Middaugh. “He added his own little hand ges-
tures,” says Chris Zaluski, who was then an online editor for the Roanoke Times. Whenever he encounters a karaoke
system, Cuccinelli asks for that song of his U-Va. days, “Rapper’s Delight.” Usu- ally it’s not available. On this spring night — in town for a stop at a food bank and a visit with supporters — he’s in luck. Cuccinelli points flamboyantly around the room as he raps:
I like to say hello To the black, to the white, the red, and the brown, the purple and yellow.
It’s a rare night off from his packed
schedule. Two weeks before, he filed the health-care lawsuit. Two weeks hence, he would demand the climate change professor’s records from U-Va. Lately, some of Cuccinelli’s detractors have been arguing that he’s an “activist” attorney general, embarked on a canny cultural crusade. “He has a very clearly defined set of beliefs and values, and the attor- ney general’s office gives him all these tools to vindicate that agenda and carry out those values,” says Claire Guthrie Gastañaga, a former Virginia deputy at- torney general and legislative counsel for Equality Virginia, the gay rights advo- cacy group. The charge gets Cuccinelli going. The attorney general’s office is “reactive,” he
insists. On his sporadic road trips around the state, as on the one to Roanoke, he takes the opportunity to make his case, campaign-style — at chamber lunches, church gatherings, charity galas. On the health-care lawsuit: Requir-
ing Americans to buy health insurance is like forcing them to buy Chevrolets. “Since the government has a little stake in GM, that might not be such a bad deal for them,” he cracks. “If we don’t beat this back, we lose an incredibly es- sential element for our protection.” Some mainstream constitutional
scholars agree. “In order for this law to be upheld under a challenge, the court would have to adopt an interpretation that would allow almost any federal claim to satisfy the standard of inter- state commerce,” says Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington Uni- versity Law School. “What would be left of states’ rights?” On the gay nondiscrimination opin-
ion: In response to requests for guidance from at least one campus, Cuccinelli’s March 4 letter to all state colleges and universities said they could not bar discrimination against homosexuals because the General Assembly has de- clined to define sexual orientation as part of a protected class. Previous at- torneys general of both parties have held that local governments could not enact similar nondiscrimination poli- cies for the same reason. Cuccinelli’s letter caused an uproar and prompted Gov. McDonnell to issue an executive directive saying he would not tolerate discrimination. The governor simul- taneously endorsed Cuccinelli’s legal reasoning. Cuccinelli sounds contrite. For Cuccinelli. “Could we have dragged our feet and
made it take longer? Yes. Should we have? Yes. Should it have been written less like somebody who’s a cold-blooded, objective engineer wrote it? Yes. The one thing we got right in there was: the law.” Cuccinelli also has defended an-
other controversial decision: In May, he resolved to keep $55,500 donated to his campaign last year by a direc- tor of the United States Navy Veterans Association, a charity now under in-
20 The WashingTon PosT Magazine | august 1, 2010
vestigation in Virginia. Cuccinelli stood alone in a storm of mostly Democratic attacks, saying there had been no proof of wrongdoing, while other politicians from both parties transferred their do- nations to other veterans’ charities. After a month, he relented, partly: He put the money into a restricted account until the investigation is complete. Generating less attention have been
actions that fit the image of a conserva- tive crusader about as well as a white guy in a business suit rapping that the “chicken tastes like wood.” He submitted a brief in a suit de-
fending George Mason University’s ban of guns from campus. The brief con- jured hypothetical cases of guns being used to intimidate faculty and students. Cuccinelli says he was merely fulfill- ing his duty to mount a zealous defense of his client, but the rhetoric was con- sidered highly insulting by pro-gun activists, who are among Cuccinelli’s strongest supporters. “Et tu, Cuccinelli?” Philip Van Cleave,
president of the Virginia Citizens De- fense League, responded angrily at the time. In an interview, he adds: “If win- ning a case means defaming a friend, would you do it? Morally, where is the line you draw that you can’t cross to win at any cost?” In another matter, Cuccinelli finds
himself in a 48-2 minority of attorneys general nationwide. He and his counter- part in Maine refused to sign an amicus
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152