Cuccinelli the Corrector

In his five months in office, Virginia’s new attorney general has been a consistent headline-maker. Ken Cuccinelli, who was sworn in on Jan. 16, has already become a national celebrity on the newsy cable television shows.

In the past, Virginia’s attorneys general may have been hard-nosed and partisan when provoked by events, but Cuccinelli’s fights, so far, have been handpicked. Yes, Cuccinelli, 41, seems to have some new ideas about the role an AG should play.

• Feb. 17: Calling the Environmental Protection Agency’s science "unreliable, unverifiable and doctored," Cuccinelli challenged the authority of the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in Virginia. How he will overturn decades of science remains to be seen.


• March 4: Cuccinelli sent out letters to Virginia’s universities, saying they lack the authority to enforce nondiscrimination policies protecting gays. That, while the State Code appears to give the schools’ boards of visitors quite a bit of freedom to set a wide range of policies. Cuccinelli contends only the General Assembly can grant that particular authority.


• March 23: Cuccinelli filed a lawsuit asserting that the much-debated, just-passed healthcare bill is unconstitutional. In the suit Cuccinelli asserts that when the new law requires Virginians to buy health insurance it oversteps the federal government’s power. 


• April 23: Once again going after what he contends is bogus science, Cuccinelli directed the University of Virginia to send him documents having to do with grant-funded research on climate change conducted by scientist Michael Mann, while he was at the university (1999-2005). Mann is now at Penn State, acting as the director of the Earth System Science Center.


• May 1: In a move that drew much attention from pundits and comedians, Cuccinelli unveiled his alternative to the current state seal, which appears on the state flag. The familiar image depicts Virtus (the Roman goddess of virtue), with one breast exposed — Amazonian style — standing triumphantly over Tyranny. Cuccinelli handed out new lapel pins to members of his staff which featured art that had Virtus’ chest covered with armor.

On the state seal brouhaha, political scientist Larry Sabato’s comments appeared in stories, coast-to-coast, via the Associated Press wire. "When you ask to be ridiculed, it usually happens. And it will happen here, nationally," Sabato said. "This is classical art, for goodness’ sake."

How unusual has Cuccinelli’s proactive style been? When in Virginia history has an attorney general of either political party ever been as aggressive as Cuccinelli in pursuing a preconceived agenda?

"He's the most visible Virginia AG since Massive Resistance," opined political scientist Bob Holsworth. "I think that you have to look elsewhere to find similar agenda-driven AGs — perhaps a conservative Andrew Cuomo?"

At www.cuccinelli.com, a viewer of the website is asked to sign a petition and donate money: "Please make a contribution today and help us carry our common sense conservative message to Richmond."

It seems that in spite of his victory, Cuccinelli is still on the campaign trail. Why would he be raising money now?

Cuccinelli is the fifth straight Republican attorney general. The last Democrat was Stephen D. Rosenthal, who finished out the final months of Mary Sue Terry’s term, when she resigned to run for governor in 1993. All the AGs since Terry have also resigned in their term’s last year to run for governor. Two of them, Jim Gilmore and Bob McDonnell, were successful.

So, it’s fair to assume Cuccinelli is considering a gubernatorial run, too. Whether the sitting AG will stand aside in 2013, to let Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling have a clear path to run for governor, remains to be seen. That's what is supposed to happen, but we'll see. Meanwhile, with Sen. Jim Webb’s U.S. Senate seat up for grabs in 2012, Cuccinelli may have his eye on something other than the Governor's Mansion.

However, to find Cuccinelli’s counterpart in history, perhaps we need to look further back in time, all the way back to a colorful 18th century figure — Alexander Cruden (1699-1770). Cruden is better known by his self-imposed nickname, Alexander the Corrector. Perhaps chief among his noteworthy corrections was his rewriting of the Bible, known as Cruden’s Concordance. But he hardly stopped there.

Born in Scotland, Cruden started out as a proofreader and bookseller. Eventually, he came to see it as his duty to protect all of England from bad spelling, incorrect grammar and moral decay. He abhorred signs that displayed what he saw as mistakes or vulgar notions. For years he regularly trudged around with a wet sponge handy to wipe offensive graffiti off of city walls.

Not surprisingly, Alexander the Corrector lost his freedom to move about, from time to time. But his defenders saw him as a misunderstood genius, so he had a following.

It’s easy to believe Cruden would have approved of Cuccinelli’s correction to make Virtus’ outfit less revealing.

However, fashion statements aside, if Cuccinelli wins one of his long-shot legal battles he may well get the last laugh. Because of his pedal-to-the-metal style, he’s already a hero to many in the right-wing of the Republican Party, as well as Tea Party activists. Should he succeed in shooting legal holes in the science behind the EPA’s regulations regarding climate change, or knock out aspects of the Democrats’ new healthcare package, he will become an instant superstar.

However Cuccinelli’s battles turn out, it’s clear that he saw his election as a mandate to continue pursuing the distinctly conservative goals he had enunciated consistently throughout his career as a state senator (2002-10).

Whether one agrees with him or not, Cuccinelli is basically doing what he said he would do.