Cuccinelli Pleads Impotence To Charges Of Dereliction

Originally Posted At Revolution PAC
By Lawrence A. Hunter, Ph.D
September 12, 2012

Colonel Klink:  Schultz, into the cooler they go. Throw away the key.
Carter:   Don't we get a trial or anything?
Colonel Klink: This is Germany although I do appreciate your sense of humor.
     ~ Hogan’s Heroes TV Show

Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli says he is powerless to see justice done in the Brandon J. Raub case.  In a response to Revolution PAC’s letter demanding that he take action to prosecute and bring to justice rogue law-enforcement and judicial officials who kidnapped and attempted to “disappear” Mr. Raub into Virginia’s psychiatric gulag, Mr Cuccinelli’s office pleaded impotence and in so doing sounded remarkably like Sergeant Schultz from the old Hogan’s Heroes TV show—“I see nothing; I know nothing.”  (We still await the AG’s response to our FOIA request.)

Although the Virginia Attorney General is a constitutional officer of the executive branch of Commonwealth Government, second in line to the governorship and titular chief law-enforcement officer of the state, it seems he has very little actual power and is a virtual figurehead when it comes to overseeing law enforcement in Virginia—more a politician in waiting for the governorship than a real attorney general. As Mr. Cuccinelli’s Director of Communications informed me:

“The Attorney General of Virginia has no legal authority to investigate or charge public officials—local, state, or federal—involved in the temporary detention of Brandon Raub.  If any official involved violated Virginia or federal laws in the process, only a local commonwealth's attorney (for violations of Virginia law) or federal law enforcement officials (for violations of federal law) have the authority to investigate and prosecute.”

Although Mr. Cuccinelli has not been reticent in the past to make full use of his bully pulpit on such issues as abortion or to issue advisory opinions affecting the administration of justice in the Commonwealth of Virginia, he pleads impotency when it comes to standing up for the constitutional rights of Virginia citizens to be safe and secure from lawless, Gestapo-like attacks by state judicial and law-enforcement officials acting in conspiracy with federal agents who use Virginia officials as their cat’s-paw in the Old Dominion. 

Neither did the Attorney General, the man who would be Governor of Virginia, offer his good offices to the people of Virginia to help ensure that the outrage perpetrated against Mr. Raub not be swept under the rug or flushed down the memory hole.  The AG’s PR flack rejected this cup of responsibility for Mr. Cuccinelli on the grounds that the Attorney General’s unswerving personal commitment not to exceed his constitutional and legal authority precludes him from getting involved in the Raub case.

“As you know, Attorney General Cuccinelli has pushed back several times in court against the federal government for exceeding its constitutional and legal authority.  He has also been consistent that this principle applies to him, as well.  For that reason, he cannot exceed the authority granted to him and the Office of the Attorney General in this matter to do what you suggest he do.”

Let me translate this bureaucratese:  “Gee, I’d love to get involved in protecting Virginians from oppressive and tyrannical government, of which I am a part, but my hands are tied, don’t you know, and I don’t want to overstep my authority, that constitutional oath I took, notwithstanding.” 

This timorous man of restraint is quite a departure from the media image candidate Cuccinelli tries to portray on his “Cuccinelli-for-Governor” webpage:

“As Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli is best known for his efforts to preserve liberty and defend the Constitution. Many politicians conveniently forget their oath of office after taking it — but Ken has made upholding his oath the foundation of his term as Attorney General.”

Well here’s the oath:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge all the duties incumbent upon me as .......... according to the best of my ability, (so help me God).”

So, Mr. Cuccinelli finds the wherewithal to sue the federal government over ObamaCare, a laudable enterprise to be sure, but he can’t find it within himself to use what power he posses to defend his own Virginians against even worse abuse by a Commonwealth Government of which he is a part? A curious notion of defending his oath to support the constitutions of Virginia and the United States, I must say.

No such fastidiousness over the limits of his power, however, has prevented Mr. Cuccinelli from insinuating himself into state law enforcement when it comes to human trafficking, another laudable effort to be sure, to protect Virginians from the predatory acts of human traffickers.

“Attorney General Cuccinelli helps law enforcement across commonwealth target and prosecute human trafficking” reads the headline of a recent press release put out by the VA AG’s office patting himself on the back for “the ongoing effort by the attorney general, law enforcement, and advocacy groups to target and prosecute human trafficking in the Commonwealth.”

Would that the Attorney General could manage to get equally exorcised over the predatory acts of Virginia’s government officials toward her own people.  How about pulling together a similar task force, Mr. Attorney General, to create an ongoing effort by the attorney general, law enforcement and advocacy groups to target and prosecute criminal abuses and lawless behavior by Virginia officials?  How about using the Attorney General’s advisory-opinion powers, which are substantial, to leverage what meager direct power the Attorney General may possess to bring public attention to the rot and corruption that seems to infest Virginia courts and law-enforcement agencies and to move those officials, such as Commonwealth Attorneys who actually posses the power the Attorney General lacks, to do the right thing?  And, you know, responding promptly and thoroughly to Revolution PAC’s FOIA request, which clearly is a responsibility of the Attorney General, would be a good place for him to start. No need for "Cucci-Leaks," just good, old-fashioned transparency.

Who better than the Attorney General—who apparently sits outside the general law-enforcement system of Virginia, despite his title, and thus remains untainted by its abuses—whose advisory opinions to state agencies and officials carry enormous weight, who better than he to advise the governor and other officials of the illegalities and lawlessness that seems to pervade Virginia’s judicial system and law-enforcement apparatus?  After all, Mr. Cuccinelli found the wherewithal to issue a very intrusive advisory opinion just last month declaring that state law forbids judges and local law enforcement agencies from allowing felons to serve jail sentences on weekends only, a common practice for lesser, non-violent felonies that allows inmates out to work at a job during the week rather than simply being warehoused at great public expense.  With the stroke of his advisory pen, Mr. Cuccinelli overturned common law-enforcement practice in Virginia and told court officials they had one week to prepare to compel felons to spend the rest of their time in a continuous, uninterrupted stretch behind bars.

As a consequence of Ken Cuccinelli's Pontius Pilate impersonation, Revolution PAC has sent a letter to the Chesterfield County Commonwealth Attorney demanding that he prosecute those state, local and federal officials involved in the Raub abuses or at a minimum present the case to the Grand Jury.  We also sent a letter to Hopewell, Virginia Circuit Court Judge W. Allan Sharrett demanding that he unseal the Raub case files and convene a Special Grand Jury to investigate and deliberate on whether any indictments of local, state and federal officials are called for in the Raub Case. 

To Mr. Cuccinelli we make this promise: If you rouse yourself to help us turn over the rock under which Virginia officials appear to be conspiring with federal officials to criminally assault Virginia residents and deny them due process of law; if you help us shine the light of day on these abuses and advise the governor, the courts, the police and Commonwealth Attorneys that what they did to Raub was contrary to Virginia laws and principles of justice; then we will stand behind you and defend you against any spurious claims that by upholding your oath of office and standing up for the for rights of Virginians you are overstepping your authority.  How about it, Mr. Attorney General, deal?

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