10,000 Virginians Stand up to Cuccinelli, Demand Answers on Lawsuit

by: lowkell

Tue Mar 30, 2010 at 11:25:17 AM EDT

RICHMOND - In less than a week, more than 10,000 Virginians have signed a petition calling on Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to "stop wasting our tax dollars on his personal political agenda."

The petition, which the Democratic Party of Virginia launched on Wednesday, already has 11,267 signatures from Virginians who want Cuccinelli to focus his time and state resources on pressing issues such as rising utility rates, predatory lending and combating foreclosures.

"Every minute you spend on this frivolous, politically motivated lawsuit is time spent away from battling the real legal issues we expect our Attorney General to work on," wrote Diane Perkins of Burke, Virginia, in signing the petition.

"How are you prioritizing the issues your office is working on - down to the project level?" asked Daniel Taylor of Fairfax County. "This accounting is the only way the people will know if you are working for us or your own ambitions. We demand this information now."

Cuccinelli's office has until Wednesday to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request filed last Wednesday by the Democratic Party of Virginia, asking for detailed accounting of the amount of state-funded staff time put into the health care lawsuit. Under state FOIA regulations, Cuccinelli has five working days to respond - a period that would end on Wednesday.

"The Attorney General is acting like taxpayer funds are just a piggy bank for his personal political agenda," said David Mills, Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Virginia. "More than 10,000 Virginians have demanded that Ken Cuccinelli come clean about his use of taxpayer-funded state resources. This week, we'll find out if Ken Cuccinelli still believes he's accountable to the taxpayers of Virginia. We're looking forward to his response."

In the FOIA request, the Democratic Party of Virginia formally requested records of:

hours spent by Cuccinelli and Office of the Attorney General staff preparing Commonwealth of Virginia v. Sebelius; cost to taxpayers of staff work on the suit; a list of conference calls or written correspondence that the Office of the Attorney General had with other states' attorneys general or national conservative groups in planning the lawsuit; any outside firms contracted to assist on the lawsuit; and, the Attorney General's full schedule since taking office, including any scheduled television interviews in the Washington, D.C., metro area.