Former Delegate Paul Harris has decided not to put his hat in the ring for the Attorney General nomination race. This leaves just one more potential candidate out there in former US Attorney John Brownlee to formally declare. Bearing Drift notes one other possible contender in David Foster, former Chairman of the Arlington School Board…
With Harris out, it would seem even more pressing for candidates to get in if they’re going to get in. Proud Republican has nailed the analysis here – you have to announce before the convention if you want to be considered serious. I would say you should also be prepared to work the convention floor and have everything ready to go, because once the Gilmore-Marshall and Hager-Frederick contests are decided, the spotlight shifts. Will you be in the spotlight when it moves?
Filed under: Virginia Politics
This is bad news for Cuccinelli. With Harris, Obenshain, Baril and Bell out, the GOP will rally around US Attorney John Brownlee. Brownlee resigned two weeks ago, and I hear he will announce his candidacy for AG within the next two weeks. Brownlee is a top flight prosecutor who will get most of the law enforcement support. Conservatives will abandon Cuccinelli when they learn he opposes the death penalty and was the only Republican to vote with Tim Kaine on death penalty bills. This one won’t be close. McDonnell – Bolling – Brownlee
Go Brownlee!
Big West has NO IDEA what s/he is talking about. Cuccinelli’s votes have upheld Virginia’s current death penalty laws. He also voted to override Kaine’s vetoes of bills that made a murderer eligible for the death penalty if they kill Judges and witnesses.
How exactly is that “opposing the death penalty” again?
Brownlee has a steep hill to climb. Most people, most Republicans for that matter, have never even heard of the guy, while Cooch is a known quantity among conservatives and many Republicans. They know he is a solid conservative and has had electoral success in a difficult region for Republicans in the most difficult year for Republicans in quite some time.
Not to take anything away from Brownlee, but Cooch has a legislative and electoral record that shows what he would do as AG and his ability to win the race for AG. Brownlee has neither. Furthermore, too much emphasis is being placed on the AG post with regard to law enforcement. It is NOT the head prosecutor for the Commonwealth. Rather it is more Virginia’s law firm and it deals with far more civil cases than criminal. In fact, it probably deals with far more legislative matters than either.
Cowgirl: I think you need to check the record. Cuccinelli was the ONLY Republican to vote with Tim Kaine to keep the silly “Trigger Man” rule. Every other Republican, and most Democrats including Steve Shannon, voted to abolish the rule. The AG has the responibility to stand before the Va. Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court and defend death penalty sentences in Virginia. If the Republicans nominate a candidate that opposes the DP (or at best is very wobbly on the issue), they will get killed. Brownlee prosecuted several DP cases and has a guy sitting on death row today.
As far as the job of AG, Riley needs to go look at Bob McDonnell’s website. The AG is Virginia’s Top Cop and most Virginians expect the AG to be an experienced prosecutor (Gilmore, Kilgore, McDonnell). Brownlee has been the state’s top federal prosecutor for seven years and a local prosecutor before that.
McDonnell — Bolling — Brownlee
Big West is right. The Republicans almost voted to override Kaine’s veto of the triggerman bill, but Cuccinelli voted with Kaine and the Democrats. Cuccinelli’s position on the DP is the same as Kaine’s. Don’t forget that Kaine slapped a moratorium on all DP cases this year. I also remember Cuccinelli telling his supporters during his last senate election that he wasn’t a “fry’em all” conservative. I think the DP issue is going to really hurt Cuccinelli.
as with everything though, I am sure Cuccinelli has a pretty good reason. I believe it has something to do with what the death penalty is supposed to be used for…obviously to kill people who are a continuing threat to society but also to act as a deterrent. The triggerman rule doesn’t act as a deterrent – it really does squat. And the places where it might act as a deterrent, well there are acceptions to that in the bill.
I don’t think anyone would argue that the state of Virginia is weak on the death penalty….we kill plenty of people.
Anon: I think you and Mr. Cuccinelli have walked pretty far away from most, if not nearly all, conservatives on this issue. Every Republican member of the House and Senate — but one — voted to abolish the triggerman rule. Think about that. Every member but Cuccinelli agreed this law had to be removed from the books. I just don’t agree that Cuccinelli possessed some unique insight that everyone else missed. Cuccinelli, like Tim Kaine, is opposed to the DP and that fact makes his quest to be Virginia’s AG very difficult.
Okay, disclosure time. “Big West” and “Anon” have the same IP address (not to confuse Anon with Anonymous which are different.)
We catch you talking to yourself again to make a candidate look good and you get banned. Go ahead and extoll the merits of your candidate by all means, but don’t be duplicitous about it.
Yes, Cuccinelli did vote against the override of Kaine’s veto of the “triggerman rule”.
However, he voted against a bill that would have given people on death row more time to file their appeals (SB395, 2007 session).
He also voted to expand the death penalty to cover the murder of judges and witnesses (SB1116, 2006 session).
And by the way, the Attorney General is not the state’s “Top Cop”. He’s the state “Top Lawyer”. There’s a difference. Just ask a county’s Sheriff/Police Chief and the county’s Commonwealth’s Attorney.
And Bob McDonnell’s website states that very fact: “The Office of the Attorney General is the Commonwealth’s law firm.”