VA-ALERT: Ken Cuccinelli: Protecting The 10th Amendment

From Kenneth M. Elliott, Jr.

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VCDL's meeting schedule:  http://www.vcdl.org/meetings.html
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Abbreviations used in VA-ALERT:  http://www.vcdl.org/help/abbr.html
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All concerned Virginia Voters,

I hate to sound like a broken record by only discussing the Attorney Generals race so far - but then no one else has an opponent as uninformed, or afraid, as the man running against VCDL PAC's Endorsed Candidate for Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli.

The VCDL PAC is grateful to have Ken Cuccinelli, as Virginia's next Attorney General, stand with us in defending Virginia gun owners' Tenth Amendment rights.

Below you will find a link to the coverage on the final Attorney General Debate held in Richmond on October 22nd.  Ken's opponent, Steve Shannon, is trying desperately to make Ken Cuccinelli's defense of state sovereignty somehow a racial issue (!)  - what Ken's position reflects is the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights.  Maybe Mr. Shannon should read them some time.

Here is where Shannon twisted the phrase "state rights" and gave it racial overtones:

From the Roanoke Times:

http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/223456

...Shannon, a delegate from Fairfax County, charged that Cuccinelli wants to be a "states’ rights attorney general." Shannon took note of the Republican’s emphasis on fighting the federal government and his fondness for the motto "Don’t Tread on Me," the legend on the yellow Gadsden flag that has become an unofficial symbol of state senator’s campaign. The symbol also has been embraced by conservative "tea party" activists.

"He’s talking about states’ rights," Shannon said. "What does it mean to be states’ rights? You have to understand what our history is in order to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again. States’ rights has a very dark meaning in a lot of what we’ve done with regard to our unwillingness to integrate our schools, with regard to the issue of slavery."

Cuccinelli fired back, accusing Shannon of "race baiting" and calling the Democrat’s remarks "a very unfortunate form of campaigning."

"That is truly desperate and it is over the line and it isn’t substantive," Cuccinelli said after the debate. "He wasn’t talking about the issues that bring the question of federal-state relations up today, like right to work. He was literally just trying to throw a grenade in that frankly is terribly inappropriate and not very constructive to the debate."

"I’ve talked about the 10th amendment," Cuccinelli said. "I’ve talked about state sovereignty. I have worn a ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ pin on occasion."

Shannon stood by his comments after the debate, saying, "I don’t know of any other person who runs for attorney general talking about being a states’ rights attorney general. And that’s what I call dog whistle politics. It’s very dangerous when people who have a history of being an ideological or cultural crusader talk about being a states’ rights candidate."...

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Here is a link to the debate coverage that was on the Lee Brothers talk show (WRVA AM 1140 in Richmond).  Audio of Shannon's remarks on racism being tied to the Tenth Amendment can be heard on the web site as well:

http://theleebrothers.wordpress.com/2009/10/24/steve-shannon-calls-states-rights-racist/

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