UPDATE: whups, forgot to change working title, sorry if I offended w/ original version
Virginia AG and teabag puppet, Ken Cuccinelli, has backed off his previous position of supporting Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry's attempt to get their names on the Virginia GOP's primary ballot, despite their failure to meet the {cough} onerous requirements.
On Saturday, he said Virginians should be able to have their choice of the full field of presidential primary contenders, instead of the two who qualified for the March 6 primary. Of the four Republicans who filed petitions in Virginia, only former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas made the ballot.
Today, he reversed his original position in an official statement:
“However, after working through different scenarios with Republican and Democratic leaders to attempt to make changes in time for the 2012 Presidential election, my concern grows that we cannot find a way to make such changes fair to the Romney and Paul campaigns that qualified even with Virginia’s burdensome system.”
“A further critical factor that I must consider is that changing the rules midstream is inconsistent with respecting and preserving the rule of law – something I am particularly sensitive to as Virginia’s attorney general.”
yah, right.
{snort}
I'm not an attorney, but as this case has not been decided yet (a U.S. District Court judge scheduled a hearing for Jan. 13), how are the Commonwealth's interests best served with the Attorney General making political statements opposing the current law, that his office might have to defend in court?
Lt. Governor Bill Bolling responded to Cuccinelli's decision:
"Going forward, I would also encourage Attorney General Cuccinelli to avoid making public statements that criticize our state election laws while his office is defending the State Board of Elections in a lawsuit that has been brought against them by Governor Perry and certain other presidential candidates.
"I am concerned that such public comments could be used against the Commonwealth in our effort to defend these lawsuits, and I am confident that the Attorney General would not want to do anything that could jeopardize his office's ability to win this case."
As an additional fuck You to supporting state's rights and established election laws, Saturday, lawyers for Gingrich, Bachmann, Huntsman and Santorum joined Perry in asking the Board of Elections and the Republican Party of Virginia to be added to the presidential ballot, because rules and laws are for losers and Democrats.