Steve Shannon definitely has the quote of the day with the following:"Delegate Hamilton’s actions are intolerable. That is why I was the first state official to call upon him to resign from the House of Delegates, and I was quickly joined by Bob McDonnell, Creigh Deeds, Bill Bolling and Jody Wagner,” said Shannon. “In fact, the only candidate for statewide office to refuse to call for Hamilton’s resignation was my opponent, Ken Cuccinelli. If Ken Cuccinelli won’t stand up and call for Phil Hamilton to resign, how can Virginians expect him to vigorously defend their interests against other acts of public corruption?"The quote comes from a conference call during which Steve Shannon talked about his "plan to make Virginia’s government more transparent and accountable in the wake of the recent conflict of interest scandal involving Delegate Phil Hamilton and a public university." To view the plan, please click here. And please do everything you can to make sure that Steve Shannon - not the extremist Ken Cuccinelli - is Virginia's next Attorney General! Thanks.
UPDATE: In response to a comment by Republican Jason Kenney, that "the AG may have to decide Hamilton's fate should the ethics investigation find him guilty" and that, therefore, "Shannon speaking out has RECUSED HIMSELF FROM HIS INTENDED JOB," here are a few substantive responses.
1. Hamilton is under federal investigation and if there are charges they will likely be federal in nature and will be resolved there, not at the state level.
2. Even putting that aside, Shannon and Cooch are not running to be a judge, they are running to be the state's chief law enforcement officer. Virginians deserve to know which candidate would more forcefully prosecute public corruption, as in the case of Phil Hamilton. When you look at Shannon's and Cooch's records, on this issue and otherwise (including Cooch's vote on a bill that passed the Senate 39-1 that would have increased penalties on public officials who embezzle public funds), it is clear that Steve Shannon has a stronger record of standing up for public safety and against public corruption, while Ken Cuccinelli is ambivalent toward both issues (instead, Cooch would much rather push his radical right-wing social agenda on the people of Virginia as AG than focus on keeping people safe and cracking down on corrupt officials like Hamilton).
3. Finally, it's important to point out that Cooch has also spoken out, on the record, on this subject. Namely, Cooch said that he didn't think Hamilton should resign but that this was an issue that should be resolved between Hamilton and the voters of the 93rd district. I guess by Jason Kenney's reasoning, Cooch's outspokenness on this subject means he also has "recused himself from his intended job." Oh well, I guess we won't have any attorney general in Virginia starting in January 2010. Heh.
