How An Attorney General's Supposed To Behave

Here in Virginia, our sorry excuse for an Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, apparently spends his days plotting to protect polluters and figuring out ways to make it harder for people to get high-quality, affordable health care coverage. In contrast, our neighboring state to the north has an Attorney General who does what Attorney Generals are supposed to do -- work tirelessly to protect the environment, stand up for workers, and of course expand peoples' rights.

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler (D) declared Wednesday that Maryland will recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere and that its agencies should immediately begin affording gay married couples the same rights as heterosexual ones.

With Gansler's decision, Maryland in effect joins the District and a handful of states including New York that recognize same-sex marriages performed in four New England states and Iowa. The District also has its own measure legalizing those unions that is expected to take effect next week.

Gansler, a supporter of legalizing same-sex marriages, was asserting his authority as the top legal adviser to state agencies to answer a question that experts say had been left unclear by Maryland law. He was responding to a legislator's request that he issue an opinion.

Unfortunately, here in Virginia, we have an Attorney General who speaks to toy elephants, denies global warming, and is so paranoid and anti-government that "he doesn’t want to get his son a Social Security number because "it is being used to track you'." In short, and not to mince any words, Virginia's Attorney General is a right-wing radical whackjob working to take us back to the middle ages. In contrast, Maryland has an Attorney General, Doug Gansler, who is fighting for progress, a healthier environment and a better life for all the residents of his state. Which Attorney General do you prefer?