Steve Shannon's Deceptive Campaign for Attorney General

Steve Shannon's Deceptive Campaign for Attorney General

By NRVNews

Steve Shannon, the Democrat candidate for Attorney General, is conducting a very deceptive campaign. He is trying to convince voters he is a conservative. He is also strongly implying the job of the Attorney General is to prosecute criminals. The truth is very different. Shannon’s record reveals he is definitely not a conservative. He voted to put the Marriage Amendment on the ballot, then actively campaigned against it. This constitutional amendment, approved by Virginia voters, requires marriage only to be between one man and one woman – not between two men or two women. Shannon’s opponent in the Attorney General race, Ken Cuccinelli, campaigned for the Marriage Amendment. Shannon voted against requiring public schools to involve parents in their childrens' decisions to participate in after-school activities. He would be an Attorney General who opposed commonsense parental rights. Shannon voted against a bill that protects from discrimination a public school student’s voluntary expression of a religious viewpoint on a subject permitted by the school. This candidate for Attorney General voted against religious freedom. Shannon supports state funding of abortions. Shannon opposed protecting private home owners – especially those who are middle class and poor – from governmental abuse of eminent domain laws that permit local and state governments to take private property. Ken Cuccinelli, Shannon’s Republican opponent, took the opposite positions on these issues. Shannon’s portrayal of the Attorney General’s responsibility is false, and he knows it. It is not only or primarily the prosecution of criminals. At the web site for the Virginia Attorney General, we read: “The Office of the Attorney General is the Commonwealth's law firm. Its clients are the Virginia state government and the state agencies, boards and commissions that compose that government. “The full time staff includes a chief deputy attorney general, six deputy attorneys general and about 150 assistant attorneys general, 40 additional full time lawyers appointed as special counsel to particular agencies, and 140 legal assistants, legal secretaries and other professional support staff. The Office of the Attorney General is structured very much like a private law firm, with sections devoted to legal specialties.” Note in the previous paragraph: “The Office of the Attorney General is structured very much like a private law firm, with sections devoted to legal specialties. “ It is appropriately not structured like a prosecutor’s office. A long list of the duties and powers of this office is posted, showing prosecution of criminals is not the only or even the major duty of the Attorney General. And prosecutions are almost always handled by staff members. Mark Earley and Bill Mims are two of Virginia’s recent, excellent Attorney Generals who had no previous experience as prosecutors. Furthermore, the Virginia Fraternal Order of Police is not endorsing Shannon. It is endorsing Ken Cuccinelli. Shannon is a typical liberal candidate for public office in Virginia – deceptively trying to hide the fact that he is a liberal.