Democrats this year have embraced scare tactics designed to paint Republican Ken Cuccinelli as such a terrible candidate that Democrat Terry McAuliffe wins the race by default. The Cuccinelli that the Democrats have crafted is heartless, extreme, unacceptable and unelectable. The real Cuccinelli, however, is none of these things. He is passionate about policy and about people, he is experienced and he is by far Virginia’s best candidate.
McAuliffe and his supporters have been trumpeting the narrative that Ken is “anti-women.” Ken has fought for the safety of women throughout his career in public service and since before he ever contemplated a career in politics. When he was a student at the University of Virginia, a close friend was sexually assaulted. This painful incident motivated Ken to take action and demand that the University take steps to address the persistent problem of sexual assault. The massive protest which he helped organize on the steps of the Rotunda resulted in the University hiring its first ever sexual assault resource officer. He also helped establish Sexual Assault Facts and Education (SAFE), a student group that continues to raise awareness about sexual assault, help prevent it, and provide resources for victims. As state senator and attorney general, Ken has pursued sex offenders, domestic assailants and human traffickers with as much vim and vigor as he fought sexual assault as a student here at Mr. Jefferson’s University.
Ken has been a fighter for Virginia’s most vulnerable, for the people that countless others in office would, and often have, overlooked. When it was brought to his attention as attorney general that new evidence could clear a man imprisoned for three decades, Ken immediately took action, investigated the case and fought for justice. Thomas Haynesworth is now a free man because of Ken’s actions. He has been compensated for the decades of life robbed from him by the state and at Ken’s urging he is now employed by the Office of the Attorney General. As attorney general, Ken has fought to secure Virginia detainees the right to appeal their convictions in light of newly discovered evidence in their cases. In 2009, Cuccinelli was the only Republican member of the State Senate to vote against an expansion of the death penalty. Ken has always had the courage to lead from principle, even when it defies party.
Although McAuliffe’s campaign slogan is “putting jobs first,” the Democratic nominee’s pathetic entrepreneurial record tells a very different story. When running for governor in 2009, McAuliffe promised voters in Martinsville, among the hardest hit by the last recession, that he would bring jobs to their community. While he wasn’t elected governor, he had a more direct opportunity to do this as CEO of GreenTech Automotive. In fact, Martinsville was high on the list for potential plant locations. But McAuliffe instead chose to locate in Mississippi, because that state offered him a “better deal,” in other words, a corporate handout. In April, McAuliffe’s former business partner Charles Wang revealed in the New York Times that the aspiring gubernatorial candidate was no entrepreneur, but always a politician, seeking to build his business off of donations from Democratic millionaires. Wang even called people like McAuliffe “destructive for business.” This all goes back to the fact that Tricky Terry’s only background is as a Democratic party fundraiser. He has never been accountable to voters and he has never worked for Virginia’s record. Why should voters trust him to start now?
Cuccinelli, in addition to having a strong record to run on, has a bold, comprehensive vision to move Virginia forward. He will reduce the individual income tax rate from 5.75 percent to 5 percent and the corporate income tax rate from 6 percent to 4 percent, so that middle-class Virginians have more money in their pockets and small businesses will have the ability to create more jobs in our commonwealth. He’ll pay for these tax cuts by getting rid of tax deductions that only benefit powerful and well-connected millionaires — the kind of deductions that McAuliffe won’t have the backbone to touch, lest he insult his wealthy donor base. Unlike Terry, Ken actually puts jobs, and Virginians, first.
When he was running for president in 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama said of negative scare tactics, “If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.” McAuliffe does not have a record to run on. He has never held elected office and actually been accountable to voters. He has no leadership in service to the commonwealth. Ken has spent his lifetime as a leader. He has served the commonwealth admirably for more than a decade and has a clear vision on how to move Virginia forward. Voters have a clear choice on Tuesday.
Peter A. Finocchio is a fourth-year College student. He is the vice chair of campaigns for the College Republicans and parliamentarian for the College Republican Federation of Virginia.
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