A Republican employee of a vendor was caught throwing away
voter registrations, and the media lazily and wrongfully blames the Attorney
General of Virginia, Ken Cuccinelli for failing to investigate.
A twenty-three year
old overzealous dweeb does something truly heinous
On October
18, 2012, Colin Small a 23 year old from Pennsylvania
was arrested for throwing away 8 voter registration forms in a dumpster in Rockingham County.
It is unknown the reason for throwing away the forms, but the following
theories have been suggested:
1. It is part
of a broad
conspiracy to defraud voters.
2. Colin
failed to submit the forms by the deadline, and
panicked.
Regardless, everyone seems to agree that Colin worked for a
company called Pinpoint that was doing contracting work for the Republican
Party of Virginia.
Soliciting voter registration applications and not
submitting them, thereby resulting in disenfranchisement of voters, is truly
heinous.
Don McEachin shows
(once again) how little he knows about the law and Virginia government
In the wake of this mess, Virginia's former Democratic candidate for
Attorney General stepped up demanding that Attorney General Cuccinelli
investigate the actions of Colin Small.
State Senator McEachin should know that AG Cuccinelli does not have the
power to initiate an investigation.
McEachin either does not understand or does not care about
the law here, and the media has taken off with the story.
What criminal
investigative powers does the Attorney General have?
AG Cuccinelli has limited criminal investigative powers as
enumerated in the Virginia Constitution and statutes.
Article V §
15 of the Virginia Constitution governs the Attorney General and says
nothing about investigative powers of any kind.
Under Va. Code §
2.2-511 the Virginia Attorney General has the power to initiate criminal
investigations in limited circumstances, specifically:
"A. Unless
specifically requested by the Governor to do so, the Attorney General shall
have no authority to institute or conduct criminal prosecutions in the circuit
courts of the Commonwealth except in cases involving (i) violations of the
Alcoholic Beverage Control Act (§ 4.1-100 et seq.), (ii) violation of laws
relating to elections and the electoral process as provided in § 24.2-104 . . ."
AG Cuccinelli can investigate electoral crimes as provided
in Va.
Code § 24.2-104, which states in relevant part:
"When the State
Board is of the opinion that the public interest will be served, it may request
the Attorney General, or other attorney designated by the Governor for the
purpose, to assist the attorney for the Commonwealth of any jurisdiction in
which election laws have been violated."
The "State Board" in this instance is the State
Board of Elections ["SBE"].
Additionally under Va. Code §
24.2-104:
"The attorney for the Commonwealth or a member of the
electoral board of any county or city may make a request, in writing, that the
Attorney General appoint a committee to make an immediate investigation of the election
practices in that city or county . . ."
In no manner can AG Cuccinelli initiate an investigation
himself. The Governor can authorize the
investigation under Va. Code § 2.2-511
and the SBE, local Commonwealth's Attorney (Constitutionally elected
prosecutor), or local electoral board member can initiate the investigation
under Va.
Code § 24.2-104.
The SBE has chosen
not to investigate.
The left gets this (mostly) wrong
In light of McEachin's statements, the left has mercilessly
pushed this story as a failing of AG Cuccinelli, but only in the headlines of
articles. When reading into the text of
the articles, the accusation against AG Cuccinelli has absolutely no substance.
Headlines are as follows:
AG Cuccinelli seeks
responsibility and McEachin doubles down on stupidity
In response to the demands being placed on AG Cuccinelli, he
responded to McEachin by requesting that the Attorney General's office be given
additional authority to initiate investigations of election law violations
without waiting for a request from the SBE.
According to the Washington Post McEachin responded as
follows:
"McEachin (D-Richmond) said he has seen the letter [from
Cuccinelli] and suggested that political motivations could be the reason
Cuccinelli is not pursuing the issue."
I am beginning to hope McEachin runs statewide again.
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