Virginia Now for Lovers and Haters

Ken Cuccinelli wants to sue the government over health care reform

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli wasn't kidding when he said he was going to alter the course of change in Virginia.

During his first few months in office, Va.'s AG has filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency over the federal government's conclusion that greenhouse gases are dangerous to people, told the state's public colleges they have no authority to prohibit discrimination against gays, and said that President Barack Obama possibly being born in Kenya didn't seem "beyond the realm of possibility" (a claim he later said was taken out of context).

Now, he wants to sue the government if Congress passes the health care reform bill. Because Virginia becoming the first state in the country to pass a bill declaring it illegal for the government to make people buy health insurance isn't enough.

The Healthcare Freedom Act hasn't received Gov. Bob McDonnell's signature yet, but Cuccinelli insists it “will give us more basis to challenge” a federal insurance mandate if one is approved, according to the Martinsville Bulletin.

In other words, Cuccinelli is taking pre-emptive action on the yet-to-be-passed healthcare reform bill. A spokesman for the AG's office told the Washington Post that such a lawsuit is now a definite.

Brian Gottstein, a spokesman for the office, "would not provide details" of the legal grounds for such a suit, but in his letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Cuccinelli says "such a course of action would raise grave constitutional questions," the Post reported.

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow meanwhile claims that, under McDonnell and Cuccinelli, "Virginia is being remade into a Jessie Helms-a-stan." It's almost as if Virginia is becoming a state for haters...

Got something to say to Cuccinelli? He's holding a $25 meet-and-greet breakfast on March 26 at the Omni Newport News Hotel, according to the Daily Press. The event is open to the public, and runs from 8-9:30 a.m. Space is limited.

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