As he slithers out of the VA AG's office, defeated guv candidate "Cuckoo Ken" Cuccinelli shows it's never too late to hate the homos

Hey, Cuckoo Man, didn't your mama ever warn you to close your mouth or a fly might fly in?

by Ken

I don't mean to suggest in the post title that there's any term limit on former Virginia AG "Cuckoo Ken" Cuccinelli's homo-hating, which I'm confident he'll carry -- along with all the other insanities infesting his diseased brain -- all the remaining days of his continuing existence on the planet. It's just that Friday was his last chance (his very last chance in this lifetime, one has to hope) to cloak his bigotry in the mantle of the law, and he delivered.

Luckily, his final outburst of official homophobia doesn't have any real legal force, or at least no more than anybody in government allots it. Kudos to ThinkProgress's Ian Millhiser, always one of our favorite legal eagles, for catching this parting shot fromCuckoo Ken, following his alarmingly close November election loss to now-Gov. Terry McAuliffe. (Note: lotsa links onsite.)

On Last Full Day In Office, Ex-Virginia Attorney General Sneaks In Anti-Gay Legal Opinion


by IAN MILLHISER

Just hours before leaving office, former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) issued an opinion that appears intended to entrench his own anti-gay policy preferences while he could still speak as his state's top legal officer. Cuccinelli, who once claimed that the "homosexual agenda . . . brings nothing but self-destruction, not only physically but of their soul," lost his bid for Virginia governor to recently inaugurated Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D).

Cuccinelli's non-binding opinion, which is dated January 10, 2014, concludes that "a Governor may not direct or require any agency of state government to allow same-sex couples to receive joint marital status for Virginia income tax returns." Cuccinelli's successor, Democrat Mark Herring, was sworn in January 11.

The question of whether married same-sex couples may file joint Virginia tax forms hinges upon a potential conflict in state law. Although the state constitution includes an expansive ban on same-sex marriages or similar arrangements, gay rights advocates note that forbidding same-sex couples from filing jointly "is in conflict with the state law that requires conformity with federal rules" -- married couples of all kinds file joint tax returns under federal law.

Additionally, the United States Constitution forbids Virginia from "deny[ing] to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws," and at least one federal judge has held that states cannot deny marriage equality to same-sex couples under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Gov. McAuliffe, who the voters of Virginia chose over Cuccinelli last November, campaigned on a pro-gay rights platform. His first action as governor was an executive order shielding LGBT state employees from employment discrimination.

Moral: You can lead a horse to water, but you can't take the cuckoo out of Cuckoo Ken.


Confidential to VA AG Mark Herring

How about quickly issuing an advisory opinion along these lines:

"About that so-called opinion issued by my predecessor on his last day in office: Pay it no mind. We're all hoping the guy will seek help for his deep-rooted mental problems, but we're none of us holding our breath."

#