Cuccinelli town halls criticized as campaign stumping

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Cuccinelli town halls criticized as campaign stumping

By Rosalind Helderman | August 31, 2010; 2:38 PM ET

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) is coming under fire for mixing politics and official state business at town hall meetings in southwest Virginia later this week.

Cuccinelli is holding the public meetings in Abingdon and Rocky Mount on Thursday. According to e-mails and tweets from the attorney general, meeting topics will include utility rates and a proposed federal bill that would regulate greenhouse gas emissions, known widely as "cap and trade."

... Glen Besa, director of the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club, said the status of the meetings has become even more confused this week, when some residents received a recorded phone message from the attorney general, encouraging them to attend. Those calls were paid for by Cuccinelli's campaign account, political director Noah Wall confirmed.

"He's spending taxpayer money to rally his people," Besa said. "The Attorney General of Virginia should not be mixing politics with his serious responsibility as Attorney General. This sounds like nothing more than a campaign stop, and that's just not right."