Can Shannon reverse trend in AG race?
September 15, 2009 by afp
Filed under *VirginiaPoliticsToday.com
Democrats seem to start off behind the eight-ball in attorney-general’s races. I say that because Republicans have won the last four, dating back to Jim Gilmore’s win over Bill Dolan in 1993.
That the trend has continued even as Democrats have won the past two governor’s races and past two U.S. Senate races says something to me. It says something to Democratic Party attorney-general nominee Steve Shannon, too.
“When you talk about the history of the AG’s office, what you’ll notice is a trend. They want to elect people who have been prosecutors. They want to elect people who have been prosecutors because they realize that somebody has to be the man or the woman who is constantly focused on keeping people safe,” said Shannon, a former prosecutor who is running against Republican State Sen. Ken Cuccinelli for the attorney-general post.
The two have dramatically differing visions for the job. Cuccinelli emphasizes constitutional issues and the attorney general’s oversight of state laws and policies, while Shannon sells public safety as the key to his candidacy.
“I think it starts with where we came from. I didn’t start in the political ranks. I started off years ago in public safety,” Shannon said, telling his story about how he and his wife, Abby, began the effort to bring the Amber Alert program to Northern Virginia.
“My opponent comes up through the political ranks, so he views the AG’s office not as a public-safety office, an office that should not be politicized, an office that should consist of career public servants who should keep people safe, but he sees it as a way to promote a personal political agenda,” Shannon said.
Shannon served his time in Richmond in the House of Delegates as well, representing a swing district in Northern Virginia that had been in the hands of the GOP for more than a decade before his election in 2003.
“I am a centrist, pragmatic, public safety-oriented guy, and people in my community responded to that. They didn’t care about the party label. They cared about the person,” Shannon said.
Shannon is banking on his ability to get his message about his public-safety focus to voters to turn an apparently GOP-leaning race around in his favor.
“Public safety gets called to the forefront of the media when something goes wrong. But if you’re doing things right in public safety, that doesn’t happen a lot. It’s a day-in, day-out grind, where you’re trying to find smart ways to prevent bad things from happening. That’s what you do in public safety. Somebody with a personal political agenda, they don’t look at the office like that. They’re trying to figure out, Where’s the next press release, Where do I promote my own profile? But really you measure success by how many people you keep safe,” Shannon said.
- Story by Chris Graham
Rick Sincere on Tue, 15th Sep 2009 5:01 pm
The trend over the past few elections has been for the candidates for attorney general to fall all over each other trying to prove that one is harder (or softer) on crime than the other.
The basis for this has been the misconception that the Attorney General is the chief law enforcement official in Virginia, the equivalent of a statewide Commonwealth’s Attorney.
In fact, if one were to draw an analogy, the Attorney General is more like a County Attorney or a City Attorney than he (or she) is like a Commonwealth’s Attorney.
The Attorney General has no prosecutorial authority under the Virginia Constitution. If an Attorney General wants a crime to be prosecuted, he/she has to refer the matter to a Commonwealth’s Attorney for action.
The Attorney General’s true duties are to advise the Governor and the General Assembly about the constitutionality of proposed rulemaking or legislation, and to defend Virginia’s laws when challenged in court.
Candidates for Attorney General who campaign as though they are seeking the job of chief prosecutor are misleading the voters. Sadly, almost all recent candidates for this post have traveled that path.
Keith Damon on Tue, 15th Sep 2009 5:01 pm
I live in one of the three precincts out of the 2309 precincts in Virginia that is represented by Ken Cuccinelli (Senate) and Steve Shannon (House). I can compare my two representatives very simply. Ken Cuccinelli is a principled leader and Steve Shannon is a back-bencher and a follower. I know exactly where Ken stands on the issues because his views are fully aligned with his personal philosophy of limited government and he has clearly defined the role of Attorney General. I never had any idea where Steve stood on the issues as my Delegate and now I have no idea what he would do as Attorney General. Public safety sounds good but how does that translate into fulfilling the total job of being Attorney General. In fact, I wonder if Steve really understands what the Attorney General is supposed to do for the people of Virginia.
I am excited because I know that a principled leader, Ken Cuccinelli, will be elected as Attorney General. I am also fortunate that starting next year I will not have Steve Shannon representing me in the House.
chrisgraham on Tue, 15th Sep 2009 7:12 pm
Cuccinelli is a principled leader. His extreme social-conservative principles scare a lot of folks, but he has his principles.
Rick, you’re of course right on. Without data to back me up, my theory is that Virginia has voted Republican in the last four AG races because Republicans nominally are seen as tougher on crime. Perceptions being what they are, then, the candidates tend to play to what people expect. Again, that’s just a hypothesis.