Ken Cuccinelli continues to draw his full $150,000 salary plus benefits as Virginia’s attorney general while spending nearly three-quarters of his time on the campaign trail.
This was the finding of the Virginian-Pilot based on a review of the Republican gubernatorial nominee’s office and campaign schedules in July, August and September.
According to the Pilot report, Cuccinelli was on the job at the Office of Attorney General seven of 22 work days in July, four of 22 days in August, and just three of nine the first two weeks of September – 26 percent of the days in the period under review.
Cuccinelli’s four predecessors as attorney general – Jim Gilmore, Mark Earley, Jerry Kilgore and Bob McDonnell – all resigned from the post before seeking the nomination of the Republican Party to run for governor. Cuccinelli resisted pressure from critics to follow suit, and his spokesman, Brian Gottstein, told the Pilot that Cuccinelli remains active in his duties as attorney general even while on the road campaigning.
But the issue isn’t going away, to say the least. State Sen. Donald McEachin, a former Democratic attorney general nominee, called on Cuccinelli today to reimburse Virginia taxpayers for the salary he was paid on days when he was campaigning.
“The last thing Virginians can afford is leaders who waste three quarters of their salary on their own personal ambitions. Virginians hired Ken Cuccinelli to go to work every day, not to use their tax dollars as a stipend to support his full-time campaigning,” McEachin said. “Ken Cuccinelli should reimburse Virginians for the 74 percent of his salary he received on days when he couldn’t be bothered to show up for work.”
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