Ever wonder what a world run by tea-partiers might look like? To get an idea, consider Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia's new attorney general, a self professed lover of the tea party movement and perfect example of why prosecutors with a political agenda are so scary. Since assuming office in January Cuccinelli has been on a freakish non-stop crusade to enforce a moral order common to both the Tea Party and the Taliban.
In his few short months in office Cuccinelli has used the power of the state to try to rescind anti-discrimination policies for gays and lesbians, approved a new policy allowing sectarian prayer by police chaplains at public events, and even tried to cover up the bare-breast of the Roman Goddess who has graced the state seal since 1776. His explanation: "Just because we've always done something a certain way doesn't mean we always have to continue doing it that way."
Of course, Cuccinelli has also faced criticism--in particular for carrying on a private practice even after being sworn in as Attorney General. But as the tea partiers and Taliban both seem to know, theocrats are supposed to enjoy special privileges (the recent case of George Rekers, the anti-gay crusader whose European frolic with a well endowed gay hooker from Rentboy.com comes to mind). Now thus far Virginia seems to be fine with a chief law enforcement officer who introduced a bill to make the inability to speak English in the workplace a legitimate reason to disqualify a laid-off worker from receiving unemployment benefits, sought to shield concealed handgun permit application data from FOIA requests, supported legislation to give cops overtime pay while on vacation, and challenged the Clean Air Act's EPA fuel standards. But with his latest target, the Tea Party's Talib may have gone one step too far.
As Dahlia LIthwick ably reports in Slate, the Cuccinelli has filed " A civil investigative demand (or CID, which is basically a subpoena) with the University of Virginia, giving the school 30 days to produce more than 10 years' worth of documents related to the state-funded research of a former faculty member, Michael Mann. Operating under the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act, the CID seeks from the university, among other things, "any correspondence, messages or emails" to or from Mann and 40 named climate scientists; any documents sent to or from Mann that reference any of those 40 scientists; and any "documents, things or data" submitted in support of any of five different grant applications that amounted, in total, to almost $500,000. The university is also expected to turn over "any and all emails or pieces of correspondence from or to Dr. Michael Mann since he left the University of Virginia."
There is, of course, a legal term for a demand this broad justified by grounds this flimsy--it's called a "fishing expedition." And why is Cuccinelli so excited about this particular fishing trip? Because while he'd like to further the science deniers who persist in thinking that global warming is a hoax, he knows full well that issuing CID's and targeting academics will have a chilling effect--making scientists and academics fear that research with politically sensitive implications will bring down the heavy hand of the state upon them, and with the Tea Party Talib in charge, that fear seems well founded.
The simple truth is that Cuccinelli has made it clear he intends to use his office to bully and dominate, practicing a kind of law grounded not in neutral principles, or objective facts, but in a theocratic political conservatism that is more activist and off the reservation than any other AG in recent memory.
That may be something the Tea Party Taliban can get behind, but it's something real Americans should fear and revile.
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