From the Mark Herring for AG campaign:
OBENSHAIN WINS REPUBLICAN NOD, ADDED TO THE MOST EXTREME TICKET IN VA HISTORY
(Leesburg) – Ken Cuccinelli's hand-picked successor, Senator Mark Obenshain, received the Republican Party nomination today from the most right-wing activists in the state, adding him to the most extreme ticket in Virginia history.
“Mark Obenshain is more extreme than Ken Cuccinelli. He is the choice of the most right-wing, extreme Tea Party activists in the state,” said Kevin O'Holleran, campaign manager for Mark Herring for Attorney General. “This is the dream ticket of the Tea Party. Obenshain and Cuccinelli both have a long track record of taking out-of-the-mainstream positions and pushing an extreme agenda.”
“Today the right-wing activists in Richmond sent a signal to the rest of Virginia – the Tea Party is clearly in charge and ready to continue pushing the same extreme agenda Ken Cuccinelli has pushed for the last four years,” O’Holleran added.
Obenshain has declared that he looks to Cuccinelli as a role model Attorney General. During Mark Obenshain’s press conference announcing he was running for Attorney General, he said he believes that the “attorney general’s done a great job.” In fact, during a recent interview with the conservative blog, Virginia Virtucon Mark Obenshain went as far to say, “I can take the baton from Ken, build on his work, without missing a step.”
“It’s clear that Mark Obenshain will follow in Ken Cuccinelli’s footsteps of injecting his own extreme politics into the Attorney General’s office. Virginians are tired of it and they are looking for someone who will put problem solving ahead of politics,” Senator Mark Herring said. “I’ll put the law first, not politics and I’ll make sure the office of Attorney General is again focusing on keeping Virginia’s families safe.”
Cuccinelli/Obenshain’s Attacks On Women
Mark Obenshain has a track record of pushing legislation that gives government intrusive power over a woman's most personal health care decisions, including decisions regarding using birth control. The Cuccinelli-Obenshain record on women's health care is downright scary.
In 2007, Obenshain and Cuccinelli came together to sponsor the Personhood Amendment, a bill so extreme it would use the government to block women from access to contraception, ban many common forms of birth control and would force police to investigate women if they have a miscarriage.
With his buddy Cuccinelli out of the Senate, Obenshain continued his assault on women’s health by voting for the personhood bill a second time in 2012. That same year Obenshain supported forcing women to go through unnecessary and invasive procedures by voting in favor of the transvaginal ultrasound bill.
Cuccinelli/Obenshain’s Rigid Ideology
Ken Cuccinelli and Mark Obenshain spent several years working together as seat mates in the State Senate. While there, they carved out their reputations as extreme outsiders, too far to the right in the views of most of their Republican counterparts.
In an interview, Obenshain bragged about the old days serving in the State Senate with Ken Cuccinelli. The two right-wing conservatives “literally were not allowed to go to Republican caucus meetings” because they were trying to defeat then-Governor Mark Warner’s bipartisan budget reforms.
Not much has changed since then. This year when for the first time in over two decades the General Assembly and the Governor were passing a comprehensive transportation package, both Obenshain and Cuccinelli tried to defeat the effort.
Obenshain voted against the transportation bill and Cuccinelli tried to undermine the bill.
Luckily for Virginia, they were both unsuccessful.
Cuccinelli/Obenshain’s Out-Of-The-Mainstream Gun Views
In the Senate Courts of Justice Committee, Cuccinelli and Obenshain spent lots of time together voting to allow for guns in day care centers and in bars, while also voting against closing the gun show loophole.
Obenshain has continued voting against any type of legislation to reduce gun violence, including voting to repeal the state’s one handgun a month law.
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Key Votes:
Obenshain on Abortion rights:
-Sponsored “Personhood” Bill with Ken Cuccinelli: (HB2797, 2007)
-Voted for it again: (HB1, 2012)
-Voted for Transvaginal Ultrasound Bill: (HB462, 2012)
Obenshain on Guns:
-Voted to allow guns in bars: (SB334, 2010)
-Voted to repeal “one hand gun a month” law: (SB323, 2012)
-Voted to allow guns in child day care centers: (SB1364, 2007)
-Voted against closing the gun show loophole: (SB109, 2008)
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