Sorry for the rough audio quality at times; the wind was blowing hard at Upton Hills Park in Arlington this morning, and it messed big time with my built-in mic. So…here’s a partial transcript of what Delegates Bob Brink and Patrick Hope had to say this morning about Ken Cuccinelli, the “liberty pie,” and his opposition to public swimming pools and recreation facilities on this Friday before Memorial Day weekend.
Del. Brink:
Now, not everybody looks forward to this weekend as much as we do. For Ken Cuccinelli, this weekend is not about being able to cool off at the local pool, it’s the threat to liberty that he believes public pools pose. That’s right; the Republicans have nominated a candidate for governor who looks at a public pool and doesn’t see a fun place for his kids to hang out in the summer. As we learn from his book…he sees tragic government overreach that…“crowds out private business” and “shrinks the liberty pie.”
Now, we might find it a little nutty that somebody would think public pools are a threat to liberty, but it’s…the same mindset led Ken Cuccinelli to write in his book that Social Security and Medicare are “goodies that bad politicians created to make people dependent on government”…Now, don’t think that Ken Cuccinelli is against the use of government power across the board. Unfortunately, the only times Ken Cuccinelli seems interested in the power of government is when he can use it to force his agenda into Virginian’s personal lives. Government power was ok with him when he bullied the Virginia Board of Health into passing regulations that threaten to close women’s health clinics across the Commonwealth…and when he tried to bully our state universities into doing away with policies that protect gay and lesbian students and staff from discrimination.
So here’s the Cuccinelli rule: it’s ok to use government to intrude into personal lives, in order to threaten, in order to intimidate. But if government provides a place for people to enjoy themselves on a hot summer day, it’s a threat to the liberty pie. So this weekend as Virginians head to public pools…we hope they’ll consider for a moment what kind of governor they want for them and their families. And I hope they’ll join use in helping to keep Ken Cuccinelli from becoming the Grinch who stole summer.
Patrick Hope:
…Virginians across the state will flock to swimming pools just like the one behind me, and community centers…Public pools are a safe place for kids to enjoy the summer away from school. Communities rely on facilities just like this one, and we see it as a public good. But not Ken Cuccinelli. In his book…Cuccinelli attacked public pools such as the one here, saying they are a threat to private pools and that they make the liberty pie somehow smaller. I guess he would rather see only those with country club memberships to have access to swimming pools…
I think we may be seeing a glimpse of just how Ken Cuccinelli, if elected governor, will pay for his plan to cut taxes. You see, by shifting the tax burden over to localities, he may force them to only fund essential services…Virginians are smart enough to see through these kinds of policies that aren’t about the public good at all or what’s in the public interest; it’s apparently what’s in Ken Cuccinelli’s interest. I don’t want to turn Virginian into a state only where those who can afford it…[can] have access to our swimming pools…Enjoy the summer, enjoy the safety and security that are offered by your local swimming pools, while you still can.
P.S. Major Arlington local media #FAIL on this one; I was the only reporter there (although at the end of the statements, someone from Channel 4 finally showed up, said a reporter was coming in 1/2 hour). No Sun Gazette, Patch, etc. WTF? And they wonder why the traditional media’s not doing so well these days?
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