Attorney General Cuccinelli is nothing if not consistent. The man never misses an opportunity to score points with the Tea Party crowd, even when it means going to the extreme of assaulting the Commonwealth’s most prominent university until getting laughed out of the state Supreme Court.
But when it comes to using the considerable powers of his office to actually help Virginia consumers? Then Cuccinelli is harder to find than an ivory-billed woodpecker. You can almost randomly choose an issue of real concern to everyday Virginians and you’re guaranteed to find our Ayatollah General missing in action.
So today, let’s pick — on-line privacy. Recently, under the auspices of the National Association of Attorney Generals, 37 AGs signed a letter to Google expressing concern that its new privacy policy “forces…consumers to allow information across all these products to be shared, without giving them the proper opportunity to opt out.”
This strongly worded letter properly sends a message to an immensely powerful corporation that it needs to take the interests and concerns of consumers seriously. But it is not just signed by Democratic AGs or those from more progressive Northern or West Coast states. The list includes the AGs of North Carolina, North Dakota, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and even Guam. Just not Virginia.
So once again we are behind Mississippi and on the list of the most backwards states, thanks to a political establishment that puts corporations (and embryos) first and people dead last. Here’s just one more reason why it’s time to start working to elect a new slate of leaders who’ll make us proud of Virginia again — and not just embarrassed.
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