Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s aggressive solo bid against the federal health care overhaul shows his willingness to lead with his chin in the interest of elevating himself as a conservative standard-bearer.
Cuccinelli, who filed a lawsuit only minutes after President Obama signed the health bill Tuesday, conspicuously declined to join a broader challenge led by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. That suit was joined by 12 other states.
While Gov. Bob McDonnell, also a Republican, has announced support for the suit, Cuccinelli’s approach has clearly upturned what had been a more measured campaign against the $938 billion health bill by the new governor, and shifted the spotlight away from the executive mansion.
The attorney general’s decision not to join the larger lawsuit reflects his view of himself as a “lone crusader,” said Sen. David Marsden, D-Fairfax, who replaced Cuccinelli in the Virginia Senate this year.
“He sees himself as doing the Lord’s work and wants to get out there and be the spokesman,” Marsden said. “He has for all these years — he’s very consistent.”
The lawsuit hinges on a central plank of the sprawling federal health law: the individual mandate. Cuccinelli argues the requirement that all Americans buy health insurance lies outside the bounds of the U.S. Constitution.
Politically, the individual mandate is not a bad issue to pick out of the health bill to oppose, said University of Richmond political science professor Dan Palazzolo.
“On the one hand, Cuccinelli is obviously very conservative and the state’s rights position is a conservative one,” Palazzolo said. “But on this question he’s actually in the mainstream.”
Cuccinelli argues Virginia is in a unique position to sue because the General Assembly has passed several bills seeking to defy the individual mandate, although Idaho — which joined McCollum’s suit — has created a similar law.
Since the Virginia Health Care Freedom Act is in direct conflict with federal law, “the case over which law prevails must be hashed out in a Virginia district court, not in some other jurisdiction,” said Cuccinelli spokesman Brian Gottstein.
Many Democrats resent the office being used as a platform to attack the Obama administration. Some are drawing parallels to the state’s “massive resistance” policies opposing school integration.
“Virginia has a history of opposing the federal government, and it usually has not been a very flattering subject,” said Del. Scott Surovell, D-Mount Vernon.
