Politics & Government

Sen. Dick Saslaw: Virginia 'Screwed' if Cuccinelli Elected Governor

The Virginia Senate Democratic leader spoke to the Springfield Civic Association on Tuesday night.

Virginia will be "screwed" if Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is elected governor this fall, said state Senate Democratic Leader Dick Saslaw (D-35th) after a community meeting in Springfield on Tuesday night.  

"I like Ken personally, but he doesn't believe in science," said Saslaw to the Springfield Civic Association. "He just doesn't."

Saslaw referred to when Cuccinelli, in 2010, requested the emails and files of a former professor at the University of Virginia, who received state grants to study global warming.  

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"For Ken there's no climate change," said Saslaw who represents the City of Falls Church. "We're looking at being screwed. How are you going to recruit top-notch talent? What Nobel Prize winner would come to this state when the governor is a guy, who, when he was Attorney General, sued for your backup data because he didn't believe in your analysis?"

Cuccinelli is running against Democrat Terry McAuliffe, the former chair of the Democratic National Committee and 2009 gubernatorial candidate. McAuliffe raised $5,139,285 between Jan. 1 and March 31, while Cuccinelli raised $2,380,403 in the same time period. Click here for more on that story. 

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Saslaw recently told the Huffington Post that Cuccinelli is a right-wing activist.

Saslaw tried to convince U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) to run for the seat prior to the 2012 presidential campaign. Warner was Virginia's governor from 2002-2006. 

"I tried to get Mark to run for governor and he made the decision a week after the election that he wasn't going to do it," said Saslaw.

"And later I was on vacation in Hawaii, Mark calls me up and says 'I made a mistake.' I said: 'Now's the time to think of it.'"


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