Lowell Feld is reporting that Steve Shannon held a conference call today to emphasize to Virginians that he would be unable to fulfill his role as Attorney General because of the strong urge to score political points. From Blue Virginia:
“Delegate Hamilton’s actions are intolerable. That is why I was the first state official to call upon him to resign from the House of Delegates, and I was quickly joined by Bob McDonnell, Creigh Deeds, Bill Bolling and Jody Wagner,” said Shannon. “In fact, the only candidate for statewide office to refuse to call for Hamilton’s resignation was my opponent, Ken Cuccinelli. If Ken Cuccinelli won’t stand up and call for Phil Hamilton to resign, how can Virginians expect him to vigorously defend their interests against other acts of public corruption?“
As we reported here at Bearing Drift two weeks ago, this limits Steve Shannon’s abilit to do the job of the Attorney General should he win and should the House ethics investigation find Del. Hamilton at fault.
Virginia State Code § 30-116.3:
3. If the Panel determines that there is a reasonable basis to conclude that the legislator knowingly violated any provision of Article 2 (§ 30-102 et seq.), 3 (§ 30-104 et seq.), 4 (§ 30-107 et seq.) or 5 (§ 30-109 et seq.) of this chapter, except § 30-108 or subsection C of § 30-110, it shall refer the matter by a written report setting forth its findings and the reasons therefor to the Attorney General for such action he deems appropriate.
That Shannon continues to focus on this issue shows he’s utter lack of knowledge of the responsibility of the Attorney General. And that he doesn’t read Bearing Drift.
