Terry McAuliffe and Ken Cuccinelli Trade Barbs at Business Forum

by Alex Koma

Virginia’s gubernatorial candidates Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) and businessman Terry McAuliffe (D) worked attacks into their answers Friday at an economic forum at George Mason University’s Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas.
The event was hosted by chambers of commerce in Prince William County, Loudoun County, Fredericksburg and Reston. Subjects included health care, transportation, job creation and education, but answers frequently came back to the opposition for these two candidates.

In particular, Cuccinelli raised eyebrows with some fresh criticism of McAuliffe’s past.

“He’s the person who invented the scheme to rent out the Lincoln bedroom and proudly bragged about selling seats on Air Force One,” Cuccinelli said in his opening statement. “He’s an unindicted co-conspirator in a union election money laundering case.”

McAuliffe certainly didn’t refrain from bashing his opponent either, pointing to Metro’s planned Silver Line. “He (Cuccinelli) actually said after it was halfway constructed, he would kill the project,” McAuliffe said.

Constant Clashes

Despite the forum’s nominal economic focus, McAuliffe also frequently underlined Cuccinelli’s stance on social issues.

“We’ve got to get off this social, ideological attack on women,” McAuliffe said to hearty applause. “I trust women to make their own personal decisions about their healthcare needs.”

Ethics were a frequent focus for both men as well. McAuliffe noted Cuccinelli’s involvement in the Star Scientific gift scandal that’s embroiled Governor Bob McDonnell’s administration.

“The first thing I’d ask the attorney general to do is return the gifts that he got from (Star Scientific CEO) Jonnie Williams,” McAuliffe said. “Do as Governor McDonnell did and return the gifts.”

Cuccinelli contended that if he could return the $18,000 he reported receiving from Williams, he would.

“Just write a check?” he said. “If I could do that, I just might do that. But that’s just not something I can do, from my family’s perspective.”

The candidates also butted heads over whether they’d be in favor of having the state accept federal funds for a Medicaid expansion covered in the Affordable Care Act.

“This rolling jalopy of a federal healthcare bill is destroying jobs in this country and in this commonwealth,” Cuccinelli said. “But my opponent didn’t think it went far enough.”

His Democratic counterpart focused on the expansion’s potential positives.

“We will be able to cover 400,000 Virginians with life saving, quality care with the expansion,” McAuliffe said. “It’s morally and socially the right thing to do.”

Although many have grown weary of the campaign’s relentlessly negative tone, the candidates insist they’re not being overly critical.

“I hit him hard when I hit him,” Cuccinelli said. “But I spent most of today talking transportation, energy and job creation.”

Both men seem to have accepted that the race is going to stay personal.

“He’s going to do what he’s going to do,” McAuliffe said. “He’s on the wrong side on every issue, so if all he can do (are) personal attacks, that’s fine.”

Mud aside, the candidates agreed that the forum was helpful for voters.

“This is one of the better forums that we’ve had,” Cuccinelli said. “If we can have more of this substantive discussion, I think the Virginia citizens would be much better served.”

Sarvis Reacts

Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis, who attended the event but wasn’t invited to participate, thinks his campaign has benefited from not being involved in the mud slinging.

“I’m focused on actual solutions and I give specifics,” he said. “I don’t give these vague answers, and I think that’s why my numbers are surprising for a lot of people.”

Although Sarvis trails far behind either of the major candidates in the polls, he believes his background as a software engineer, teacher, lawyer and entrepreneur serves him well while addressing these economic issues.

“I’m the only governor candidate who understands healthcare economics,” he said. “I can actually make a sustained critique of how we do things.”