The facts of omission

Attorney General and Republican candidate for governor Ken Cuccinelli debuted a new campaign ad last week called “Facts.”

Here’s the script:

The truth?

There’s only one candidate under investigation, Terry McAuliffe.

Potential fraud that killed jobs and threatened national security.

And the press calls McAuliffe’s attacks false.

A Democrat commonwealth attorney cleared Cuccinelli of any wrongdoing.

Cuccinelli personally launched the investigation into Bob McDonnell.

And called for immediate reform to strengthen ethics laws.

Those are the facts.

I’m Ken Cuccinelli, candidate for governor, and I sponsored this ad.

Here are some more facts:

n McAuliffe’s former company, GreenTech Automotive, is under a Securities and Exchange Commission probe for actions that took place while he was its chairman. McAuliffe has not been identified individually as a subject of the investigation.

n The inspector general is investigating whether Cuccinelli’s office aided energy companies in a lawsuit involving gas royalties owed to Virginia property owners.

n An energy company involved in that lawsuit has given Cuccinelli’s gubernatorial campaign more than $100,000.

n Virginia’s weak ethics laws allow elected officials to “forget” for several years to report gifts without any penalty.

n Cuccinelli belatedly remembered that he took a vacation, valued at $3,000, to Jonnie Williams’ Smith Mountain Lake home, and, oh yes, accepted a $1,500 Thanksgiving dinner from Williams. Unlike Gov. Bob McDonnell, who has paid back Williams for all his “gifts,” Cuccinelli refuses.

n He also forgot he purchased more than $10,000 in Star Scientific stock (Williams’ company), the only large investment in his portfolio; some of it the attorney general bought after the company sued the state to reverse a $1.7 million tax bill.

n Virginia’s ethics laws need strengthening, a fact Cuccinelli decided to champion after he stretched them beyond recognition.

Voters can decide whether he’s the right man to lead ethics reform — once they have all the facts.

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