On The Right

This is in just 3 months.

Advocating for Consumers

Ken and his staff worked with the Virginia State Corporation Commission and Dominion Virginia Power to obtain an 8.9% rate reduction in electricity fees in 2010 for Dominion residential customers.  A new rate of $99.07 per 1000 kilowatt hours was negotiated, lowering the rate from $108.73.  The new rate compares very favorably with the national average of $116.33.  In addition to the on-going lower rate for monthly usage, one-time refunds for earlier billed items will be credited to customer accounts.  The typical customer will receive a total benefit of approximately $195 from this agreement.

Keeping Criminals Behind Bars

Jens Soering was convicted in 1990 by a jury of two counts of first degree murder for the 1985 murder of Derek and Nancy Haysom in their Bedford County home.

After Soering killed his victims, he fled to Europe. After being incarcerated in London on various fraud charges, he finally confessed in detail to planning and committing the murders.  Soering was brought back to the U.S. and sentenced to two life terms, which he has been serving here in Virginia.

As one of Governor Kaine’s last actions before leaving office, he set the process in motion to return Soering to Germany, where he likely would have been released in two years.  But just days after being sworn in as Attorney General, Ken worked with the Governor’s office and blocked the transfer order.  Because of this, Soering remains incarcerated in Virginia for his brutal crimes.

Consumer Protection

Ken joined the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and 34 other states to reach an agreement with Lifelock, an identity protection provider, to pay $11 million in restitution to its customers.  This agreement resolves an investigation into the company’s misleading advertising practices that led customers to believe that Lifelock had a “proven solution” that would protect against all forms of identity theft. Lifelock also agreed to pay $1 million to cover the costs of the states’ investigations.

State and federal laws provide consumers with a variety of tools to help protect themselves against identity theft. To assist Virginia consumers, the Office of the Attorney General has posted a guide here to assist those who believe they are victims of identity theft.

Protecting Virginians from the Unconstitutional Overreach of the Federal Government

Ken has taken an active role in defending the laws of Virginia and protecting the interests of Virginia citizens when challenged by potentially incorrect and unconstitutional actions by the Federal government.

·         Unconstitutional Health Care Mandate:  Ken, through his Attorney General’s Legislative Agenda for the Virginia General Assembly, supported HB 10 (the Virginia Health Care Freedom Act) which provides that a resident of the Commonwealth shall not be required by government to obtain or maintain a policy of individual health insurance coverage.  This bill passed through the General Assembly with strong bipartisan support and was signed by Governor Bob McDonnell.  When the president signed the federal health care “reform” act into law in March – requiring everyone to purchase insurance – Virginia’s law came into direct conflict with the Federal law, and Ken filed a lawsuit to defend our law.

Normally, Federal law trumps state law, but this lawsuit is based upon the premise that the Federal law is unconstitutional because it uses an unprecedented and incorrect interpretation of the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 8).  While this clause has been recognized as dealing with the regulation of interstate commerce, an individual who does not buy health insurance is – by definition – not engaged in commerce, so how can the government regulate his non-commerce?  In 220-plus years of American jurisprudence, this type of overreach has been considered outside the accepted regulatory power of the Federal government.  Ken has commented, “Virginia’s challenge to the health care bill is not just about buying insurance.  It is about the limits of the power of the Federal government and its relationship to citizens.  Ultimately, it is about liberty itself.  Whatever power the government takes, it takes from the citizens and rarely, if ever, gives it back.”

·         Challenges to the EPA Endangerment Finding for Greenhouse Gases:  The Obama administration has proposed the so-called Cap and Trade legislation to regulate the emissions of CO2 (the stuff we humans and animals exhale) and other greenhouse gases.  This regulation would be a staggeringly expensive and prosperity-destroying undertaking for Virginia and the United States.

The EPA, however, was required to determine that these gases posed a danger to health and welfare before regulation was possible.  So the EPA issued an Endangerment Finding for Greenhouse Gases which was principally based upon data provided by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).  The IPCC obtained most of its scientific support from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia in England.  However, that data has since been called into question with the revelation of “Climate-gate” and its reports of manipulation of the peer-review process to prevent the publication of contrary views, hiding “inconvenient” data, working with corrupted data, and conflicts of interest.  Some climate scientists have even recanted their now infamous reports, including those who declared that the polar ice caps are melting and sea levels will continue to rise to put many oceanfront cities under water.

Based upon these new revelations, Ken has petitioned the EPA to consider this new data, and he is also appealing the endangerment finding in the District of Columbia Circuit Court.  He is suggesting that new, scientifically-rigorous studies must be undertaken to determine if these gases actually do pose a threat to health and welfare.  Up until now, the mantra “the science is settled” has worked to take Virginia and the nation to the brink of unaffordable regulation which, if enacted, will cause many industries to shut down and result in job losses in the millions.

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