Repeater
Regular Member
Ken's Cops proposal alarms state Capitol
By: Jeff E. Schapiro | jschapiro@timesdispatch.com
Published: February 08, 2012 Updated: February 08, 2012 - 12:00 AM
Ken Cuccinelli is a skeptic on climate change. But his proposal to, in effect, create a police department within the attorney general's office is raising the temperature on Capitol Square.
"It's turf, turf, turf," Cuccinelli said of the opposition.
The Republican wants the legislature to allow the 40 investigators in his 83-member Medicaid fraud division to carry guns. They would be issued badges of Cuccinelli's design and — while snooping into misuse of health-care dollars by doctors and nursing homes or abuse of patients — they would watch for, as the bill puts it, "other violations of the laws of the commonwealth."
The sheriffs don't like it; nor do state police. The former, who are independently elected and powers in their own right, aren't afraid to say so. The latter, with a tradition of independence but accountable to the governor and the AG — in this case, that's the aspiring governor — aren't saying anything publicly.
To Cuccinelli, the proposal is about common sense.
To Cuccinelli's critics, the proposal is about his self-importance.
They say it's empire-building, a poke at local and state police, and a weapon, controlled by the attorney general, against political foes.