Ken Cuccinelli came out swinging against Terry McAuliffe Friday at the “Battle Ground” forum at George Mason University. In his opening remarks, Cuccinelli ticked off several of the scandals that have surrounded McAuliffe throughout his political career. He also attacked McAuliffe for not releasing his tax returns, something the Democrat had called on Mitt Romney to do last year.
“Transparency is about trust. I’ve been transparent, and Terry hasn’t,” Cuccinelli said. “You may not always agree with me, but you’ll always know where I stand.”
The forum, sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce, was not a debate. Each candidate took the stage for 45 minutes of opening statements and questions from moderator Derek McGinty, an anchor with Washington, DC’s station WUSA9.
Cuccinelli’s opening remarks centered on the current controversies surrounding McAuliffe’s GreenTech Automative. The company is currently under investigation by the SEC over the manner it solicited investments from foreign nationals.
“Claiming to create more jobs than Bill Gates? That’s my opponent,” Cuccinelli mocked. “[GreenTech] is currently under investigation by the SEC, another federal agency and Congress for fraud and multiple investigations for a scheme to sell visas to wealthy Chinese investors, at least one of which was a known security risk.”
Cuccinelli also, however, brought up some of the scandals from McAuliffe’s past, when he served as chief fundraiser for President Bill Clinton and Chairman of the DNC.
“I think Cuccinelli ends up getting the win today,” Politico‘s John Hahman answered when asked by radio station WTOP. “[B]ut it’s close just because he was attacking and a lot of the attacks are what people will pay attention to.”
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