Cuccinelli appoints advisory panel on restoring felons’ voting rights
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has appointed a bipartisan advisory committee to examine ways of improving the process of restoring civil rights to certain non-violent felons without amending the state constitution.
Cuccinelli and Gov. Bob McDonnell, both Republicans, voiced support this year for a proposed constitutional amendment that would make the restoration of rights automatic for non-violent felons who have completed their sentencing, probation and restitution requirements. But the legislation died in a GOP-controlled House of Delegates subcommittee, just as it has in previous years.
The state constitution prohibits a convicted felon from voting “unless his civil rights have been restored by the Governor or other appropriate authority.” Cuccinelli will ask his advisory committee to examine alternatives to gubernatorial approval that would be permissible without amending the constitution.
McDonnell has restored civil rights for more individuals than any governor in the state’s history, but he and others argue that the process should not be left to the discretion of the governor.
“Ever since I was in the Virginia Senate, I have expressed a deep concern about unnecessarily ratcheting up several low-level offenses from misdemeanors to felonies – what I have called ‘felony creep,’ ” Cuccinelli said in a news release. “There are many people in our communities who have committed certain low-level, nonviolent offenses in the past, paid their debts to society, and then gone on to live law-abiding lives. There should be a way for willing individuals who want to regain their place in society to be forgiven, be given a second chance, and to pursue a path to regain their civil rights.”
Cuccinelli’s office said the committee members don’t necessarily share the attorney general’s view on the issue.
The members are: Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney Harvey Bryant; Dinwiddie County Commonwealth’s Attorney Lisa Caruso; K. Anne Gambrill Gentry, an assistant attorney general; Paul Goldman, former senior advisor to Gov. Douglas Wilder; Donald Santarelli, president of the Center for Community Corrections; Ashley Taylor Jr., former deputy attorney general; and attorney Henry E. Howell III.
– Michael Sluss
March 12, 2013 - 6:30 PM
Wow a conservative is actually fighting for our civil rights. Maybe we won’t have the biggest prison population in the world anymore.
I wish they would make it easier. I had a felony drug conviction when I was 19 or 20 and it has haunted me for 25 years. I probably know someone that knows the Governer, but then I have to tell my story to them. (embarassing) Other states as soon as your probation/parole is completed you have full restoration of your priviledges. Luckilly I have done ok despite a felony on my record, but I could have done better without it hanging over my head forever. It certainly limits your options. I am very fortunate to have a family and friends who have helped me along the way. Most convicted felons are not so fortunate.
His comments are so completely foreign to anything I have ever heard him say that I have to wonder what has possessed him. I cannot recall an instance, ever, that I could say I agreed with Cuccinelli.
It is an injustice to the people who made mistakes or bad choices but then turned their life around and it is a lifetime punishment that very few people actually could be said to deserve after they have paid their penance.