Records that would document the time, resources and meetings involved in the lawsuit that the Virginia attorney general's office filed against federal health-care legislation either don't exist or are classified as confidential "working papers" of the agency, a ranking deputy said yesterday.
Stephen R. McCullough, senior appellate counsel for Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, was responding to a request under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act filed by Democratic Party officials and several media outlets, including the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Yesterday, Cuccinelli issued a release saying that the work of the suit was being done in-house and said costs would be minimal beyond the $350 fee to file the suit in U.S. District Court.
Party officials have been critical of Cuccinelli's filing of the suit, which claims that the new health-care law is unconstitutional because it requires nearly every American to obtain health insurance or face a fine.
Democrats charged that Cuccinelli, a conservative Republican, was trying to block reform and wasting money and resources of the office by filing a suit. They requested a list of attorneys both inside and outside the attorney general's office and records of their hours and the money spent to produce the legal filing.
McCullough's response to the request was "No such record exists." Under FOIA, with certain exceptions, agencies are not obligated to create records if they don't already exist.
Democrats also asked for records of correspondence between Cuccinelli's office and the offices of the 13 other state attorneys general who have also filed suit against the federal government, as well as Cuccinelli's schedule since his took office Jan. 16.
McCullough responded that there were roughly 40 records related to contact with other states and 170 pages detailing Cuccinelli's schedule. However, the office classified the records as "working papers" of the attorney general that are entitled to remain confidential, and did not release them.
Gov. Bob McDonnell has estimated that it would cost an additional $1.1 billion over the next 12 years for Virginia to implement the new health-care law.
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