Ken Cuccinelli Thinks Adultery Should Be A Crime

Virginia’s Republican nominee for Governor said just four years ago that he supported the states law banning sex outside marriage and suggested it ought to be enforced more:

Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli once suggested that society would benefit from enforcing anti-adultery laws, according to a report dating to the Republican’s days as a state senator.

Speaking to Richmond’s Style Weekly magazine back in 2008, Cuccinelli defended laws criminalizing extramarital sex, saying that such restrictions “ought to stay on the books.”

“Frankly it wouldn’t hurt to enforce them more,” Cuccinelli is quoted saying. The magazine paraphrased Cuccinelli drawing a comparison to “perjury inasmuch as the occasional prosecution or two would get people thinking twice.”

(…)

In response to an email from POLITICO, Cuccinelli spokeswoman Anna Nix said the question of adultery was not a major issue in the 2013 election.

“Ken Cuccinelli is someone who believes in and supports the institution of marriage. The campaign for the governorship in Virginia is about the concerns of voters, which include first and foremost creating jobs and growing the economy,” Nix said.

Yea, but does he still think adultery should be a crime?

FILED UNDER: 2013 Election, US Politics, , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Gromitt Gunn says:

    He also wants the sodomy laws back on the books. All sodomy laws, regardless of gender – no more BJs for you, males of Virginia!

  2. anjin-san says:

    Let’s take the conservative obsession with sex to its logical conclusion. Anything other than husband/wife sex in the missionary position lasting less than three minutes is a crime.

    Unless it involves a wealthy white man banging a woman who is not his wife and is at least a decade younger than him on his desk. Bonus points if she is a low level employee.

  3. CB says:

    “Frankly it wouldn’t hurt to enforce them more,” Cuccinelli is quoted saying. The magazine paraphrased Cuccinelli drawing a comparison to “perjury inasmuch as the occasional prosecution or two would get people thinking twice.”

    You know, we should burn a witch or two every now and again. Just to keep the people on their toes. Whats the harm?

  4. Franklin says:

    Why do Republicans hate freedom? Is it because liberty sounds too much like liberal?

  5. The even dumber thing is that the Supreme Court of Virginia struck down Virginia’s fornication statute back in 2005 in Martin v. Ziherl.

    Topnotch Attorney General we have here.

  6. JohnMcC says:

    Mr Cuccinelli’s interest in the government control of it’s citizen’s sex lives certainly leads to an interesting speculation on his own psychological and moral life. I wonder how he would vote on a law banning masturbation?

  7. @JohnMcC:
    Duh, every time you masturbate, God kills a kitten. (safe link to Wikipedia)

    @Gromitt Gunn: One of the all-time greatest things to happen in the Virginia legislature involved then Delegate Bob McDonnell attacking a lesbian judge during a reconfirmation hearing because she was violating the state’s sodomy statute (this being before Lawrence v. Texas was decided).

    A reporter went up to him after the hearing and asked him if he had even violated the sodomy statute, to which he responded, “Not that I can recall.”

    I wonder what his wife thought of that.

  8. Scott says:

    @JohnMcC: I wonder how he would testify under oath as to any of these issues. “Mr Cuccinellli: have you ever committed sodomy with your wife? Any answer would be quite amusing.

  9. KM says:

    @ Gromitt Gunn

    You know what? Virginia deserves it. They *SO* deserve it if they let this nutcase in. Anyone who could possibly being willing to vote for someone who’s so-called morals *demand* they restrict the sexual rights of others shouldn’t have the nerve to be suprised it could easily happen to them. Most people associate the word with homosexuality but really sodomy is anything to any gender and/or any sexuality that isn’t sex in the classically-defined way. Including BJs to their surprise. And now even the blonde bint on the side is in danger too!

    So yes, all red-blooded men and women of Virgina, you too are now going to be criminalized. You too will now have to worry that this kind of law will be used against you. And if anyone is foolish enough to believe reassurances from a GOVERNMENT OFFICAL that a law on the books won’t be actively used against them when it absolutely *could* be….

    Well, isn’t not trusting the goverment supposed to be conservative thing?

  10. 0Someone on Twitter suggested that he needs to focus on jobs that aren’t preceded by the word “blow”. Seems about right to me.

  11. Facebones says:

    So, at what point will James Joyner refuse to vote for him? Is this the tipping point where Cuccinelli’s craziness outweighs Joyner’s Republican tendencies?

  12. Liberal Capitalist says:

    Why is it…

    In states that seemed overly preoccupied with banning Sharia law…

    Are the states that seem to want to pass laws that are inline with Sharia law.

    THEIR crazy… bad !!!

    OUR crazy… LAW !!!

    idjidts.

  13. JKB says:

    If we could just get Maryland to start enforcing the same, then we’d have the majority of adulterers and fornicators hemmed inside the beltway.

  14. gVOR08 says:

    I thought the idea that enforcing morality was a function of government had died out, at least in the West. The last decade of Republicans has disabused me of that notion. Where do Republicans find these people? And why?

    @Facebones: I sometimes think the question with James and Doug is not so much when they’ll see the light, as when they’ll ‘fess up.

  15. Caj says:

    Well, if that goes ahead that will mean the end of the Republican Party. As the majority of them will be in jail! I say sign it into law that being the case!!

  16. Virginia voter says:

    All the headlines say “adultery” which I take to mean cheating on a spouse, but the articles say extra-marital sex. The latter category is a lot broader. Is all extra-marital sex a crime in Virgina, even after the 2005 case?

    KM, I guess your statement also means you deserved GW Bush. At least our clown isn’t elected yet.

  17. bill says:

    it’s way more fun if it’s illegal!

  18. @Virginia voter:
    The law is still on the books:

    § 18.2-344. Fornication.

    Any person, not being married, who voluntarily shall have sexual intercourse with any other person, shall be guilty of fornication, punishable as a Class 4 misdemeanor.

    (Code 1950, §§ 18.1-188, 18.1-190; 1960, c. 358; 1975, cc. 14, 15.)

    There was also a law which prohibited “lewd and lascivious cohabitation”, which was repealed effective July 1, 2013 (I believe that Doug or James previously wrote a post about the repeal):

    If any persons, not married to each other, lewdly and lasciviously associate and cohabit together, or, whether married or not, be guilty of open and gross lewdness and lasciviousness, each of them shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor; and upon a repetition of the offense, and conviction thereof, each of them shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

  19. KM says:

    @Virginia voter:

    What in the world makes you think I voted for Bush?

  20. Virginia voter says:

    @Timothy Watson: “Any person, not being married, , who voluntarily shall have sexual intercourse with any other person” … Sounds like a married person, “being married”, can have sex with any other married person, whether or not their marriage is to each other? But the unmarried person is in trouble!

    What’s the potential penalty for a Class 4 misdemeanor? Perhaps a vaginal ultrasound?

  21. Virginia voter says:

    @KM: I would assume you didn’t. It was in jest. You said that Virginians deserved it if he wins. I was just essentially saying only the ones who vote for him do, and that I don’t “deserve” Cuchinelli any more than you deserved GWB. Perhaps a dumb and confusing comment on my part.

  22. KM says:

    @Virginia voter:

    Ah, my sarcasm meter needs calibration today.

    You do have a point, though. To those who voted for the other guy, its an unfair punishment. I always viewed it as encouragement to push and promote the vote. And rely on on buyer’s remorse in the population so the same guy doesn’t get a second shot.

  23. @Virginia voter:
    I actually missed a statute, there’s a statute specifically for adultery, but carries the same penalty as fornication:

    § 18.2-365. Adultery defined; penalty.

    Any person, being married, who voluntarily shall have sexual intercourse with any person not his or her spouse shall be guilty of adultery, punishable as a Class 4 misdemeanor.

    (Code 1950, §§18.1-187, 18.1-190; 1960, c. 358; 1975, cc. 14, 15.)

    The punishment for misdemeanors are:

    The authorized punishments for conviction of a misdemeanor are:

    (a) For Class 1 misdemeanors, confinement in jail for not more than twelve months and a fine of not more than $2,500, either or both.

    (b) For Class 2 misdemeanors, confinement in jail for not more than six months and a fine of not more than $1,000, either or both.

    (c) For Class 3 misdemeanors, a fine of not more than $500.

    (d) For Class 4 misdemeanors, a fine of not more than $250. (Va. Code § 18.2-11)

  24. An Interested Party says:

    If we could just get Maryland to start enforcing the same, then we’d have the majority of adulterers and fornicators hemmed inside the beltway.

    Yes, of course, because such horrible activities certainly don’t take place in flyover country/red states…

    By the way, it really does take a ridiculous Neanderthal like Cuccinelli to get someone like the odious Terry McAuliffe elected the governor of Virginia…

  25. al-Ameda says:

    Where do Republicans come up with these people – at the Stringfellow Acid Pits? Cuccinelli is definitely wasting more than his per capita share of oxygen and bandwidth.

  26. wr says:

    Odd that Doug left off the second half of that headline:

    Cuccinelli thinks adultery should be a crime, but taking tens of thousands of dollars in bribes should not be.

  27. Virginia voter says:

    Oh, Timothy Watson already said this, but now I see that this law was deemed unconstitutional by the Virginia Supreme Court in 2005. So no $250 fine after all.