He has sued the federal government over health care, crusaded to support sexual assault victims, and knows all the words to "Rapper's Delight." Just who is Ken Cuccinelli?
Bill O'Leary-The Washington Post
Ken Cuccinelli, left, then a state senator (R-Fairfax), speaks with Del. Phil Hamilton, (R-Newport News), in February 2009. Cuccinelli won his first political race, representing southwestern Fairfax County, in 2002 and was elected Virginia's attorney general in November 2009.
Steve Helber-AP
Ken Cuccinelli talks with with staff members after-hours in June.
Cuccinelli interprets liberally the AG's basic job, which is to be managing partner of a 250-lawyer firm, charged with representing state agencies and pursuing such crimes as money laundering. He'll wade into any matter -- and is free to do so -- if he perceives a threat to Virginia law or Virginians' constitutional rights.
Bill O'Leary-The Washington Post
Bill O'Leary-The Washington Post
Ken Cuccinelli at home in Prince William County in July with his wife, Teiro, five daughters and two sons.
Bill O'Leary-The Washington Post
Ken Cuccinelli with his wife, Teiro, and their seven children. Ken and Teiro (formerly Alice Monteiro Davis) met as teenagers. When he proposed marriage, he was so oblique, she didn't understand. He had to ask twice. "I've made the whole rest of my life more blunt," he says. "That will never happen again."
Bill O'Leary-The Washington Post
Cuccinelli plays with his children at home. "I think there have been challenging times with Ken's absence, but over the years I think he has learned to be here when he's here, fully here," his wife, Teiro, says.
Bill O'Leary-The Washington Post
The Cuccinellis home-school their children through sixth grade. It raised eyebrows in Richmond when they chose not to relocate to the capital and instead moved from Centreville to rural Prince William County. Ken and Teiro didn't want to move too far from the Catholic school where their oldest child is doing well.
Bill O'Leary-The Washington Post
"His priorities are God, me, the children and everything else," says his wife, Teiro, who almost kept him out of politics. "What makes him more than what people perceive is his very deep-rooted emotion."
Bill O'Leary-The Washington Post
Ken Cuccinelli wears his "Don't Tread on Me" cap to a staff baseball game. He keeps a banner with the same motto in his office.
Bill O'Leary-The Washington Post
Cuccinelli's willingness to charge into the most monumental and era-defining issues of the day -- including health-care, climate change and the nature of government itself -- has made him a conservative superman, a toast of the Tea Party movement.
Bill O'Leary-The Washington Post
Bill O'Leary-The Washington Post
His journey was no simple matter of hitching a ride on a movement. Insisting on what he calls "principle," even when it might cost him, has earned him a certain reputation for authenticity. It also is one of the few points on which his supporters and detractors agree. With Cuccinelli, they say, what you see is what you get.
Bill O'Leary-The Washington Post
Cuccinelli holds his annual summer paintball fundraiser in June. His strategy: flank shots.
Bill O'Leary-The Washington Post
At the recent paintball fundraiser at Hogback Mountain, Cuccinelli says he already is running for his next electoral contest.
"I'm a target, so I've got to act like one. Which just means work hard. Don't wait for the election," he says.
The joke in Virginia is that AG stands for "almost governor," and that is what the last few attorneys general appeared to be planning. Cuccinelli maintains that he will run for reelection.
Bill O'Leary-The Washington Post
Gallery Credits:
Photo Editor, Producer Troy Witcher
Text Editor Judith S. Gillies
