The town halls will take place at 9 a.m. in Abingdon and later in the afternoon, at 1 p.m. in Rocky Mount.

While the events were organized by the Office of the Virginia Attorney General, Cuccinelli political director Noah Wall said the attorney general’s political action committee paid for the robocalls, which were placed to about 20,000 homes in the regions.

The regions are served by the Appalachian Power Company, the besieged, largely rural power company heavily criticized for jacking up its rates for electricity.

“The AG is going to be in Southwest Virginia next week to discuss the recent Appalachian Power rate change - and examine the effects that environmental regulations could have on power rates in the region,” reads a recent email from the Cuccinelli campaign.

The events also happen to be in two of the states most contested congressional districts: In Abingdon, the 9th District, home to incumbent Democratic Rep. Rick Boucher, who is being challenged by Virginia House of Delegates Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith of Salem. And in the 5th District, where freshman Rep. Tom Perriello is locked in a heated battle with the Republican challenger, state Sen. Robert Hurt.

Wall said Cuccinelli would spend the coming weeks stumping for conservative candidates in the state.

An excerpt:

“The Attorney General of Virginia, who was endorsed by Huck PAC early on during his campaign for Attorney General, truly and correctly, articulated the heart of the issue, “this case is not about health care, so much as it is about liberty.”

The Federal Government, under the Obama Administration has expanded the reach of the government to the point that it intrudes into every aspect of our lives. Obamacare is perhaps the most pervasive step by the Administration to take away our liberty by requiring us to purchase a product that the majority of us do not want.

That is why we must fight the attempts by the Obama Administration to take away our liberty. I congratulate and applaud Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli in having the courage to take on the Federal Government and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

The next hearing in the case is set for mid-September.

“A lot of business is about marketing,” he said. “I’m in a global, competitive economy.”

The governor wouldn’t post signs touting state projects paid for with federal stimulus money because he said they cost too much. But, McDonnell had 17 signs installed across the state on existing sign posts under state welcome signs. Installation began last month with the last sign installed two weeks ago, according to McDonnell’s office.

The cost included fabrication and installation, and the money came from the Virginia Department of Transportation’s operations and maintenance account.

“It’s a modest investment that I think along with all the other things we’re doing to advertise our great pro-free enterprise system here in Virginia that is going to contribute to Virginia job creation,” McDonnell said.

This morning’s radio show questions were the usual mix of current events including illegal immigration (he’s still awaiting word on a proposed agreement with the federal government to expand the authority of state troopers), traffic woes and state finances.

One caller questioned asked how the governor could be sure more minors would not have greater access to liquor if the state privatizes its ABC stores, which gave McDonnell the opportunity to hit his talking points on why he thinks it’s a good idea.

Another asked if he would support drug testing for welfare recipients.

McDonnell said there’s been some discussion of that in years past but there’s a question as to whether it’s permissible under federal law. A majority of benefits come through federal programs.

McDonnell said people addicted to drugs are not very good candidates for jobs, so “the concept is one that I’m supportive of.”

“What I don’t know if whether or not ... federal law would allow that.”

Cuccinelli, in a legal opinion issued Aug. 20, said local governments can put up religious displays as long as displays from other faiths or those representing secular beliefs are also tolerated and do not convey endorsement of any faith by the government.

That is not good enough, said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. executive director, who blasted the conservative Republican attorney general.

“This is almost certain to lead to bitter community divisiveness,” Lynn said in a statement issued by the Washingto-based group today.

“It is a green light to Religious Right activists to cajole local officials into erecting sectarian displays on public property. Unless local officials are extremely careful, this is likely to lead to lawsuits.”

“If Cuccinelli wants to see a Nativity scene, why doesn’t he put one in his front yard at home?” Lynn asked.

The legal opinion is advisory and does not constitute law, nor does it require action. It was requested by Prince William Del. Robert Marshall, another conservative, who inquired whetehr Loudoun could erect a Christmas display honoring Jesus.

The ACLU has said it does not have a fundamental opposition to Cuccinelli’s interpretation of the law with regard to Marshall’s request.

“The Supreme Court has ruled that the government may not erect displays that are overly religious, but that it can have displays that incorporate religious expression within a secular message,” Virginia ACLU director Kent Willis told the Times-Dispatch. 

“Thus, a lone crèche placed by the government in the front of the courthouse is unconstitutional, but the same crèche put there as part of a holiday display that includes a menorah, a Santa Claus and several reindeer is constitutional,” he added. 

“In the end, it all depends on whether a reasonable person viewing the scene would interpret it as promoting religion or as primarily secular.”

Americans United spokesman Joe Conn said the organization is that local officials are “likely to leap into this arena—when pushed by religious right folks—without adequate legal advice. The advisory is rather broad, and case law in this area is quite fact-specific,” he said.

What do a string of recent headline-grabbing opinions from Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli have in common? Del. Bob Marshall.

Cuccinelli’s office today released a statement on a meeting held last Thursday with four of Prince William County’s state delegates to “develop legislative initiatives to forward Virginia’s role in welcoming legal immigrants as well as its role in devising appropriate state-level responses to illegal immigration.”

Prince William has been a focal point in the Commonwealth on illegal immigration issues, with local leaders like Corey Stewart advocating for the state to enact laws similar to those recently passed in Arizona. Those laws, currently being challenged by the federal government, expanding the ability of state and local law enforcement to investigate the immigration status of anyone pulled over at a traffic stop. They also criminalize failure to carry documentation of legal residency in the country.

Cuccinelli, who had a conservative voting record in the state senate representing Fairfax county, recently moved to Prince William and has expressed qualified support for the Arizona laws and similar legislation being enacted in Virginia.

The attorney general’s release said the meeting was the first of several planned to address illegal immigration in the 2011 legislative session.  Republican delegates Scott Lingamfelter, Bob Marshall, Jackson Miller, and Rich Anderson attended.
“I think that teaming up with the attorney general will result in a strong and effective package of legislation that will make Virginia safer,” said Lingamfelter.

“Building on past legislation, I am confident we can produce constitutional proposals to address the concerns that I am hearing from citizens and businesses in my district,” said Marshall.

The Virginia Public Access Project, which provides a searchable database of state and local political campaign finances, has just added a Virginia congressional portal.

The non-partisan group was finding more people seeking information on the November congressional contests, which are about in full swing.

So, VPAP is now providing a complete list of candidates, their latest campaign finance totals and links to the Federal Election Commission where you can find details about the money. It’s also compiled with information from Center for Responsive Politics.

The coffer totals will be updated after the next reporting deadline, on Oct. 15.

In a brief appearance from Richmond, McDonnell said the state’s unspent balance “shows that the economy, at least in Virginia, is starting to grow again, but it’s mainly through spending cuts, that’s how we did it.” Most of that money is already spoken for, he noted.

Asked to respond to Democrats giving credit to the $2.5 billion in stimulus money that Virginia received, McDonnell said “a little short term help from Washington has certainly reduced some of the cuts.”

“I think in the short run most governors would say that some of the money that came in the last couple of years into the budget certainly plugged a few holes but long term that’s not going to be the solution because what you do is you build those requirements into your base operating budget, which creates more demands in the future.”

A few questions on the topic were raised at the governor’s first town hall meeting in Roanoke—among the eight planned to get ideas on reforming government and to give Gov. Bob McDonnell a chance to explain his plan to turn the state’s liquor monopoly over to the private sector.

Last night, at the event in Chester, four out of about a dozen speakers touched on the subject. Those four were in favor of the idea—half were retailers with potential business opportunities—while a fifth speaker questioned selling licenses in a soured economy.

It was the closest town hall meeting to Richmond, with the rest scattered about the state, and also one of the largest. About 350 people attended, including many members of McDonnell’s Cabinet, a rep from his political operation which worked to turn people out, and lobbyists working in favor of dumping the monopoly.

McDonnell argues that selling distilled spirits is an inappropriate function of government and says that sales of liquor licenses could give the state an initial windfall of $300 million to $500 million for transportation improvements.

As for an apparent lack of widespread public interest, the governor told reporters after the event that “a lot of leadership should come from the governor’s office, that’s why I ran for the office, to put big ideas on the table and to get things done.”

“People that drink distilled spirits probably feel like they’re getting the spirits that they want,” he said. “People that don’t drink probably don’t care where you sell it. But the issue is once you talk to people about why government ought to be out of the business and once you explain to them that you generate a significant amount of money for transportation, people get a lot more interested.”

“They’d certainly rather have us do a free-market approach than have whopping tax increases to pay for roads.”