Uncharitable?

?The Virginia Attorney General's office released a letter last week to explain Ken Cuccinelli's opinion that the state cannot fund private charities. Cuccinelli's January advisory opinion caused an uproar throughout the state when funding to several charity organizations was cut earlier this year.

"The attorney general's official opinion merely stated what the law already is; it did not make new law," wrote Brian Gottstein, the Director of Communication with the Office of the Attorney General. "Official opinions are not the attorney general's personal opinions. They are his legal analysis of what current law is, based on the law as written and any applicable court decisions. He does not make the law or change the law."

Cuccinelli released a legal opinion in January after Del. John M. O'Bannon (R-Henrico) questioned the constitutionality of the state's proposed budget funding of two charitable organizations, Operation Smile and the Federation of Virginia Food Banks. Various media quoted officials for those and other charities warning of serious consequences if they lost state funding.

Cuccinelli cited Article IV of the Constitution of Virginia. "The Virginia Constitution forbids the General Assembly from making 'any appropriation of public funds, personal property, or real estate ... to any charitable institution which is not owned or controlled by the Commonwealth,'" wrote Cuccinelli.

According to The Washington Post, Virginia has halted the funding to some charities, including free medical clinics, since Cuccinelli's statement. Virginia officials are now trying to decide which organizations the state can legally fund.

"For those legislators who are disparaging the attorney general's office for its plain reading of the state constitution, they should know they are the only ones who can change laws they don't like," wrote Gottstein in the April 18th letter. "That power does not rest with this office."

While states cannot directly finance nonprofit charities, they can pay charities for contract work. By creating service contracts, some charities may be able to continue receiving taxpayer dollars.

Gottstein writes that the Attorney General's Office is not creating a list of which charities can receive funding and which ones cannot, but is only providing advice to state agencies on how to handle the situation.

"Our attorneys have worked with individual state agencies and have provided legal guidance on the scope of the constitutional prohibition, applying the law to specific facts presented to us by agencies without regard to the nature of the charity."

Read Cuccinelli's opinion here.

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