Martin Austermuhle
Off to Virginia for you! Photo by Kenya Allmond
It’s surprising how quickly stupidity spreads.
As we reported first last week, Virginia Attorney General Ken “The Cooch” Cuccinelli called into a conservative radio talk show to claim, amongst other things, that a 2010 D.C. law establishing guidelines for dealing with vermin and critters was actually leading city officials to conspicuously sneak rats into the commonwealth, where they’d be freed. On Monday, Rush Limbaugh repeated the claims in a segment where he called Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) a “babe” and mistakenly attributed the District’s plastic bag fee to her.
Despite a thorough debunking by us and WTOP’s Mark Segraves, though, the mere mentions by Cuccinelli and Limbaugh has spread the false claims throughout the conservative media world. (A CBS affiliate in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania went ahead and published an article that initially appeared on a conservative website under the title, “OMG! – New D.C. law protects sewer rats!” Yes, really.)
Things haven’t gotten much easier for Cheh, it seems, since the controversy burst wide open this week. WTOP reports today that Cheh has been receiving some, well, colorful emails from people expressing their anger with the District’s alleged protection of rats under the new law. (How many emails? “Far too many to count,” said a Cheh staffer.) One particularly intelligent emailer wished death upon Cheh and her family, writing, “I hope you and your family get your ass bit and you die of the plague.” Another writer said that the “biggest rat lives in the white house” and that he should be relocated to Kenya or Chicago. (Her office is also getting phone calls.)
Today Cheh’s office sent out a press release with some of the emails attached (it’s below), on which she had this to say:
“It’s a relatively short bill—seven pages. And the very first page expressly exempts mice and rats found in the District. I would have hoped that people would have been inclined to read the bill before raging against it. Over the past few days, the bill has been the subject of some national comment, and as a result, my inbox has been filled with emails disparaging me for requiring rats to be exported rather than killed (again, flatly not true). Firing off uninformed missives and calling me ‘babe’ must have been easier than actually reading the legislation.
“‘Babe’ was, however, not the only four-letter word I was called in the emails. For some examples of the well-reasoned policy suggestions I received, attached is a small sample. People have asked me whether government emails are censored. After going through my Council inbox this week, I can tell you that they are not.”
Of course, none of this is to say that there isn’t a non-venomous debate over Cheh’s Wildlife Protection Bill, which requires animal control experts to lean towards non-lethal alternatives when dealing with critters that might be unwelcome in your home. (Most types of rats and mice are exempt, though.) A number of operators have emailed me to say that the law places too many subjective burdens on them, and will increase the cost of working in the District. For Cheh and animal rights supporters, it just ensures that killing, say, a raccoon isn’t the first and only option. (ARLnow has a useful breakdown of the debate.)
Still, Cuccinelli, Limbaugh and their supporters certainly haven’t helped enlighten the debate. We might be able to brush Limbaugh aside, but Cuccinelli is a different story. The man might be governor of Virginia after the 2013 election, after all.
