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Brownlee makes his run for AG official

ROANOKE—Stressing his conservative credentials, the former top prosecutor in western Virginia announced his candidacy last week for the Republican nomination for attorney general.

John Brownlee, 43, had stepped down the previous week as U.S. attorney, a job he held for seven years.

Brownlee promised to speak out against abortion and said he will fight illegal immigration, gang violence, drug abuse and health care fraud. He also said he wanted children to be safe in school and from Internet predators.

“I am committed to making Virginia a better and safer place to live,” Brownlee said.

The current attorney general, Robert F. McDonnell, is seeking the GOP nomination for governor.

Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, a Fairfax County attorney, has already announced his Republican candidacy to succeed Mc-Donnell. Other Republicans could also emerge as candidates for attorney general.

Cuccinelli said Brownlee “certainly has a legitimate résumé,” but he doesn’t think the prosecutorial experience is a big advantage.
“Five percent of the staff at the attorney general’s office does prosecution,” Cuccinelli said. “In terms of manpower and decision-making, there’s an awful lot important that goes on. The office has a wide range of responsibility.”

Brownlee declined to discuss Cuccinelli’s qualifications for the job.

But Brownlee said his own background – having led an office with criminal, civil and appellate divisions – make him “uniquely qualified” to be Virginia’s top law enforcement official.

Brownlee’s cases have included successful prosecution of the maker of the painkiller OxyContin on charges of misleading the public about its risk of addiction and of ITT for illegally sending overseas classified night-vision technology used by the U.S. military.

Brownlee, a graduate of Washington and Lee University and the College of William and Mary law school, previously was an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C.

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