D.C. Councilwoman Mary Cheh wondered Thursday whether Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who said a law Cheh authored could lead to rats being dumped in his state, read the animal protection measure he criticized.
“I don’t think he read it,” Cheh told The Washington Examiner. “It’s disappointing.”
In an email, Cuccinelli’s spokesman said Cheh was wrong. “The attorney general has read the law,” said Brian Gottstein, who added that Cuccinelli has sought meetings with District officials since March 2011 to discuss the measure.
Cheh’s Wildlife Protection Act of 2010, which mandates that animal control companies use humane methods when handling animals, has been in the spotlight after Cuccinelli worried in an interview that the law would force those companies to move rats to Virginia to ensure they don’t return to D.C.
The law, though, exempts most rodents from its purview and allows companies to pursue four options with animals they’ve trapped, including relocation — but only with the property owner’s permission — and euthanasia.
The spat gained national attention after pundit Rush Limbaugh hammered the law as government overreach. Limbaugh also identified Cheh as “this Mary Cheh babe,” a label that later made Cheh chuckle. “Sometime I might want to be called that, but not the way he did it,” she said.
The mention on Limbaugh’s syndicated broadcast, which Cheh said was “like being on Nixon’s enemies list,” prompted a blizzard of complaints — some littered with expletives.
Cheh released a batch of messages that she said was representative of the correspondence she has received.
“Did you really pass a law that makes it illegal to kill rats? I am so glad we don’t have anyone that stupid in my state,” wrote a California resident whose email Cheh released.
One writer described Cheh as “a colossal, vacant moron,” while another correspondent said he hopes Cheh and her family “die of the plague.”
Cheh said the tone of the messages surprised her and that she was disappointed her work was being subjected to a public skewering.
“I really don’t like the idea that the law that we passed is being misportrayed,” the Ward 3 councilwoman said. “I think it’s a very decent piece of legislation.”
