Virginia state Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, a Republican from Fairfax County, is one of the press corps' favorite lawmakers in Richmond. He's no great statesman, but he's got a penchant for taking the outrages of daily life and concocting some way to write new laws about them.
Lately, Cuccinelli is bothered by "scuzzball reporters out there who don't have a shred of human decency to give a flying rat's tail about the condition or feelings or circumstances of families" who've suffered some tragedy. Cuccinelli is offended by the sight of press hacks descending on citizens who've lost a loved one in some crime, fire or accident, so he's decided it should be illegal for reporters--or anyone else, for that matter-- to visit such families.
His Senate Bill 1120 would deem criminal anyone who enters onto someone's private property within a week after the owner's family "suffered a substantial personal, physical, mental, or emotional loss, injury, or trauma."
The senator says this is necessary to stop scuzzball reporters from "bugging people" for a "juicy quote."
I'm one of those scuzzball reporters.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/2007/01/virginia_vs_scuzzball_reporter.html