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Cuccinelli Calls for McAuliffe to Release Tax Returns

Ken Cuccinelli at the 65th annual Shad Planking / AP

Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli announced Wednesday he will be releasing eight years of his tax returns and called on his Democratic opponent Terry McAuliffe to do the same.

Cuccinelli said the decision was made to demonstrate his commitment to transparency.

"The decision to make my tax returns available to the public will hopefully provide voters more information as they decide who to support this fall," said Cuccinelli.

McAuliffe hoped to make his business career the focus of his campaign, but has come under fire for certain business practices. The tax returns could help Virginians parse out complicated details of his business dealings.

One issue that has come under special scrutiny is McAuliffe’s chairmanship of electric car manufacturer GreenTech Automotive.

McAuliffe has been criticized for opening two manufacturing facilities in Mississippi rather than bringing manufacturing jobs to Virginia, where the company is headquartered.

Though McAuliffe has attempted to defend himself against the GreenTech barbs in recent months, his campaign announced two weeks ago that McAuliffe had actually resigned from GreenTech on Dec. 1, 2012.

Disclosure documents shared with Politico show McAuliffe still has at least $250,000 worth of stock in GreenTech, but full details of his involvement with the company or whether he receives any additional compensation are unclear.

The McAuliffe campaign has been mum on whether or not it intends to release the tax returns.

Cuccinelli continued to attack McAuliffe’s history with GreenTech at the 65th Annual Shad Planking, an annual event held by the Ruritan Club that has become a Virginia tradition.

McAuliffe decided not to attend the Shad Planking this year, though he did attend the event during his failed 2009 gubernatorial bid.

Cuccinelli took aim at McAuliffe’s 2009 Shad Planking appearance, in which McAuliffe took the event by storm with signs promising that GreenTech would create more than 100,000 jobs for Virginia.

"In 2013 we hear about some jobs—not in Virginia—but some jobs," said Cuccinelli. "And we see zero signs. So there does seem to be some correlation there between the two."

Every Virginia governor has attended the Shad Planking in the year he won the election since at least 1965, according to the Washington Post.