Stephen Charles "Steve" Shannon (born April 5, 1971) is an American attorney and Circuit Court Judge in the 19th Judicial Circuit of Virginia. From 2004 to 2009, Shannon represented Virginia's 35th District in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

. He was the 2009 Democratic nominee for

Attorney General of Virginia The attorney general of Virginia is an elected constitutional position that holds an Executive (government), executive office in the government of Virginia. Attorneys general are elected for a four-year term in the year following a United State ...

. He was defeated by his opponent, Republican

Ken Cuccinelli Kenneth Thomas "Cooch” Cuccinelli II ( ; born July 30, 1968) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Pa ...

Early life

Shannon graduated from Fenwick High School in 1989, received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from

Fairfield University Fairfield University is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1942. In 2023, the university had about 5,000 full-time undergraduate students and 1,200 gra ...

in 1993, a

Master of Public Policy The Master of Public Policy (MPP) is a graduate-level professional degree. It provides training in policy analysis and program evaluation at public policy schools. The MPP program places a focus on the systematic analysis of issues related to pu ...

degree from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

in 1996, and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree from the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 as part of his "academical village", and now ...

in 1999 where he was a John M. Olin Fellow and Scholar in Law and Economics and a member of the

Virginia Law Review The ''Virginia Law Review'' is a law review edited and published by students at University of Virginia School of Law. It was established on March 15, 1913, and permanently organized later that year. The stated objective of the ''Virginia Law Revi ...

. In 2001, Shannon and his wife Abby co-founded the Metropolitan Washington

AMBER Amber is fossilized tree resin. Examples of it have been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since the Neolithic times, and worked as a gemstone since antiquity."Amber" (2004). In Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen (eds.) ''Encyclopedia ...

(America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Plan, a local extension of the nationwide child recovery program. Shannon's plan for a regional AMBER system successfully coordinated local law enforcement, media, and community groups to create a rapid-response child recovery network. In recognition of this, the Shannons received Fairfax County's highest public service award. Shannon served as Assistant

Commonwealth's Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

for Fairfax County where he worked with the state's chief felony prosecutor. Shannon devoted much of his time to consumer protection and child safety issues, frequently prosecuting criminals charged with assault, child molestation, rape and domestic violence. Additionally, Shannon prosecuted one of the state's largest embezzlement cases in an effort to combat

institutional corruption Institutional corruption is the phenomenon in public bodies of placing the protection of reputation above fidelity to the truth, especially in the context of an independent or public inquiry. Institutional corruption is differentiated from cor ...

. From 2002 to 2003 Shannon served as Vice-Chairman of the Fairfax County Consumer Protection Commission, where he was responsible for protecting citizens from illegal, fraudulent or deceptive consumer practices.

Legislative career

In 2003 Shannon was elected to represent the 35th District in Virginia's House of Delegates. He was re-elected in 2005 and 2007 (winning with 60% and 63%, respectively). He was succeeded in the house by fellow Democrat Mark L. Keam. Shannon introduced several public safety bills in the Virginia House of Delegates. These included stronger witness protections in cases of violent crime, increased penalties for gang-related violence, Reform of Emergency Response Plans in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, and expansion of Virginia's Rape Shield Statute, and making it a crime to evade

sex offender registration A sex offender registry is a system in various countries designed to allow government authorities to keep track of the activities of sex offenders, including those who have completed their criminal sentences. Sex offender registration is usual ...

Shannon introduced legislation intended to protect Virginians against

identity theft Identity theft, identity piracy or identity infringement occurs when someone uses another's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. ...

– specifically requiring database managers to implement security measures to guard against unauthorized access to customer information. In January 2009, Shannon responded to the

economic crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and ma ...

by introducing a bill with the intention of increasing government accountability, improving budget oversight, and reducing wasteful bureaucratic spending. Shannon's House Resolution was intended to repair the state's budget shortfalls, strongly recommending that the House of Delegates implement cost-saving measures which he deemed necessary.

2009 Virginia Attorney General Election

Shannon ran as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

for

Virginia Attorney General The attorney general of Virginia is an elected constitutional position that holds an executive office in the government of Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United Sta ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. His platform included increased restrictions on

sex offenders A sex offender (sexual offender, sex abuser, or sexual abuser) is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and legal jurisdiction. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crime ...

use of Social Networking services and several measures to deter drunk driving, and attempting to curb gang recruitment. He defeated attorney

John P. Fishwick, Jr. John Palmer Fishwick, Jr. (born March 31, 1957) is an attorney in Roanoke, Virginia who served as United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia between 2015 and 2017. Early life and education Fishwick was born in Roanoke, Virginia ...

in the Democratic primary. In the general election, his candidacy was endorsed by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' and ''

The Virginian-Pilot ''The Virginian-Pilot'' is the daily newspaper for Hampton Roads, Virginia. Commonly known as ''The Pilot'', it is Virginia's largest daily. It serves the five cities of South Hampton Roads as well as several smaller towns across southeast Virgi ...

''. He was defeated by Republican candidate

on November 3, 2009.

Electoral history

References

External links