Bob McDonnell

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Bob McDonnell
Bob McDonnell, November 3rd, 2009
Governor-elect of Virginia
Taking office January 16, 2010
Succeeding	Tim Kaine
Attorney General of Virginia
In office January 16, 2006 – February 20, 2009
Preceded by	Judith Jagdmann
Succeeded by	Bill Mims
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from the 84th district
In office 1992 – 2005
Preceded by	Glenn McClanan
Succeeded by	Sal Iaquinto
Born	June 15, 1954 ( 1954 -06-15) (age 55) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Maureen Patricia McDonnell (nee Gardner)
Children	Jeanine, Cailin, Rachel, Bobby, Sean
Residence	Virginia Beach, Virginia
Alma mater	University of Notre Dame Boston University Regent University
Profession	Lawyer Former U.S. Army supply officer
Religion	Roman Catholic
Website	www.bobmcdonnell.com
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1976–1997
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Unit	Army Reserve (1981–1997)

Robert "Bob" Francis McDonnell (born June 15, 1954) is the Governor-elect of Virginia and a former lieutenant colonel in the United States Army. McDonnell is a Republican who served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1992 to 2005 and as Attorney General of Virginia in 2006. In February 2009, He resigned as Attorney General to campaign full time for governorship of Virginia in the 2009 election.^{[1][2][update]} On November 3rd 2009, McDonnell was elected as the 71st governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia after defeating opponent Senator Creigh Deeds in the general election. He will replace the current governor Tim Kaine when he is inaugurated on January 16th, 2010 on the steps of the Virginia State Capitol.

[edit] Early life

McDonnell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, his family moved to Fairfax County, Virginia when he was only one year old. Bob spent four years of his early childhood in Germany when his father John McDonnell, a United States Air Force officer, was sent out on assignment. After returning to Virginia four years later, the McDonnells permanently established residence in Fairfax County. His mother, Emma, worked at Mount Vernon. McDonnell graduated from Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria, Virginia in 1972.^[3][4] While attending Bishop Ireton High School, McDonnell played football and broke the T.C. Williams shut out streak of 20 quarters by scoring a touchdown with minutes left in the game. ^[5]

He attended the University of Notre Dame on an ROTC scholarship, graduating with a B.B.A. in Management in 1976. He went on to receive an M.S.B.A. from Boston University in 1980, and an M.A./J.D. from the Regent University School of Law in 1989.^[3][4]

McDonnell served as a medical supply officer^[6] in the United States Army for four years, and in the U.S. Army Reserve for 16 years, retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel.^[3] While on active duty, he ran a medical clinic in Germany from 1976 to 1979, and in Newport News, Virginia from 1979 to 1981.^[7]

[edit] Political career

[edit] House of Delegates

McDonnell was first elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1992, serving seven terms (14 years). He represented the 84th district in Virginia Beach. Under the 1998–2001 power-sharing arrangement between House Republicans and Democrats, he was co-chair of the Committee on the Chesapeake and its Tributaries in 2000–2001. He became chair of the Courts of Justice Committee in 2003. He also served on the Rules Committee 2000–2005, and was Assistant Majority Leader.^[3][8][9]

[edit] Attorney General

Jeri Thompson, wife of former senator Fred Thompson, speaks with Virginia Attorney Gen Bob McDonnell

In 2005, McDonnell ran for Attorney General. The first result showed him with a victory of 323 votes, out of over 1.9 million votes cast, over his opponent, Democratic state Senator Creigh Deeds. Deeds filed for a recount, which began on December 20, 2005. After preliminary figures revealed 37 more votes for McDonnell and that Deeds would not make up the difference, he conceded the next day, giving McDonnell a 323 vote margin of victory.^[10] McDonnell outspent Deeds by almost three million dollars (McDonnell spent $5,962,067 to Deeds' $3,103,585); the VA Republican State Leadership Committee donated $2,084,089 to McDonnell's campaign,^[11] exploiting a loophole in state law that was closed by the General Assembly—with the support of McDonnell—shortly after the election.^[12][13]

He was inaugurated on January 14, 2006 in Williamsburg along with Governor Tim Kaine and Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling.

In 2007, McDonnell "played a key role in early negotiations" on the transportation package that was the key issue of contention in the General Assembly.^[14]

Prior to a performance of the Sex Workers' Art Show at the College of William and Mary in the Spring of 2008, McDonnell forbade the sale of the group's books on school grounds.^[15]

McDonnell took the side of defecting Northern Virginia Episcopalians in a property lawsuit over the right of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia to retain church properties.^[16]

On February 4, 2009, he announced that he would resign as attorney general, effective February 20, to run for governor full time.^[17]

[edit] Candidate for Governor

Robert “Bob” McDonnell announced his candidacy for the 2009 Virginia Gubernatorial election at American Legion's Boy's State of Virginia 2007, making him the seventh consecutive elected Attorney General to run. McDonnell accepted the GOP’s nomination at the Republican State convention, receiving “extended applause from a boisterous crowd of more than 10,000 Republicans from across the state.”^[18] Less than two weeks later, State Senator R. Creigh Deeds won his party’s nomination in a primary, setting up a “rematch” from the state attorney general’s race four years earlier.

In early June, Creigh Deeds possessed a slight edge in the polls with a 47%-41% advantage in the Rasmussen. ^[19] As the campaign continued to progressed, the polls shifted toward McDonnell's favor, giving him even a commanding lead in some.^[20] When the Washington Post released McDonnell's thesis from Regent University, Deeds managed to cause McDonnell's lead to dwindle to only two percentage points in the Rasmussen. ^[21] As the effects of the thesis began to disappear, McDonnell's campaign regained steam, ultimately taking a commanding lead heading into election day.

McDonnell crushed opponent Creigh Deeds in the general election by a vote of 59%-41%, receiving the highest percentage of the vote for any candidate for governor since 1961.^[22] He will be inaugurated on January 16, 2010 on the steps of the Virginia State Capitol Building.

[edit] Issues

The McDonnell campaign strategy is reported to focus on economic issues, transportation, and public safety rather than social issues.^[23] Bob McDonnell's proposals include new job initiatives, boosting Virginia’s tourism, hospitality, and film industries, making Wallops Island the top commercial spaceport in America, and expanding growth in rural Virginia.^[24] McDonnell’s education proposals would move $480 million per year from school administration and put it directly into the classroom; establish more specialized high schools to support high-demand industries; increase online learning through virtual schools; and support educational mentoring programs.^[25][26] McDonnell has also voiced support for President Barack Obama’s ideas on increasing parental choice through charter schools.^[27]

McDonnell has said that his priority as Governor would be employment for Virginians. He has favored right-to-work laws, low operating cost of government and a simplified tax code.^[28][29]

[edit] Transportation

McDonnell's campaign also addressed transportation, a major issue in heavily congested areas of Virginia. His plan includes issuing $3 billion in transportation bonds that had been approved by the Virginia General Assembly in 2007; modernizing the Virginia Department of Transportation; and encouraging public-private partnerships to improve infrastructure.^[30] He wants to widen I-66, improve I-95, and finish Metro to Dulles.

[edit] Energy

McDonnell wishes to make Virginia the Energy Capital of the East Coast. ^[31]. He supports drilling for oil off of the coast of Virginia while simultaneously developing new technologies for wind, solar, biomass, and other renewable energy resources.^[32] Opponents of McDonnell's drilling proposal say that drilling for oil would risk Southern tourism, rare wildlife, and fisheries for what the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service estimates would be only enough oil for six months, and require seven to ten years to bring online.^[33] He intends to expand investments in renewable energy sources and incentivize green job creation. ^[34]

[edit] Abortion

McDonnell is pro-life. As a state legislator, he introduced legislation that would have banned late-term abortions, as well as other legislation requiring parental consent before a minor has an abortion and informed consent for all women.^[35] He opposes government funding for elective abortions.

[edit] Thesis

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (September 2009)

McDonnell's 1989 thesis for Regent University^[36], was a 93-page document titled The Republican Party's Vision for the Family: The Compelling Issue of The Decade. The document explored the rise in the numbers of divorces and illegitimate births, and examined public policies that may have contributed to that increase and proposed solutions.

The document gained attention in the campaign because it outlined a 15-point conservative Republican/Christian agenda, including 10 points McDonnell pursued during his years in the General Assembly, according to press analysis.^[37] This agenda includes opposition to abortion and support for school vouchers, and tax policies that favor heterosexual families. In the work, McDonnell argues for covenant marriage, a "legally distinct type of marriage intended to make it more difficult to obtain a divorce".^[38]

In his thesis, McDonnell said "government policy should favor married couples over 'cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators.'"^[39] McDonnell also "described working women and feminists as 'detrimental' to the family."^[40] McDonnell also "criticized a landmark 1965 Supreme Court decision" which legalized the use of contraceptives by married couples. In the thesis, McDonnell argued for the use of government intervention on societal issues, writing that "man’s basic nature is inclined towards evil, and when the exercise of liberty takes the shape of pornography, drug abuse, or homosexuality, the government must restrain, punish, and deter."

McDonnell responded to the article, stating "Virginians will judge me on my 18-year record as a legislator and attorney general and the specific plans I have laid out for our future -- not on a decades-old academic paper I wrote as a student during the Reagan era and haven't thought about in years." The Washington Post reported McDonnell maintains: "Like everybody, my views on many issues have changed as I have gotten older." McDonnell says his evolved position on family policy is best represented by his 1995 welfare reform legislation where he "worked to include child day care in the bill so women would have greater freedom to work." He now insists that the position on working women he espoused in the thesis, "was simply an academic exercise and clearly does not reflect my views."^[37]

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, a supporter of McDonnell's Democratic opponent, state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, responded that McDonnell has since made more than one intervention concerning sexual orientation. Kaine pointed to the fact that McDonnell advocated a state constitutional amendment requiring that marriage can occur only between a man and a woman, and intervened to oppose Kaine's first act as governor in 2006, to expand the state's nondiscrimination policy to include sexual orientation.^[41]

[edit] Campaign organization and financial support

McDonnell's campaign headquarters was located in Richmond. His campaign finance report for September 15, 2009 indicates that he had nearly 1,500 more new donors than the Deeds campaign had total donors, a total of 6,239 donors, 4,946 of them new.^[42]

One of the many bumper stickers the campaign used. This one features the campaign's slogan "Bob's for Jobs"

The McDonnell For Governor campaign printed a variety of bumper stickers appealing to many interest groups, including "Women for McDonnell," "Sportsmen for McDonnell," and "Independents for McDonnell." Some appealed to the diverse minority groups throughout the Commonwealth. Some featured the mascots of select public universities such as The University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, James Madison University, Virginia Military Institute, and Old Dominion University. "Irish for McDonnell" stickers were printed for the select Virginia residents who attended the University of Notre Dame as well.

[edit] Endorsements

Bob McDonnell has been endorsed by Sheila Johnson, cofounder of Black Entertainment Television and owner of the Washington Mystics;^[43] Virginia AgPAC: the Political Action Committee of the Virginia Farm Bureau, representing over 147,000 members;^[44] the Virginia Association of Realtors, the largest trade association in Virginia with over 33,000 Members;^[45] The Virginia Credit Union League, a trade association representing the Commonwealth’s 194 not-for-profit credit unions and the 3 million member-owners residing in Virginia;^[46] The Virginia Chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), a group whose membership consists of over 6,000 small businesses across Virginia;^[47] and the National Rifle Association, which reversed its 2005 decision wherein it endorsed Deeds for Attorney General.

[edit] Personal life

McDonnell is married to Maureen Patricia McDonnell (née Gardner), with whom he has five children. The oldest, Jeanine, served as a U.S. Army officer in Iraq.^[3][4] Their daughter Cailin coordinated youth outreach for the Republican Party of Virginia's election efforts in 2009.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• "Past members; Robert F. McDonnell". Virginia House of Delegates. http://dela.state.va.us/dela/Membios.nsf/HSearch/?SearchView&Query=%5BFullName%5D+Contains+mcdonnell+&SearchMax=&SearchOrder=4. 

[edit] External links

• Bob McDonnell for Governor (campaign website)
• Bob McDonnell Governor Transition website
• OntheIssues.org
• Interview with Governor-Elect Bob McDonnell by Cal Thomas