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Bob McDonnell

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Bob McDonnell
Attorney General of Virginia
In office
January 14, 2006 – February 20, 2009
Preceded byJudith Jagdmann
Succeeded byBill Mims
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
from the 84th district
In office
1992–2005
Preceded byGlenn McClanan
Succeeded bySal Iaquinto
Personal details
Born (1954-06-15) June 15, 1954 (age 70)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Political partyRepublican
SpouseMaureen Patricia Gardner
ChildrenJeanine, Cailin, Rachel, Bobby, Sean
ResidenceVirginia Beach, Virginia
Alma materUniversity of Notre Dame
Boston University
Regent University
ProfessionLawyer
Websitewww.bobmcdonnell.com
Military service
Branch/serviceUnited States Army
Years of service1976–1997
RankLieutenant Colonel
UnitUnited States Army Reserve (1981–1997)

Robert F. "Bob" McDonnell (born June 15, 1954) is an American politician and lawyer. A Republican, he served in the Virginia House of Delegates (1992-2005) and became Attorney General of Virginia in 2006, but resigned to campaign full time for Governor of Virginia in the 2009 election.[1][2]

Personal life and early career

McDonnell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and grew up in northern Virginia. His father, John McDonnell, was a retired United States Air Force officer. His mother, Emma, worked at Mount Vernon. McDonnell graduated from Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria, Virginia in 1972.[1][3]

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.[1][3]

McDonnell served in the United States Army for four years, and sixteen in the Army Reserve, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel[1]. While on active duty, he ran a medical clinic in Germany from 1976-1979, and in Newport News, Virginia from 1979-1981 [5].

He married Maureen Patricia Gardner. They have five children. The oldest, Jeanine, served as a U.S. Army officer in Iraq.[1][3] Their daughter Cailin is coordinating youth outreach for the Republican Party of Virginia's election efforts this year.

Political career

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.[1][4][5] .

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.[6] 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,[7] exploiting a loophole in state law that was closed by the General Assembly—with the support of McDonnell—shortly after the election.[8][9]

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.[10]

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, prompting the group to encourage students to chant "Bob McDonnell loves naked ladies!".[11]

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.[12]

On February 4, 2009, he announced that he would resign as attorney general, effective February 20, to run for governor full time.[13]

Candidate for Governor

Main article: Virginia gubernatorial election, 2009

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.” [14] Less than 2 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 4 years earlier.

Issues

The McDonnell campaign strategy is reported to focus on economic issues, transportation, and public safety rather than social issues.[15] 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.[16] 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 focused on character, financial literacy, and public safety.[17][18] McDonnell also agrees with President Barack Obama’s ideas on increasing parental choice through charter schools.[19]

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.[20][21]

Transportation

Transportation, a major issue in heavily congested areas of Virginia, is also addressed by McDonnell's campaign. 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.[22] He wants to widen I-66, improve I-95, and finish Metro to Dulles.

Energy

McDonnell also supports drilling for oil off of the coast of Virginia while simultaneously developing new technologies for wind, solar, biomass, and other renewable energy resources.[23] Opponents of McDonnell's drilling proposal believe 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.[24]

Thesis

McDonnell's 1989 thesis for Regent, 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[25]. 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".[26]

In his thesis, McDonnell said "government policy should favor married couples over 'cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators.'"[27] McDonnell also "described working women and feminists as 'detrimental' to the family."[28]. 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."[25]

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.[29]

Campaign organization and financial support

McDonnell's campaign headquarters is 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.[30]

Endorsements

Bob McDonnell has been endorsed by Sheila Johnson, cofounder of Black Entertainment Television and owner of the Washington Mystics[31], Virginia AgPAC: the Political Action Committee of the Virginia Farm Bureau, representing over 147,000 members;[32], the Virginia Association of Realtors, the largest trade association in Virginia with over 33,000 Members;[33], 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;[34],;The Virginia Chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), a group whose membership consists of over 6,000 Virginia small businesses across Virginia.[35]; and the National Rifle Association, which reversed its 2005 decision when it endorsed Creigh Deeds for Attorney General.

Political Positions

Abortion

  • McDonnell is pro-life. As a state legislator, McDonnell introduced legislation that would have banned late-term abortion, as well as other legislation requiring parental consent before a minor has an abortion and informed consent for all women.[36]


Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Session 2005; McDonnell, Robert F. (Bob)". Virginia House of Delegates. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
  2. ^ Kumar, Anita (2009-02-03). "McDonnell Resigns To Run for Governor". The Washington Post.
  3. ^ a b c Queen, Karen Haywood (2006). "Commonwealth Conservative; As Attorney General, Regent graduate Bob McDonnell is poised and present". Christian Leader. Regent University. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
  4. ^ "Session 2003; McDonnell, Robert F. (Bob)". Virginia House of Delegates. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
  5. ^ "Session 2000; McDonnell, Robert F. (Bob)". Virginia House of Delegates. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
  6. ^ O'Neil, John (2006-11-08). "A Virginia Recount Would Not Come Soon". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
  7. ^ "Attorney General". Virginia Public Access Project. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |citedate= ignored (help)
  8. ^ Nuckols, Christina (2006-02-04). "Group says McDonnell backing wasn't tied to one donor". Landmark Communications. McDonnell has been working with lawmakers this year to draft legislation that will require the state leadership committee and similar groups to disclose their donors. {{cite news}}: Text "citedate-2009-06-12" ignored (help)
  9. ^ "Mr. McDonnell's Dodge". The Washington Post. The Washington Post Company. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |citedate= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |pubdate= ignored (help)
  10. ^ Nuckols, Christina (2007-04-05). "General Assembly approves compromise transportation plan". The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
  11. ^ "Lust bust: Porn case prompts statewide crackdown?" By LINDSAY BARNES Published February 7, 2008, The Hook
  12. ^ Benton, N.F. "Batttle for Episcopal Properties Back in Court" Falls Church News-Press, May 29-June 4, 2008, page 5.
  13. ^ http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/MCCD04_20090203-223224/197527/
  14. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/30/AR2009053001314.html
  15. ^ http://nbc12.wordpress.com/2009/08/16/mcdonnell-i-am-focusing-on-the-economic-issues/
  16. ^ http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=10989417
  17. ^ http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0909/655700.html
  18. ^ http://www.bobmcdonnell.com/index.php/issues/issue_education
  19. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/22/AR2009082202242.html
  20. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKV4EoJmPWg
  21. ^ http://www.bobmcdonnell.com/index.php/issues
  22. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/28/AR2009072802412.html
  23. ^ http://www.whsv.com/news/headlines/40441792.html
  24. ^ http://www.southernenvironment.org/newsroom/press_releases/offshore_drilling_doi_comments_9_21_09/ Sullivan, Kathleen and Pratt, Marirose. Six Months of Oil Not Worth a Disaster on Southern Coasts, Says SELC.
  25. ^ a b "'89 Thesis A Different Side of McDonnell: Va. GOP Candidate Wrote on Women, Marriage and Gays" by Amy Gardner, Washington Post, August 30, 2009. Retrieved 8/30/09.
  26. ^ [1]
  27. ^ [2]
  28. ^ [3]
  29. ^ Gardner, Amy. Scrutiny Spreads to '03 McDonnell Remarks: 'Homosexual Conduct' Comments 'Irrelevant' to Campaign, He Says. Washington Post, Wednesday, September 9, 2009.
  30. ^ http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2009/09/mcdonnell_xx_million_in_july-a.html
  31. ^ http://www.bobmcdonnell.com/index.php/press_releases/details/sheila_crump_johnson_endorses_bob_mcdonnell_for_governor/
  32. ^ http://www.bobmcdonnell.com/index.php/press_releases/details/mcdonnell_endorsed_by_virginia_agpac_the_political_action_committee_of_the_/
  33. ^ http://www.bobmcdonnell.com/index.php/press_releases/details/mcdonnell_endorsed_by_virginia_realtors/
  34. ^ http://www.bobmcdonnell.com/index.php/press_releases/details/virginia_credit_union_league_endorses_bob_mcdonnell/
  35. ^ http://www.bobmcdonnell.com/index.php/press_releases/details/nfib_endorses_bob/
  36. ^ [4]

References

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