Monday ... Jim Gilmore campaigns in Lynchburg

Former Gov. Jim Gilmore, Virginia candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. John Warner, will be taking his Working Families Tour to Delta Star, Inc. in Lynchburg on Monday, June 23, 2008, at 2:00 pm. Delta Star is located at 3550 Mayflower Drive, Lynchburg, VA 24501.

Delta Star is a leading manufacturer of quality electrical products and has been in operation since 1908. Delta Star is a major employer in the Lynchburg area and ships products to customers around the world. It is an example of the kind of Virginia companies that have continued to provide good jobs and opportunity to working families during this time of economic stress.

In addition to touring Delta Star, Gov. Gilmore will be visit with a number of Lynchburg area leaders to discuss his efforts to help reduce the price of gasoline by increasing America's domestic oil production.

Cross-posted at SWAC Girl
Jim Gilmore for Senate

Jim Gilmore: "Drill here. Drill now. Pay less."

Former Gov. Jim Gilmore, a candidate for the Virginia U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. John Warner, issued a statement today commending Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain for favoring the lifting of the federal offshore drilling ban:

"As working families across the Commonwealth of Virginia and across our country face financial hardship due to soaring gasoline prices, I commend Senator John McCain for speaking out on the need to decisively begin to decrease our dependence on foreign oil and increase American oil production. As President and U.S. Senator respectively, we will work together to lift the federal ban on offshore drilling that has kept us from tapping into this vast resource of American oil.

"Drill here, drill now, and pay less. This is our path to quickly reduce our dependence on foreign oil and lower prices.

"We are a nation of almost 200 million automobiles, and although conservation and alternative energy sources such as wind and solar should be part of a comprehensive plan, we must find immediate solutions that will allow us to increase production of American oil. Increased exploration and drilling for gas and oil off our coasts would make a dramatic difference in the price of gas and the price of everything else that is being driven upward by skyrocketing energy costs, from a gallon of milk to the food on our dinner table.

"We currently only explore about 15 percent of our nation's coastline for oil and gas. Recent studies estimate that about 86 billion barrels of untapped oil exist in federally restricted areas, Virginia's coastline being one of them. Yet, when Mark Warner was governor of Virginia, he vetoed legislation in support of lifting the federal moratorium on offshore drilling.

"The issue of energy independence is becoming more and more pressing as its effect on our economy and national security increases. Now is the time to take action. We can no longer allow America's working people to financially struggle to purchase an indispensable commodity from foreign enemies such as Iran and Venezuela when our own country has vast untapped amounts of it as well."

Drill here. Drill now. Pay less. Jim Gilmore gets it unlike Mark Warner who is against domestic oil exploration.

Cross-psoted at SWAC Girl
Jim Gilmore for Senate

The Washington Post rewrites Virginia history

It's not easy being the editorial staff of the Washington Post. As the only MSM newspaper that continues to support the liberation of Iraq, the Post takes it on the chin from the left in ways we on the rightosphere can't even contemplate. Not even the paper's ridiculous and shameful takedown of George Allen (which actually spawned a need for political cover that led to the hilarious endorsement of Bob Ehrlich) has spared it.

Usually, the Post tries to rebuild its left-wing credibility by whacking Virginia Republicans (the Maryland GOP will be off-limits for a while in light of the Ehrlich incident), and over the weekend, they went after Jim Gilmore. Ostensibly the Post's editorial-page hit-job was for "those many thousands of Virginia residents who are new to the state or are newly of voting age" who are not aware of Gilmore's record. Unfortunately, they won't be any better informed after reading the editorial than they were before.

The errors in the Post piece are numerous and far-reaching, beginning with the initial paragraph:

It may seem odder still to watch prominent fellow Republicans either endorse Mr. Gilmore's Democratic opponent in the Senate race, former governor Mark R. Warner go mute when asked whom they support.

Actually, newer Virginians might understand this better than the editors. Given the history of Gilmore's "prominent fellow Republicans" (State Senate GOP: four tax increases proposed in five years; House of Delegates GOP: two tax increases enacted in five years), they're probably more likely to find favor with a GOP nominee that this crowd does not like.

The next paragraph has plenty of vituperative language, but no actual facts, so it's better skipped, especially since the "evidence" in the later paragraphs are also miles from reality, such as:

In Mr. Gilmore, Virginia had its very own Herbert Hoover. "State government is in sound financial shape," he declared sunnily in August 2001, even as state lawmakers from both parties predicted a $500 million revenue shortfall in the commonwealth's $25 billion budget . . .

For starters, Virginia's budget was not $25 billion when Gilmore left office; it was nearly $47 billion. In fact, the shortfall the Post cites was just over 1% of the budget, hardly a cataclysmic event. In fact, even the Post admits that the state was well-equipped to handle the problem:

Today, Mr. Gilmore innocently states that on leaving office in 2002 he bequeathed a balanced budget and $1 billion in reserves.

So, Gilmore's successor, even with a shortfall of $500 million, could have kept the state on sound fiscal footing.

What happened between August of 2001 and January of 2002? You guessed it, 9/11, not that the Post thinks that's important:

Mr. Gilmore's allies sometimes argue that no one could have foreseen the economic effects of the Sept. 11 attacks, which occurred four months before he left office. True enough, but also irrelevant: The problem had swollen to major proportions well before the attacks, and Mr. Gilmore ignored it.

Gilmore ignored the problem? With a reserve twice the size of what the perceived shortfall was?

Now the Post is now willing to credit Gilmore with the reserve, which was "statutorily required." Indeed it was, but that doesn't make the money go away, nor doe the funds magically become useless against a shortfall half the reserve's size - no matter how hard the editors assert otherwise:

And the reserves, for which Mr. Gilmore bears no responsibility -- they were
statutorily required -- did nothing to forestall the state's fiscal crisis.

Really? If the reserve "did nothing to forestall the state's fiscal crisis," why did Warner bleed it dry during his four years as Governor?

Then comes the supposed coup de grace, which to me looks like a serious potential for blowback:

It fell to Mr. Warner, who succeeded Mr. Gilmore as governor, to fix what
quickly mushroomed to a nearly $4 billion problem.

Wait a minute. What was that number? $4 billion, you say? I thought it was $6 billion! If the situation was actually $2 billion better than Warner claims, why did he need $1.6 billion in new taxes? While the Post aimed at Gilmore with this editorial, this sentence actually hits and destroys Warner's record. Whoopsie!

As for the rest of Gilmore's record, the Post continued getting things wrong:

Mr. Gilmore's term was marked not only by bad management but also by a
stiff-necked, belligerent political style that left him with few allies. In
Richmond, he shunned Democrats, disdained doubting Republicans and listened
mainly to a closed cabal of hard-line aides.

Gilmore "shunned Democrats"? That would come as a surprise to Charles Waddell, the longtime Democratic State Senator that Gilmore appointed to the Cabinet, or David Brickley, a Prince William Democratic Delegate who also found a job in the Gilmore Administration.

Moreover, there is one piece of Gilmore's record the Post completely missed: the food tax cut. In 1999, the Democrats proposed a two-point reduction in the sales tax on food. Many Democrats were genuinely concerned for less fortunate Virginians; more than a few were hoping to corner Gilmore into opposing a tax cut. Gilmore embraced the food-tax cut and enacted it on the first opportunity, shocking official Richmond and making him a bipartisan hero.

Oh, and as for the "toxic relationship with his opposite number in Maryland, then-Gov. Parris N. Glendening, a Democrat," the Post should know that Gilmore was hardly alone. Governor Glendening was one of the most loathed politicians in Maryland history - in fact, as I recall, even the Post found many reasons to rip him to shreds.

One final note, the editors promise to "review Mr. Warner's record as governor at a later date." Perhaps they will notice that Warner's last budget included an increase of $10.5 billion - $9 billion before the 2004 tax increase. If we're really luck, the editors will think to ask Warner: Where did the $9 billion go?

Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal

Raising Kaine? More like Razing Truth

Three Green Miles over at RK put words in Senator John Ensign's mouth about the Virginia Senate race. Here's what Ensign - head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee - actually said (Wall Street Journal):

Ensign identified the 10 most competitive races in the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Alaska, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Virginia. Two — Virginia and New Mexico — are heavily favored at this point to flip to Democratic control. Asked if the NRSC was mulling walking away from these two races to focus resources elsewhere, Ensign was non-committal, but added, “You don’t waste money on races that don’t need it or
you can’t win.”

Now, just to recap, Ensign includes Virginia as one of the "most competitive races" in the country. Then, while making a very rational assessment about where you put your financial resources, he refuses to say Virginia is a state where the party "can't win."

Yet TGM magically transformed the above into this (you can find the link yourself):

Even the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee thinks November is going to be a Reservoir Dogs-level bloodbath. Which we all know to be true. But amazing that Ensign is willing to torpedo Jim Gilmore's candidacy so publicly.

Perhaps TGM didn't realize that Ensign was speaking English, rather than Warnerese.

Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal

Veterans for Jim Gilmore

Throughout his life, Jim Gilmore has demonstrated his character and leadership. As a young man, Jim Gilmore volunteered for the United States Army during the Vietnam Era when many people were trying to avoid military service. He graduated with honors from the Army Intelligence School and Defense Language Institute and he was placed in the 650th Military Intelligence Group stationed in Germany.

As a soldier in Western Europe, Jim Gilmore was assigned to a counter-intelligence unit where he worked to help protect and safeguard our bases. He was later awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

After his service in the U.S. Army, Jim Gilmore received a law degree at the University of Virginia and received assistance as a result of the G.I. Bill. As a U.S. Senator, Jim Gilmore will work for a new and expanded G.I. Bill to help assist those men and women who are selflessly serving our country today. Jim Gilmore will also fight to ensure that our returning veterans receive quality health care.

As Governor of Virginia, Jim Gilmore reduced Virginia taxes on active duty, junior military personnel. Later he was appointed Chairman of the Congressional Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction which came to be known as the Gilmore Commission from 1999 – 2003.

The Gilmore Commission presented five reports to Congress and Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and warned of a possible terrorist attack on the U.S. before 9/11. After 9/11 Congress adopted 146 of the Gilmore Commissions 164 recommendations for improving our national security.

In his term as Governor, Jim Gilmore dealt with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 when the Pentagon was struck. He deployed the Virginia National Guard and other first responders to secure our critical infrastructure and protect our citizens.

Jim Gilmore’s knowledge of homeland security has been recognized by countless elected officials, pundits and media outlets. The Atlanta Journal stated in 2007, “The government’s failure to heed the prescient work product of Gilmore’s commission allowed major systemic weaknesses in our defenses to continue, which in turn improved the chances for success by the Sept. 11 terrorists.” The article also said, “[Jim Gilmore] was a leader in the field before half the country became armchair anti-terrorism experts.”

Whether as a soldier, elected official or private citizen, Gilmore has been at the forefront of efforts to improve America’s homeland security. As a United States Senator, we can count on Jim Gilmore to be there for our troops and our security.

We hope you will join us in supporting Jim Gilmore for the United States Senate by joining Veterans for Jim Gilmore.

Sincerely,

Bill Flanagan - Colonel, United States Army, Retired
Ken Foran - Major, United States Marine Corps., Retired
John Pipta - Colonel, United States Marine Corps., Retired
Fmr. Delegate Leo Wardrup - Captain, United States Navy, Retired

Cross-posted at SWAC Girl