Democrats will have to go negative in 2005

Virginians of both parties will face crowded primary ballots next year, as the two parties choose candidates for lieutenant governor and attorney general.

There are three Republicans and four Democrats running for lieutenant governor, and two Republicans and two Democrats running for attorney general. Of these 11 candidates for statewide office, eight are currently members of the Virginia General Assembly. As such, they have legislative records that reveal much about their public policy priorities. (I have commented before on the records of Sen. John Edwards and Sen. Creigh Deeds.)

As the General Assembly prepares for the Jan. 12 opening of its 2005 session, legislators are already proposing legislation and agreeing to co-patron other legislators’ bills. In so doing, they are revealing more about themselves, and how Virginians can expect them to act with more power.

Edwards has introduced one piece of legislation for 2005, and it is a tax increase. Actually, he introduced it in 2004, and it was “continued” by his colleagues to next year. It would permit Roanoke County to levy a tax of 15 cents on a pack of cigarettes. Regular readers of this column will remember that the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors specifically requested the power to tax tobacco products. But they only made that request last month, after Edwards made his proposal. Edwards has also agreed to co-patron a bill that allows Craig County to impose a hotel tax.

In addition, he co-patroned a bill last year, continued to 2005, to stipulate that contraception may not be considered abortion. In most cases, the two processes are indeed different, but the bill (SB456) to which Edwards puts his name includes as contraception a “process, devise or method [to prevent] the implantation of the fertilized ovum in the uterus.” Once there is a fertilized ovum, conception has already taken place. Edwards is either too medically uninformed to be co-patroning bills on pregnancy, or he is trying to get away with something.

I could take a look at Creigh Deeds’ proposals for 2005, except for one problem: there aren’t any. As a co-patron, he is on board with the contraception bill described above, and he desires that local water authorities be allowed to limit water use during water emergencies. In my earlier column on Deeds, I described his record as “weak.” So far, that adjective still seems appropriate. So far, neither Democrat has built a record worthy of statewide office.

Lieutenant governor in Virginia is often considered the “on deck circle” for future gubernatorial candidates, so legislative records are even more important. Democratic legislators running for lieutenant governor are Del. Viola Baskerville (Richmond), Sen. Phil Puckett (Tazewell), and Del. Chap Peterson (Fairfax). Baskerville has authored two bills for 2005. One would permit neighborhood watch patrol vehicles to use amber warning lights; the other expedites procedures for licensing nurses. These are non-offensive pieces of legislation, but hardly the stuff of statewide office. She has also signed on to the contraceptive bill.

Neither Del. Peterson nor Sen. Puckett has introduced any legislation for 2005. As a co-patron, Peterson has put his name to the contraceptive bill, as well as a resolution commending the UVa women’s lacrosse team. Puckett, for his part, is co-patron of a bill designating the Springfield interchange of I-95 in Fairfax County the “Pearl Harbor Memorial Flyway.” Again, there is nothing that serves to separate Peterson or Puckett from anyone else, including school children, who might aspire to be governor of Virginia someday.

Admittedly, it is still 2 ½ weeks until the session starts. But it is worthwhile to compare these lackluster efforts on the part of Democrats with the things that their Republican counterparts are taking on.

Attorney general candidate Bob McDonnell (Virginia Beach) has a record that includes being chief patron of bills to eliminate the death tax , to reform welfare, to reform the juvenile justice system, and to increase penalties for DUI, rape, sexual abuse and using a firearm in the commission of a felony. In other words, McDonnell has a record of tackling the most pressing problems of the commonwealth. He is doing so again in 2005, proposing a constitutional amendment to insure that the money in the Highway Maintenance and Operating Fund and the Transportation Trust Fund are not used for non-transportation purposes. Co-patroning McDonnell’s bill is Sen. Bill Bolling (Mechanicsville), Republican front-runner for lieutenant governor.

Demonstrating his sophisticated knowledge of the medical facts surrounding abortion, McDonnell is co-patroning a bill requiring that unborn children be anesthetized against the pain of abortion, and penalizing abortionists for failing to do so.

With none of the Democratic candidates having anything to run on, they will soon conclude that their “campaign strategy” is to attack Republicans, and to make the 2005 statewide election long, difficult and unpleasant.

The good news is the Democrats will be spending the first six months of 2005 attacking each other.