Monday, October 12, 2009
Candidates' records show philosophies
With some 40,000 votes behind them, the candidates have a history of divergence.
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roanoke.com/politics
Voters elected Democrat Creigh Deeds and Republican Bob McDonnell to the General Assembly in the same year, 1991. For the next 14 years, the eventual candidates for Virginia governor would be divided on the most contentious issues of the day.
Occasionally Deeds, a conservative Democrat from a rural area, would vote alongside McDonnell and other Republicans -- requiring the words "In God We Trust" to be displayed prominently in every school and increasing the penalty for killing a fetus.
But for the most part, the candidates' voluminous legislative records of almost 40,000 votes show a stark contrast in their philosophies, especially regarding social issues such as abortion and gay rights.
McDonnell supported bills that banned a procedure some of its opponents refer to as partial-birth abortion, required minors to obtain parental consent before getting an abortion and mandated a 24-hour waiting period for women seeking one. All three passed.
Deeds supported bills requiring that parents be notified if their child was seeking an abortion, but not bills that required parental consent or a waiting period. He voted for a ban on so-called partial-birth abortion but later changed his mind because he said he worried that the bills were unconstitutional.
Deeds voted to allow pharmacists to dispense emergency contraception, known as morning-after pill, prior to the Food and Drug Administration's decision to allow it to be sold over the counter, while McDonnell did not.
Planned Parenthood has been canvassing neighborhoods and calling voters to share what they describe as McDonnell's extreme record. But Victoria Cobb, president of the conservative Family Foundation of Virginia, said McDonnell supported bills that most residents across the state support.
"We are talking about very reasonable measures," she said.
Both Deeds and McDonnell voted to exclude sexual orientation from a list of hate crimes. They voted against recognizing same-sex marriages and for a measure urging Congress to propose a constitutional amendment describing marriage as between a man and a woman. Deeds changed his votes on those measures when both were amended in their final versions.
Deeds and McDonnell voted to put on the ballot a state constitutional amendment prohibiting civil unions and same-sex marriage. Deeds said he voted for the amendment because he believed that it codified laws banning same-sex marriage. But he said he came to regret his decision and to believe that the language was discriminatory and said so publicly before the 2006 balloting.
Charley Conrad, president of the Virginia Partisans Gay and Lesbian Democratic Club, which has endorsed Deeds, attributes his views to a rural upbringing and said he trusts that Deeds' views have changed.
"He likes to say he is a work in progress," he said.
Given their other differences, Deeds and McDonnell hold remarkably similar records on guns. Deeds often sided with Republicans, including McDonnell, and rural Democrats in opposing gun control bills.
They voted repeatedly to stop localities from enforcing more restrictive gun laws than the state, including proposed bans at community centers and parks. Both voted to limit government lawsuits against gun manufacturers and against firearm bans on school campuses.
The two split over a bill that limited handgun purchases to one a month. Deeds voted no; McDonnell, yes.
But both men have changed their views. After the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings, Deeds began to support closing the so-called "loophole" that allows some private vendors at gun shows to make sales without background checks. McDonnell now supports repealing the one-gun-a-month law because of improvements he says have been made in instant background checks.
Deeds' gun-friendly record earned him the National Rifle Association's endorsement in 2005 but cost him the support of former governor Douglas Wilder. This year, the NRA switched to McDonnell, citing his record as attorney general and Deeds' "flip-flop" on the gun-show loophole.
