McDonnell talks issues, takes shots at Deeds in video

GOP gubernatorial candidate Robert F. McDonnell discussed a host of issues and took shots at his opponent and the current governor in a wide-ranging interview with the News & Messenger broadcast live on the Internet on Wednesday.

The former state attorney general came to the newspaper’s Woodbridge office seeking the endorsement of the editorial board, composed of the publisher, the editorial-page editor and the top news editors.
This is common practice for those seeking elected office. But instead of holding a typical private interview, editors decided to stream the question-and-answer session live on the newspaper’s Web site, insidenova.com.

Readers were asked to submit questions via e-mail or the social-networking site Twitter, and Editorial Page Editor Alex Granados posed those queries to McDonnell, along with questions from the editorial board.

The result was a 45-minute back-and-forth that touched on everything from transportation funding to the candidate’s controversial master’s thesis, and from privatization of state liquor stores to where he agrees with President Barack Obama.

Democratic gubernatorial hopeful R. Creigh Deeds will face the same kind of scrutiny on Oct. 9 at 2 p.m.

Perhaps the most surprising parts of McDonnell’s interview were that the issue of his master’s thesis didn’t come up until 30 minutes into the event and that the Republican brought the matter up himself.

“I mean, we’re at a $5.5 billion budget deficit and tuitions are doubling and unemployment is 6.5 percent, and my opponent wants to talk about, you know, old term papers?” McDonnell asked rhetorically. “I mean, I don’t think it’s in touch with what Virginians really care about right now.”

What he called an “old term paper” is a 1989 thesis he wrote while attending Regent University, an institution in Virginia Beach founded by televangelist and commentator Pat Robertson.

The document is critical of working women, feminists and homosexuals. But McDonnell has said it was simply an academic exercise necessary for his combined master’s and law degree.

Since news of the thesis came out, Deeds has had a fundraising surge and some polls suggest the race is narrowing though McDonnell is still leading.

No one seems to be making much headway when traveling on state roads, however. So McDonnell touted his transportation plan Wednesday, while claiming Deeds has no proposals for ending gridlock.

“Not a dime; not a project” was how the GOP standard-bearer described his opponent’s efforts on transportation.

One way McDonnell pledges to raise money for roads is to privatize state-run liquor stores.

He noted this was a recommendation of a commission former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder led several years ago on the topic of government efficiency, and he said it was a measure that’s long been due.

“This is a vestige of Prohibition,” McDonnell said.

The initial setup of a privatization program could generate as much as $500 million, he said, but the details of such a plan would need to be worked out with input from stakeholders such as local governments and alcohol distributors.

McDonnell didn’t seem as interested in input from his political opponents.

He called the Deeds campaign “probably the most negative and misleading and backwards-looking campaign in modern Virginia history.”

McDonnell said Deeds has distorted his record on issues such as support for working women, a demographic group of which he noted his wife, daughter and professional and political colleagues are members.

He also said that he had a good relationship with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine while he served as attorney general.

However, now Kaine is also chairman of the Democratic National Committee, a position in which McDonnell said the governor’s “top job” is to “beat the tar out of me.”

One Democrat of whom he spoke well, though, was Obama.

He said he agrees with the president’s endorsement of charter schools and performance pay for teachers.

“I’m the only candidate actually supporting President Obama,” McDonnell said. “Now, isn’t that a turn of events?”

Staff writer Jonathan Hunley can be reached at 703-369-5738.