The First Debate
The first debate took place this morning at The Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia. Here is our fact check report from the debate, which highlights the mischaracterizations that were made.
RHETORIC: Gilmore: “You said in your veto that you would not in fact exercise that state authority to begin to explore for oil back in 2005.”
REALITY: Governor Warner’s veto message on the 2005 offshore drilling ban clearly stated, “We need consensus on a national energy policy, and the contemplated federal legislation raises significant public policy issues on which I am willing to keep an open mind.” Warner also called on the state to monitor “federal developments on domestic energy production and needed state responses,” as part of a larger state study. Warner vetoed the bill because it encroached on the role of the Governor to direct the activities of the Virginia Liaison Office and directed the Commonwealth to advocate for federal legislation that has yet to be introduced. [Warner Veto Message, 3/29/05]
In January 2006, a study prepared for Governor Warner and state legislators “recommended that Virginia allow offshore exploration for natural gas and oil deposits but take precautions to protect the environment.” The study “suggested that drilling take place at least 50 miles from the coast and that no pipelines or other equipment be placed ashore.” [Washington Post, 4/6/06]
RHETORIC: Gilmore:
“Your Secretary of Finance John Bennett sent you a letter and reported in February [of 2004] and said ‘Guess what? Revenues are climbing’…Why didn’t you tell the people of Virginia what you knew and what you were being told so that tax increase could have gone forward with all the facts available and probably would have never been enacted. Why didn’t you tell the people of Virginia what you were being told by your own people?”
REALITY: The update to the Joint Finance Committee letters are public, e-mailed to all General Assembly members, and posted on the web just after the Governor receives it. The monthly revenue reports also are widely reported by the media
RHETORIC: Gilmore said, “It is not true that the car tax cost three times as much (as he said it would when he was running for Governor).”
REALITY: While running for governor in 1997, Gilmore promised Virginia voters that his car tax repeal would cost no more than $620 million and would not require any cuts in core services such as education or road construction. By the time Gilmore left, he cut millions from necessary programs and the car tax repeal was creating a nearly $2 billion hole in Virginia’s budget. [AP, 4/30/04]
RHETORIC:
Warner: “In Southside, even when the legislature wanted to provide extra economic benefits [to displaced Tultex workers], [Gilmore] wouldn’t…”Gilmore: “That’s a mischaracterization of what I did with the Tultex people in Southside…”
REALITY: The legislation would have paid for health insurance for the unemployed workers, including 3,300 Tultex Corp. employees in Henry County who lost their jobs when the giant sweatshirt maker declared bankruptcy. Gilmore said he had no choice but to veto the assembly’s plan, describing it as a “health care benefit entitlement, but only for displaced textile workers in the Martinsville area.” [Richmond Times-Dispatch, 5/20/00]
Taking their cue from Gov. Gilmore, Republicans kept legislation to help unemployed textile workers bottled up in committee. “Now we’re in a position that just because the governor puts on pressure and political heat, you turn your back on people,” Del. Ward Armstrong said as the Labor and Commerce Committee prepared to vote on his bill. Armstrong said he was dismayed that the issue has become bitterly partisan. The bill had bipartisan support before Gilmore weighed in, he said. “Many of you signed onto this bill because you believed in your heart it was the right thing to do,” Armstrong said. “There’s only one person who is diametrically opposed to this, and he’s the governor.” [AP, 2/12/00]
Here is the record of our live blog—