Bob McDonnell will be our candidate for Governor. That has been long ago settled.
As delegates, we will have several items to decide. We gotta pick a Lt. Governor candidate. Easy. I'll get to that later.
We need to come together on a choice for Attorney General. This one is a bit tougher, but I'll get to it a bit later too.
And we have to choose a new chairman for the group, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia.
The recent L'affaire Frederick being still fresh in everyone's mind, this may be the toughest choice as well as the most important of the weekend. In many ways this one election will set the stage for the future of our party in Virginia. Not only will this be a referendum on which of the two candidates, Pat Mullins or Bill Stanley, will lead our party, this is in many ways a referendum on the vision and leadership of our state central committee.
After dumping Jeff Frederick, in a manner that was widely criticized, the state central committee installed Pat Mullins as chairman. Pat may be a great guy. I don't know. The Virginia political expert I rely on to advise me on such matters does not know him either. He's a local unit chairman in the same congressional district as my expert adviser, but still unknown.
Bill Stanley, on the other hand is also a local unit chairman in my expert's district. I've met Bill Stanley. I don't really know Mr. Stanley. But I've met him, he's very likeable, he's a good conversationalist, and he seems trustworthy.
I've received many emails from Mr. Stanley, I suppose you have too. I've received one mailer from Mr. Mullins. I've also received one mailer from Stanley.
In his emails and mailer Mr. Stanley has outlined many innovative ideas and plans. Mr. Mullins has touted his endorsements. Endorsements are good. I'm essentially putting forth some endorsements here today. I like endorsements.
I like ideas and plans better, though.
Right now I'm leaning hard toward Bill Stanley. Before I can fully endorse him though, I feel it is only right that I actually meet Mr. Mullins. That won't happen until Friday afternoon at the earliest, so I'm tentatively endorsing Bill Stanley for Chairman. If that changes you'll be notified early Saturday before the voting begins. No update will mean that Bill Stanley remains my choice.
Now let's move to the easy choice. Bill Bolling is and will be our next Lt. Governor. I see no point in even mentioning his opponent's name. A solid conservative to the core, Bill, with roots in SWVA and a conservative record in Richmond that is unequalled, will leave the convention with 70 plus percent of the delegate vote. Bill Bolling has a proven record to stand on.
- A 100% pro-family voting record from The Family Foundation
- A 100% pro-life voting record from the Virginia Society for Human Life
- Endorsed by the Virginia Society for Human Life (2005)
- Supported parental notification and consent legislation, a ban on partial birth abortions and higher patient safety standards for abortion clinics
- Cast the tie-breaking vote to deny state funding to Planned Parenthood
- Fought to restore abstinence education funding that Governor Kaine stripped from the budget
- Led the fight to pass the Marriage Amendment
- Has opposed every tax increase proposed by Governors Warner and Kaine
Now the tough one.
No question about it, Ken Cuccinelli is my hero in the Virginia Senate. When Ken first announced his intention to run for attorney general, I wholeheartedly supported that move. Remember though, that was when he was a lone candidate in a field that has since grown by two. Two other excellent candidates have since joined Ken in his quest to be our next attorney general.
Dave Foster is a candidate I could, (and will), support in the future. Dave will someday make a great Lt. Governor candidate, a great AG candidate, or even a great candidate for Governor. But not yet. Not quite. It's not that Dave is not ready. Instead, we as a party are not ready for him.
What I mean by that is the reason that John Brownlee has my enthusiastic support for AG.
My history with John Brownlee goes back to sometime in 2002 when he prosecuted my BOS member. You can read about that here.
There is more to my support for Mr. Brownlee than that though. As early as last Summer John assured me that he would not oppose Bolling for the Governor spot next. He promised to hold out if Bill Bolling decides to run for the governorship after McDonnell.
Our party has a line-up that is pretty much unbeatable for the next 12 years if, and only if, our candidates agree to work together.
On Friday I'll be asking both Dave Foster and Ken Cuccinelli their plans for the future should they win the AG nomination. Their answers will be posted here on Saturday morning.
Until then I don't see anyone persuading me to change from my wholehearted endorsement of John Brownlee.
So there you have it. For what it's worth, I'll be voting Saturday for the following;
- RPV Chairman; Bill Stanley
- Lt. Governor; Bill Bolling
- AG; John Brownlee
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