Decision Virginia

Ryan Nobles – bio | email

At least two prominent Virginia newspaper editorial boards have picked up on the Republican Party of Virginia’s questioning of Governor Tim Kaine‘s travel as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. The Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Roanoke Times have printed editorials that pick up where RPV Chairman Pat Mullins left off. A fact, Republican Party leaders were all too happy to trumpet to reporters this morning.

Meanwhile the Washington-Post printed a very probing news story about Kaine’s travel and how it impacts his job as Governor.

Each one of the editorial boards are very specific in their request of Kaine. They all believe that the public has a right to know exactly where he is going and how much it is costing taxpayers.

The Roanoke Times said:
“..the governor has a duty to Virginians beyond just the letter of FOIA. The only way the public can verify that his moonlighting has not interfered with his gubernatorial responsibilities is if it knows where and when he traveled and on whose dime. If big Democratic donors who have business before state agencies have provided free flights, people ought to know.”

Meanwhile the Times-Dispatch takes it a step further, by connecting Kaine’s DNC work to Jim Gilmore’s ill-fated run as RNC chair and even going as far as to thank the Republicans for bringing the issue forward:
“Although the governor can keep his golf game to himself, a partisan gala in Muscatine belongs on the public record. Kaine’s staff also said the DNC had agreed to reimburse the state for the cost of his security detail. Payment should have been made at the start. Taxpayers should thank the GOP for raising the issue.”

You may recall that Kaine was very reluctant to take the DNC Chairmanship in the first place. It was probably because he wanted to avoid reading editorial pages like this. The Governor has worked hard over the past three years to present himself as a transparent executive, willing to answer the tough questions. It will be interesting to see if this round of criticism changes his approach to his job as Governor or Party Chairman.