We’re wrapping up the political endorsements today and quickly covering all three major statewide offices at once.
This year’s local political races have been significantly more interesting than the statewide races. In our opinion, there’s a distinct difference to each of the candidates and each race seems to have a clear choice.
Governor: We feel Bob McDonnell is the better candidate of the two running for the office. McDonnell has promised to have either himself or LG Bolling visit Southside every month, and his proposal to lower the number-of-jobs threshold to qualify for tax incentives in “economically distressed” areas will help out the regional economy.
Lieutenant Governor: Bill Bolling is the clear choice over Jody Wagner. Wagner has ignored the Southside region and her campaign (and identity) is a mystery to a majority of voters in this region. Wagner’s campaign has gone negative in the past month with things like a cartoon cigar-smoking Bolling controlling the health-care industry. That’s ridiculous and so is Wagner.
Attorney General: Ken Cuccinelli is our choice in this race, and our mind on this race was made up when his opponent continually tried to make it seem that the position of the Attorney General was the chief prosecutor of Virginia. When Steve Shannon kept running ads touting his experience as a prosecutor and saying he was tough on child pornography, we wondered if he realized that the Attorney General’s job was to be an impartial lawyer that writes legal opinions for the state. Mass hysteria has been created by people who believe that Cuccinelli will purge the AG’s office of anybody that’s gay. Ridiculous, and Cuccinelli wins by default. Cuccinelli will make a good AG and all of this false negativity against him has only helped his cause.
SouthsideCentral believes that Bob McDonnell, Bill Bolling and Ken Cuccinelli will do great jobs in their respective offices and we encourage our readers to cast their votes for them on Tuesday, November 3rd.
A number of fellow Commonwealth’s Attorneys have endorsed Bob McDonnell in his race for Governor. Here is what we have said publicly:
We are elected Commonwealth’s Attorneys from throughout Virginia. Some of us are moms; some of us are grandmothers; some of us are wives; some of us are Sunday school teachers; some of us are coaches; some of us are hunters; some of us are school volunteers; some of us have supported Republicans; some of us have supported Democrats; some of us have supported Independents. Yet, all of us are united in our personal support of Bob McDonnell becoming our next Governor.
Each of us has had the opportunity to work directly with Bob when he served as Virginia’s Attorney General. We know he has been instrumental in keeping Virginians safe and secure in our communities. Bob has led an Attorney General’s Office that ensures that we, as the front line prosecutors, have the laws, the investigative resources and enforcement assistance necessary to combat the dangers and violence in our counties, cities and towns.
Bob is a national leader in combating Internet crimes against children. As a result of his Youth Internet Safety Task Force and his influence in the General Assembly, reaching across party lines, Virginia now has the toughest laws in the country allowing us to put away child predators and sex offenders. As a result of Bob’s insight, school children all over the Commonwealth are given the information and tools that they need so that they can safely use the Internet.
Under Bob’s leadership, anti-gang initiatives throughout the Commonwealth have been instrumental in deterring our young people from becoming involved in gang activity and violence. Bob’s leadership has further strengthened Virginia’s gang laws by increasing mandatory prison sentences, enlarging the asset forfeiture net, and providing creative means to remove gangs from neighborhoods and schools.
Bob’s dedication to public safety and law enforcement has been demonstrated by his actions. When presented with Governor Kaine’s proposed deep budget cuts in prosecutors’ and other law enforcement offices, he led the fight to ensure that budget cuts did not impact public safety. When he saw that our elderly citizens were being taken advantage of, he led the fight to combat identity theft and Medicaid abuse. When he was faced with the issues of domestic violence, he used creative methods to bring together the stakeholders dedicated to combat the violence.
Bob has proven to each of us what type of Governor he will be. He will be a keen listener, an aggressive advocate, and a strong leader. Each of us will be proud to stand with him as he continues to protect our families, our neighbors and fellow Virginians.
Sincerely,
Eileen M. Addison
Commonwealth’s Attorney for York County
and City of Poquoson
Lisa Caruso
Commonwealth’s Attorney for Dinwiddie County
Linda D. Curtis
Commonwealth’s Attorney for City of Hampton
Marsha L. Garst
Commonwealth’s Attorney for Rockingham County
and City of Harrisonburg
Stephanie S. Maddox
Commonwealth’s Attorney for Amherst County
Tamara Neo
Commonwealth’s Attorney for Buchanan County
Nancy G. Parr
Commonwealth’s Attorney for City of Chesapeake
Diana H. Wheeler
Commonwealth’s Attorney for Orange County
Kim Slayton White
Commonwealth’s Attorney for Halifax County
Kim why don’t you run for the 5th district congressional seat ?
Will, Thanks for the suggestion. I love what I do, in the community where I am—I also have young children who need me here. I am thrilled that Robert Hurt has thrown his hat in the ring and look forward to supporting him.
Kim I know you do alot for the community and I thank you for it. I hope whoever runs will be a true conservative that will excite the Republican base along with indies.