Virginia Sen. Mark Warner is not the bipartisan lawmaker he promised to be when running for office in 2008 and his recent actions call his ethics into question along with his voting record, according to Republican U.S. Senate nominee Ed Gillespie.
Warner was a very popular governor in the Old Dominion from 2002-2006 and easily won an open Senate seat in 2008. While still the favorite for re-election, Warner’s once massive lead is now down to the high single digits according to some recent polls.
Gillespie says it’s because voters in a swing state like Virginia expected Warner to follow through on his promises to reach out to all sides and Warner has failed that test. As for the Warner record, Gillespie says voters only need to compare the quality of life in the state to what it was six years ago.
“Since Mark Warner took office, for every net job created, two Virginians have gone on to food stamps. There are 65,000 more women living in poverty today. And as a result of his deciding vote for Obamacare, 250,000 of us will have our insurance plans canceled this year. We can do better. This is the result of bad policies and my policies would turn things around,” said Gillespie.
Another challenge for Gillespie and other Republicans in recent years is a heavier Democratic presence in the electorate, especially in the fast-growing Washington, D.C., suburbs and in the Hampton Roads area in the southeast part of the state. After years of GOP domination in Virginia at the presidential level, President Obama carried the commonwealth twice and last year voters selected former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe as governor.
Gillespie believes Virginia is still a swing state and believes it will swing to the right this year.
“That pendulum is swinging back and I see more intensity and enthusiasm among Republicans and independent voters are very frustrated with the direction of the country right now and so are soft Democrats. I believe we’re going to get a lot of soft Democrats to vote for me on November 4 as well as a big turnout among Republicans and a majority of independents,” said Gillespie.
One issue that could change the dynamics of the race is the growing controversy involving Warner’s efforts to persuade a state senator from resigning. Democrat Phil Puckett decided to resign so that his daughter would be eligible for a more prestigious judicial appointment in the state that was not available while he was in office to due to anti-nepotism laws in Virginia.
With the state senate evenly split and Puckett’s vote potentially critical in McAuliffe’s efforts to expand Medicaid, McAuliffe’s chief of staff, Paul Reagan, told Puckett he could have anything he wanted. Warner spoke with Puckett’s son and admits “brainstorming” about ways to keep Puckett in office, including the possibility of a presidential appointment for Puckett’s daughter to the federal bench.
Puckett ultimately resigned anyway, but Gillespie says Warner’s actions are deeply troubling.
“For Mark Warner to get in the middle of that about maybe we can get your daughter a job with a federal contractor or maybe a an appointment to the federal bench (is) very deeply troubling. We know the impact that federal judges have in our lives and in our system,” he said.
“There are a lot more answers that remain to be answered and Virginians deserve an answer to these questions before November 4 from Mark Warner,” said Gillespie.
As for Gillespie’s agenda, repealing and replacing Obamacare is right at the top of his list.
“We all have concerns about Obamacare. I think it was a huge mistake. I said so at the time. I said it would kill jobs, raise our health care costs and hurt our quality of care. I was right about all those things, but I want to replace it with patient-centered, market-oriented reforms that will work,” he said.
Gillespie recently released five key principles that should guide health care reform. He advocates tax break for employers and refundable tax credits for individuals to make coverage more affordable. He believes there should continue to be assurance for people with pre-existing conditions that they can get covered, and he calls for shopping for health care insurance across state lines to drive up competition and bring costs down.
“I believe Virginians deserve a choice. I have said from the beginning I’m going to run on these five things. These are the things I will do as our next senator. If I don’t do them, hold me accountable. In the same way, I’m saying Mark Warner should be held accountable for not doing the things he said he would do,” said Gillespie.
When it comes to jump-starting the economy and restoring fiscal sanity to Washington, Gillespie is pushing a three-pronged approach. He says sparking economic growth would increase revenue and reduce the number of Americans dependent upon government assistance. He would also push hard for entitlement reform and start cutting away at the federal budget.
“Every federal program needs to be subject to scrutiny. We need to eliminate some, phase some out, pare some back and of course there’s a lot of wasteful spending that needs to be cut. An inspector general’s report found there was six billion dollars in unaccounted for, wasteful spending, nobody can even tell you where it went, at the State Department alone last year. So there’s a lot of things we can do,” he said.
Gillespie also addressed two divisive issues within the GOP, immigration and the definition of marriage.
On immigration, Gillespie says Obama, like many other issues, has his approach all wrong.
“One of the things that’s wrong with the Obama-Warner policies is that the federal government’s doing too many things better left to state and local governments and the private sector and failing at too many things the federal government ought to be doing well,” said Gillespie.
He says securing the border should be achieved before pursuing any other reforms. Gillespie favors finishing construction of the border fence, which he point out Warner voted against. He also advocates much tougher enforcement of expired visas. However, he says when those things are accomplished he does support issuing new visas to illegal immigrants currently in the U.S. provided they pass criminal background checks, pay back taxes and prove they can support themselves and their families.
On marriage, Gillespie says he favors a federalist approach.
“I believe states are the proper purview for those decisions. But my view has not changed. I believe that marriage is between one man and one woman, but I do not support a federal marriage amendment to the Constitution,” he said.