Tim Kaine
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Education and early career
Kaine was born in St. Paul, Minnesota to Mary Kathleen Burns and Albert A. Kaine, a worker and welder. Kaine grew up in the Kansas City area and graduated from Rockhurst High School, the University of Missouri–Columbia and Harvard Law School, taking a year-long absence during law school to work with Catholic missionaries in Honduras. Following a career as an attorney in private practice, Kaine was elected to the city council of Richmond, Virginia. He would later be elected mayor of Richmond by the city council, which until 2004 chose the mayor from among its membership. He spent a total of seven years on the city council, including his time as mayor. As mayor, Kaine was credited with helping to create the gun law Project Exile.
Lieutenant Governor
In 2001, Kaine was elected Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, serving under Governor Mark Warner. Garnering 50% of the vote, he defeated Republican Jay Katzen (with 48% of the vote). He was inaugurated on January 12 2002. As Lieutenant Governor, he served as President of the Senate of Virginia.
2005 Virginia election
In 2005, Kaine ran for and won the seat of Governor of Virginia in the November general election, defeating Republican former Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore by a margin of 52% to 46%; Republican State Senator Russ Potts, who ran as an independent and was considered a long shot, received 2% of the vote. Kaine has said he will look to retain Warner's tax and educational policies, and keep the budget balanced, and soon launched a statewide series of town halls focused on transportation.
An underdog for most of the race, Kaine overtook Kilgore in some polls for the first time in October 2005, and held his lead into the final week before the election, despite a notable barrage of negative advertising against him by the Kilgore campaign. While the previous Democratic Governor, Mark Warner was credited with doing especially well for a Democrat in rural areas of the commonwealth, Kaine's win featured surprising triumphs in traditionally Republican exurbs like Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Prince William County and Loudoun County in Northern Virginia as well as impressive showings in Democratic strongholds like Richmond and Norfolk.
Kaine closely associated himself with popular outgoing Democratic Governor Mark Warner during his campaign, and won his race by a slightly larger margin than Warner. He promised homeowner tax relief, and centrist fiscal leadership but also proposed a large-budget program guaranteeing pre-kindergarten education for any family that wants it. A number of factors, from the sagging poll numbers of President George W. Bush to a public disgust over the death penalty ads run by Kilgore, have also been cited as key to his decisive win. Kaine was inaugurated in Williamsburg on January 14 2006. This makes Kaine the first Governor since Thomas Jefferson (in 1779) to be inaugurated in Virginia's colonial capital. Virginia's Capitol in Richmond is under renovation, which is expected to be completed in 2007.
Kaine supports smart growth, which proponents say concentrates economic growth. Critics argue it will make the reduction of urban sprawl and highway traffic a priority over economic growth.
Governor of Virginia
As Governor, he is a member of the National Governors Association, the Southern Governors' Association, and the Democratic Governors Association. On January 31 2006, he gave the Democratic response to President Bush's 2006 State of the Union address. In Democratic response to his response, he decried the Republicans' lack of bipartisanship in Washington, and proclaimed, "There is a better way." He condemned Bush's spending and tax cuts as "reckless". Despite his personal opposition to capital punishment, he has so far overseen three executions as governor as of August 2006. He has, however, spoken in favor of declaring a moratorium on the death penalty "until it's fair." In March of 2006, after the General Assembly failed to create a budget, Governor Kaine called for a special session that didn't end until June. The debate was over Transportation issues and how to fund current and new projects. Most of the debate came from a battle within the Republican controlled Senate and House of Delegates. In 2007, Kaine signed into law a transportation funding and planning plan designed and shepherded through the General Assembly by the Republican Speaker of the House, William Howell.
On May 23, 2007, the Roanoke Times and other Virginia newspapers reported that the Kaine Administration was running a $300 million budget deficit. Kaine reportedly instructed agency heads to reduce spending.
In June 2006, Kaine signed an executive order banning smoking in all government buildings and state-owned cars. He also announced that Virginia will be the first state in the Union to digitize records from the Civil War Era Freedman's Bureau. This will open up research in African-American history after the Civil War.
In the 2006 elections, Kaine supported Democratic Senate Candidate Jim Webb. Kaine also opposed an amendment to the Virginia Constitution that would define marriage as that between one man and one woman, though he has publicly stated that he personally opposes same-sex marriage.
According to the Washington Post, Kaine has endorsed, and strongly supports, the 2008 presidential campaign of Democratic U.S. Senator Barack Obama.
Tim Kaine has given his support for the mandatory vaccinating of 6th grade girls in Virginia with the HPV vaccine and has recently signed a bill to that effect. He has dismissed all criticism, saying that the bill should resolve all of the concerns.
Virginia Tech massacre
When news of the Virginia Tech Massacre broke, Kaine aborted a trade mission to Japan and India to attend to the situation. In a convocation speech after he returned, Kaine said he would appoint a panel of independent law enforcement officials to examine what the university knew about Cho and how it dealt with his rampage, which killed 32 students and faculty. The commission led by a former state police chief and former governor and homeland security secretary Tom Ridge began work on April 28th. On April 30, Governor Kaine signed an executive order instructing state agencies to step up efforts to block gun sales to people involuntarily committed to inpatient and outpatient mental health treatment centers.[1] Appearing alongside Attorney General Bob McDonnell (R), Kaine said the order will help prevent people like the shooter from legally obtaining firearms in the future.
Cabinet
- Chief of Staff - William Leighty
- Secretary of Administration - Viola Baskerville
- Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry - Robert Bloxom
- Secretary of Commerce and Trade - Patrick Gottschalk
- Secretary of the Commonwealth - Katherine Hanley
- Secretary of Education - Thomas Morris
- Secretary of Finance - Jody Wagner
- Secretary of Health and Human Resources - Marilyn Tavenner
- Secretary of Natural Resources - Preston Bryant
- Secretary of Public Safety - John W. Marshall
- Secretary of Technology - Aneesh Chopra
- Secretary of Transportation - Pierce Homer
- Assistant for Commonwealth Preparedness - Robert P. Crouch
- Senior Advisor for Workforce - Daniel G. LeBlanc
External links
- Virginia Governor Tim Kaine Official state website
- National Governors Association - Virginia Governor Tim Kaine biography
- Virginia Public Access Project - Tim Kaine 2005 campaign contributions
- Follow the Money - Timothy M Kaine 2005 campaign contributions
- On the Issues - Tim Kaine issue positions and quotes
- Project Vote Smart - Tim Kaine (VA) profile
- Moving Virginia Forward Tim Kaine's PAC
- Democratic response to State of the Union MSNBC, January 31 2006, transcript of Governor Kaine's State of the Union Rebuttal
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