Warner, Gilmore spar in first debate

By Bob Stuart

Published: July 19, 2008

HOT SPRINGS — Virginia U.S. Senate candidates Mark Warner and Jim Gilmore sparred in their initial campaign debate Saturday over issues of competence and trustworthiness.
As the campaign to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. John Warner prepares to heat up, Mark Warner has both a funding lead and advantage in the polls over his predecessor as Virginia governor.
Before a ballroom full of observers at the Homestead Resort on Saturday, Democrat Warner painted Republican Gilmore as a governor who sent Virginia toward financial ruin by phasing out the state’s car tax.
Warner said Gilmore’s decision forced local governments to increase their taxes. And he said Gilmore covered the lost revenue by taking $670 million from the state’s transportation fund and jeopardized the state’s Triple A bond rating.
He also said Gilmore was a politician who couldn’t work with either Republicans or Democrats, pointing to a budget deadlock that happened in the waning months of Gilmore’s administration in 2001.
“We did what is honest for the people of Virginia. It’s about finding a solution,” Warner said of his administration.
Gilmore, in turn, hammered at Warner all day on the issue of trust.
He said Warner continued to push for a half-cent increase in the state sales tax in 2004 even when his own secretary of finance was presenting him with months of optimistic reports on revenue collection.
Revenue collections in Virginia grew by 22.5 percent in both the months of March and April of 2004, about the time the sales tax increase was being debated by the General Assembly.
Gilmore questioned why Warner didn’t share the improving revenue information with Virginia residents.
“Mark Warner promised not to raise taxes, then he broke his promise,” Gilmore said. “Who can you trust?”
Warner said legislators had access to the same revenue numbers he had, and said the tax increase was not about a short-term fix.
“We were putting Virginia back on the path to fiscal stability,” Warner said. “We wanted to keep our Triple A bond rating.”
Warner also noted that Virginia subsequently earned the tag as the country’s best-managed state.
Gilmore refuted Warner’s criticism that he was Virginia’s most partisan governor.
He pointed to bipartisan cooperation in the legislature that led to 4,000 more teachers being added to Virginia schools, and efforts he fostered with the Maryland government to build a new Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Northern Virginia.
Besides questions of taxes and management, the two candidates debated avidly about energy policy.
Gilmore said while renewable energy sources such as wind and solar are part of the solution, the most immediate answers lie in offshore drilling and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
“We should be prepared to drill in ANWR and offshore,” Gilmore said, pointing out that people are in distress now because of higher gas and food prices, and other increases.
Warner said he favors giving states the option of offshore drilling.
He said offshore drilling is part of a long list of energy solutions, including developing renewable sources and increased research and development of those sources.
“I’m for giving states the right to drill,” Warner said. “But it’s not the silver-bullet sound bite that Jim puts out.”
When asked about criteria for selecting Supreme Court justices by Washington Post political expert and moderator David Broder, Warner said there should be no single litmus-test issue.
He would base a selection on both the judge’s record and judicial temperament.
Gilmore said he would want to appoint conservative justices such as Antonin Scalia, John Roberts and Clarence Thomas, saying he wants justices “who do not legislate from the bench.”
Gilmore said Warner would appoint more liberal justices similar in philosophy to Ruth Bader Ginsberg or John Paul Stevens.
Both candidates seemed confident after their appearances.
Gilmore said he felt he had made clear many of the differences between himself and Warner.
Warner said he trusted the voters of Virginia to decide who should be their senator to replace the retiring John Warner.
Saturday’s debate was sponsored by the Virginia Bar Association, which is holding its summer meeting at The Homestead.