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U.S. Sen. George Allen pauses during a recent interview. |
RICHMOND--The Commonwealth
George Allen and Jim Webb are both accomplished individuals, but with fundamentally different political philosophies. Votes Sen. George Allen casts in Washington are distinctly different from those that would be cast by a Sen. Webb. Those votes on the key issues of immigration, taxation, the war on terror, and federal spending are the ones voters need to hear more about. I urge my fellow voters to look past the overheated rhetoric, and focus on the records and positions of the two candidates.
Jim Webb is an honorable and decent man who served valiantly in the military defending our freedoms. As a veteran myself, I respect his service to our country. As the father of a daughter who was returning from serving a year in Iraq just as Jim Webb's son was departing
As governor, George Allen brought high academic standards and accountability to the commonwealth, and Virginia became a national model of educational excellence. He completely reformed Virginia's welfare system and put former welfare recipients on the path to good jobs and economic independence. As a result, the state's welfare rolls are down dramatically.
His historic and innovative reform of Virginia's juvenile-justice laws fixed a broken system. George Allen abolished parole for criminals and instituted truth-in-sentencing. The results speak for themselves: Over the last decade violent crime in Virginia has decreased by 20 percent. And violent crime is at its lowest point since 1978. These statistics are directly attributable to the reforms put
George Allen left the governor's office in 1998 with Virginia having become a national model in public safety, economic development, educational accountability, and good government. He ushered in greater government efficiency through his Blue Ribbon Strike Force, and reduced the number of state employees
Today, George Allen's extraordinary record as governor needs to be examined anew, for Virginia in 2006 continues to benefit from what Gov. Allen accomplished a decade ago. In fact, Jim Webb endorsed George Allen for Senate in 2000 because of Allen's outstanding record
As a United States senator, George Allen has been a champion for the small-business community, which creates the majority of the new jobs in Virginia. He has taken the lead in keeping the Internet tax-free. He has championed an aggressive and proactive war on terror because he understands that the best way to keep America safe is to go after terrorists where they live and operate. He has been stalwart in supporting veterans by championing legislation for better health care and death benefits. And George Allen alone in this race understands the need
I have had the honor to work closely with several governors over the past 15 years. While the governors I have worked with have each achieved their own great successes, no one has been as successful as George Allen. And George Allen is an equally successful individual on a personal level. I know him to be a very decent, down-to-earth, hard-working public servant who loves his family and the commonwealth. He is motivated by the same passion for freedom and liberty
Over the past year some have preferred to focus on decades-old innuendo and unsubstantiated charges. It is time to return this campaign to the issues. Virginians deserve to have a real debate about what direction our nation should move in the years ahead, and what the two candidates have accomplished in
BOB McDONNELL is attorney general of the commonwealth of Virginia. He represented the 84th House District, which consists of a large part of Virginia Beach, in the House of Delegates from 1992 to 2005.
