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'Timothy Michael "Tim" Kaine' (born February 26 1958) is an American politician and the current Governor of Virginia. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He is married to former Richmond Juvenile Court Judge Anne Holton, the daughter of A. Linwood Holton Jr., a former Virginia Governor. Kaine and Holton have three children. Following Thomas Jefferson's son-in-law Thomas Mann Randolph Jr., Kaine is the second son-in-law of a Virginia Governor to become governor in his own right.

Contents

Education and early career

Lieutenant Governor

2005 Virginia election

Governor of Virginia

Virginia Tech massacre

Dulles Airport Metro controversy

Electoral history

Cabinet

References

External links

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 (in 1979) and Harvard Law School (in 1983), 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 in 1994. 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

See also also Virginia gubernatorial election, 2005 main article.
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 longshot, 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, ^[1] despite a notable barrage of negative advertising against him by the Kilgore campaign.^[2] 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.^[3]
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.^[4][5]
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 was under renovation at the time, with the process completed in mid-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 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 four executions as governor as of November 2006. He has, however, spoken in favor of declaring a moratorium on the death penalty "until it's fair."^[6]
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 sheparded through the General Assembly by the Republican Speaker of the House, William Howell. In July of 2007, the Washington Post and Associated Press reported that, according to a Inspector General's Report from the U.S. Department of Transportation, costs to construct the first phase of Dulles Rail had increased from $1.52 billion in December 2004 to $2.7 billion due to delays in getting the project commenced. One delay noted was the Kaine Administration's study of an underground rail alternative in 2006. Although the underground rail option was preferred by citizens and businesses, Govenor Kaine eventually decided to proceed with an elevated rail.
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. On August 2, 2007, the Washington Post reported that the Kaine Administration conceded publicly that the state's budget would run a shortfall in future years. The Post quoted Kaine's spokeman Kevin Hall: "We acknowledge -- heck, everybody does -- that the 2008-2010 budget period will feature slower growth than anticipated." On the same day, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that "The Kaine administration is expecting a shortfall in the 2008-2010 biennium but will not make it public until Aug. 20 [2007]."
In June 2006, Kaine signed an executive order banning smoking in all government buildings and state-owned cars.^[7] 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.^[8]
In the 2006 elections, Kaine supported Democratic Senate Candidate Jim Webb.^[9] 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.^[10]
According to the Washington Post, Kaine has endorsed, and strongly supports, the 2008 presidential campaign of Democratic U.S. Senator Barack Obama. As a popular and successful governor of a southern state, Kaine might be a choice for vice-president if Obama wins the Democratic nomination.
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.^[11]

Virginia Tech massacre

Main articles: 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. The commission led by a former state police chief and former governor and homeland security secretary Tom Ridge began work on April 28th, and issued their findings and recommendations on August 30, 2007. 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.^[12] 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.

Dulles Airport Metro controversy

Main articles: Silver Line (Washington Metro)

Currently Governor Kaine is in dispute with the US Department of Transportation and the General Assembly over funding for a metrorail expansion that will take the Washington Metro out to Tysons Corner and Dulles Airport. A federal report released on July 27 2007, casts doubt on the viability of a proposed extension of the Metrorail system through northern Virginia and Tysons Corner, saying that delays and increasing cost estimates may disqualify it for federal funding, thus grounding the project.
The report from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of the Inspector General warns that the project barely qualified for funding under federal cost-efficiency guidelines when the proposed budget was $2.1 billion. Current cost estimates now range from $2.4 billion to $2.7 billion. In order to secure federal funding, Kaine in 2006 scrapped a plan that would have the Washington Metro go underground via a tunnel in Tysons Corner in favor of a cheaper above ground option but numerous government agencies have debated the tunnel during the approval process, and Republican legislatiors in the Assembly have tied up Kaine's transportation budget until federal funding is secured.

Electoral history

Cabinet

★ Chief of Staff - Wayne Turnage

★ Chief of Staff Emeritus - 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

References

1. ''VA: Kaine 49% Kilgore 46%'' - Rasmussen Reports, November 4 2005
2. Washington Post November 9 2005
3. Shear, Michael D. (October 18 2005). "Kaine Sounds Slow-Growth Note in Exurbs". ''Washington Post''.
4. "Death penalty demagoguery". (October 13 2005). ''The Roanoke Times''.
5. "RealClear Politics - 2005 Virginia Gubernatorial Election". Retrieved November 4 2005.
6. Tim Kaine on the Issues
7. Tim Kaine Homepage
8. Tim Kaine Homepage
9. Jim Webb for Senate Endorsement Page
10. Washington Post September 15 2006
11. Kaine Says He'll Sign Bill Making Shots Mandatory Tim Craig
12. Ban on Sale Of Guns to Mentally Ill Is Expanded Tim Craig

External links

★ Virginia Governor Tim Kaine Official state website

★ Raising Kaine Blog Virginia Progressive Blog covering Governor Kaine

★ 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