Beware the partisan attacks.
Right now the Republicans are having a field day with Governor Tim Kaine’s second job… chair of the Democratic National Committee. They are asking why he doesn’t post his DNC activities on his official gubernatorial schedule and questioning the amount of money the taxpayers are forking over to cover the security for his DNC events.
Both topics are legitimate. We are in some tough economic times. Should Virginia have a governor who even partially distracted by another job? It’s a fair question. Should Virginians have to pay for Kaine’s security detail when he’s traveling for DNC business? No… and evidently the governor and the DNC agree. As such, this week they announced the DNC will reimburse the commonwealth for those expenses.
But here’s my only complaint with these questions: Republicans are guilty of the same issue. Or at least one Republican was. Former Republican Governor Jim Gilmore was asked by President Bush to chair the Republican National Committee. This was during Bush’s first year in office and Gilmore’s last.
I don’t remember any Republicans grumbling then about Gilmore’s split responsibilities and the times were just as weighty if not more so back in 2001. Gilmore was doing both jobs during the Sept. 11th attacks on the Pentagon.
The debate over a “part-time” governor is fair. Making it a partisan issue isn’t… especially since both sides have done it in an 8 year window. But… that’s politics.
Posted by Jay Warren at 03:18 PM. Filed under: main •
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