Over at Blue Virginia, Lowell has a post suggesting that Jody Wagner won’t be a strong candidate for LG because she could blamed for the effects of the current recession on Virginia’s finances. Here’s my response:
This Fall’s election may well in part be a referendum on the Warner/Kaine record of leadership of Virginia – and that’s fine. I certainly don’t see the Democratic candidates for Governor running away from that record. After all, the last referendum on Warner/Kaine vs. Gilmore/Allen resulted in a 65%-35% for Warner.
Yes, the Commonwealth is facing tough economic times. But, remember that when Governor Warner took over and had to deal with a budget shortfall, he and State Treasurer Jody Wagner balanced the state budget. As a result of the Bush recession, Virginia is facing tough economic times, but due to Governor Kaine and Secretary of Finance Jody Wagner, we have been able to weather the storm better than most states, and have maintained the Commonwealth’s AAA credit rating. As Treasurer and Secretary of Finance, Jody helped keep Virginia rated the “Best Managed State in the Nation” despite a national recession that is crippling state budgets across the country. She has been there and dealt with these problems and so I am not afraid of Bill Bowling’s adds.
And the part about criticizing Jody for leading state government to run for LG is nonsense. By that criteria, the only people who should run for office are people who don’t have any recent or real experience in state government.
The bottom line is that Jody is by far the best qualified candidate for LG, she’s in the mainstream of Virginia Democratic values, she adds regional diversity to the ticket, and she is a great candidate. And will make a great LG.
(Disclosure: I am proud to be a volunteer supporter of Jody.)