In the whirlwind of these last campaign days, friends of Raising Kaine noticed that legendary attorney Oliver Hill made a passionate endorsement for Tim Kaine in the pages of the Richmond Times-Dispatch earlier this week, with a withering, yet simple analysis of how Jerry Kilgore's campaign tactics demonstrate a critical deficit in integrity and discredit the legal profession.Mr. Hill's words, quoted below in their entirety, make an eloquently powerful statement on the tactics employed against Tim Kaine in this election:
Editor, Times-Dispatch: The truth matters. Facts matter. Campaign strategies matter.Adherence to what is true matters in a profound way. Yet Jerry Kilgore's campaign, when confronted by reporters about a number of inaccuracies in an attack ad against Tim Kaine, claimed adherence to the facts was not "relevant." That is a remarkable statement from the campaign of a former prosecutor who recently served as Virginia's top lawyer.
Now, I'm no political Pollyanna. Like everyone else, I've become virtually inured to the relentlessly negative campaigning that passes for modern political discourse.
Still, the two candidates for governor hold profound philosophical differences about how best to govern, and yet Kilgore seems to believe that the path to victory lies not in explaining those differences but in connecting to our fears. It is a strategy that seeks to obscure the problems we confront every day until, at least, the day after the election. It is a strategy reminiscent of the fear tactics used with the infamous "Willie Horton" ads of the 1988 presidential campaign.
The Kilgore ad campaign seems to imply that people charged with heinous crimes should not be afforded rigorous defense by an attorney an implication that undermines one of the fundamental principles of our democracy.
These are the types of mean-spirited attacks that remind me of the tactics that I confronted while helping lead the fight to desegregate the schools. Diehard segregationists shouted: "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 -- I would rather be ignorant than integrate!" Some of these individuals got their wish, but our Commonwealth suffered tremendously because of a less-enlightened populace.
We are seeking to create a more civilized society. To achieve this goal, we must require loyalty to the truth from candidates. At a time when we need healing as a Commonwealth and as a nation we cannot afford leaders who use distortions to foment division.
Oliver Hill. Richmond.
Mr. Hill served as the lead Virginia counsel for the NAACP from 1940 to 1961, leading many sucessful cases, including the famous case of Brown v. Board of Education, which in 1954 ended legally mandated segregated schools and eliminated the "separate but equal" doctrine. Mr. Hill has received many awards for his many significant contributions to our nation, including the American Bar Association Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.