During last year's campaign, Tim Kaine said repreatedly that, if elected Governor, he would uphold his oath of office. Last night, Kaine proved once again that he is a man who keeps his promises, even when his deep, Roman Catholic religious faith conflicts with his duties as governor. Here's Tim Kaine's statement on the execution of convicted murderer Brandon W. Hedrick.
In May of 1998, Brandon Wayne Hedrick was found guilty of capital murder in the commission of robbery, abduction, forcible sodomy, rape, and use of a firearm in the murder of Lisa Crider, a young mother. In a separate sentencing proceeding, the jury recommended that Hedrick be sentenced to death on the capital murder conviction, and this recommendation was adopted by the trial judge. The trial, verdict, and sentence have been reviewed in detail by various state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Supreme Court of the United States.Having carefully reviewed the Petition for Clemency and judicial opinions regarding this case, I find no reason to doubt Mr. Hedrick+óGé¼Gäós guilt or to set aside the sentence that was recommended by the jury and then imposed and affirmed by the courts.
Accordingly, I decline to intervene.+óGé¼-¥
I wonder if all the anti-Kaine people out there will FINALLY admit that Kaine isn't playing politics here, but instead that he meant what he said about upholding his oath of office. Quite a contrast from numerous Republican elected officials (Bob Marshall and Bob McDonnell leap to mind), who seem to think that their religious beliefs should determine public policy. To that, I say, thank God for leaders like Tim Kaine who respect our constitution and rule of law.
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not necessarily represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
I like the fact that progressives demand accountability of ourselves when we don't follow through with what we say....I dislike the party first country last mentality.
buzz buzz
"He's going to raise your taxes if he's elected governor." ~ Jerry Kilgore, speaking to the audience in a gubernatorial debate.
"There you go again, Jerry, making stuff up. You're not fit to be governor if you make stuff up on this stage." ~ Tim Kaine's response.
And I also recall Kaine saying something along the lines of "we don't need another tax increase -- we just had one," in his campaign attempt to convince the voters that he wouldn't raise taxes. And then he tried to raise them about a minute and a half after taking office.
He clearly broke his promise regarding taxes, but I'm glad he's keeping this one... so far.
It wasn't Kaine's fault that Kilgore made the election about a non-issue. Kaine could only respond with a promise, in order to move on to more important problems. If Kaine were to break his promise, it would be much more respectable than Kilgore's attempt to beat Kaine by touting him as "soft on crime."
Running on the death penalty is like inciting an angry mob to conduct a lynching. The responsible thing to do is pacify that mob, not allow mob rule to decide a person's life.
As for the judge and jury, my obvious prejudice is that they shouldn't have the power to execute people in the first place. So I'm less concerned about separation of powers issues, where it relates to a power to kill that I think is unnecessary to any branch of government. But thats a different issue altogether.
Of course, he knows full well that his future political viability, post-governorship, would be deep sixed in Virginia if he stood in the way of executions.