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Democratic
gubernatorial candidate Tim Kaine is listed as a
supporter of a resolution by the anti-death penalty
organization, Virginians
for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, calling
for a moratorium on the death penalty in Virginia.
Several
prominent Virginia politicians, Democrats and
Republican alike, have signed the Resolution For
Moratorium On Executions In Virginia. When did Lt.
Gov. Kaine sign the moratorium?
Director
Jack Payden-Travers of the Virginians for
Alternatives to the Death Penalty wrote the Blue Dog
that the "VADP has no record of when or if Lt.
Gov. Kaine signed the moratorium resolution. We do
know that news reports and articles in the media
from his previous race for the office of lieutenant
governor state that he is on record as supporting a
moratorium." Payden-Travers added, "We can
find no petition in our possession which bears his
signature."
Nevertheless,
Republican Jerry Kilgore's campaign spokesman has
said Kaine endorsed the moratorium in 2001.
Has
Mr. Kaine assisted with fund-raising activities for
the VADP organization? Payden-Travers said, "I
have no record of Lt. Gov. Kaine making a financial
contribution to VADP. Nor am I aware of his
assisting VADP in any way with fund raising.
For
those who have never read the moratorium, the VADP
resolution states, the death penalty is "a
haphazard maze of unfair practices with no internal
consistency."
Furthermore,
the moratorium resolution "calls on the
governor and our representatives to the Virginia
Senate and House of Delegates and our
representatives in the U.S. Congress to enact and
adopt legislation imposing a moratorium."
Oh
yeah, along with "copies of this resolution
shall be forwarded to the governor, the chief
justice of the Virginia Supreme Court and Court of
Appeals, our state representatives, and to the
president of the United States and members of our
congressional delegation."
Faith-based
ironies
Where
does the Roman Catholic Church, of which Kaine is a
member, stand on the issue of capital punishment? In
1999, Pope John Paul II said, "May the death
penalty, an unworthy punishment still used in some
countries, be abolished throughout the world."
Not
much has changed since, and Kaine knows the papacy's
decree against capital punishment and agape love for
those criminals. Don't you know it's faith-based to
the core?
Democrat
Kaine says his "faith teaches that life is
sacred," but as the governor-elect, he will
carry out the letter of the law, including
court-mandated death-penalty executions.
Is
that answer even a reasonable explanation? Carrying
out the oath of office seriously, but not his
religious convictions.
Holy
Moses!
But
not his religious convictions - I repeat.
At
the Sept. 15 gubernatorial debate, The Leesburg
Today wrote, "When (Tim) Russert pressed
Kaine on that issue as well as his
anti-death-penalty stance, Kaine said he has no
intention to make changes that would be widely
unpopular."
The
Leesburg Today continued:
"I'm
a Catholic. I'm against the death penalty and
abortion," Kaine said, but "I'm not going
to spend my time on a philosophical battle that I
cannot win."
However,
as the governor-elect, Tim Kaine, could attempt a
blanket amnesty for those convicted and serving on
death row.
He
may be against the death penalty, while upholding
the law, but no one is talking about alternative
sentences.
The
Potomac News reported, "(Tim) Murtaugh said
Kaine has argued in court 'time after time' that
Virginia's death penalty is unconstitutional.
"He
has attempted to overturn, using the court system,
Virginia's death penalty statute," Murtaugh, a
spokesman for the Kilgore campaign, told The
Potomac News.
The
Blue Dog says it's a fact. Kaine has been working
towards the abolition of the death penalty in
Virginia.
When
questioned about his personal thoughts and
official VADP comments on the recent TV and radio
campaign commercials politicizing the death penalty,
Payden-Travers said, "From my personal
standpoint, I believe it is tragic that in a
democracy and in a country of laws that a leading
candidate for the office of governor would criticize
his opponent for providing a defendant competent
legal counsel. It would appear that former attorney
general Kilgore would prefer that no legal
representation be provided to those on Virginia's
death row."
The
VADP director went on to say, "Had it not been
for those defense attorneys who provided counsel to
Mr. Earl Washington Jr., Virginia would have
executed an innocent man. Mr. Kilgore's statements
about Kaine remind me that when John Adams was asked
what accomplishment he was most proud of in his
career as a lawyer, he chose to list his defense of
those British troops that shot and killed colonists
in Boston. He knew, as does any attorney worthy of
the title, that the rule of law is dependent on both
sides having the best counsel available.
"In
closing, I would suggest that Jerry Kilgore needs to
reflect on the words of George Bernard Shaw when he
wrote: 'Murder and capital punishment are not
opposites that cancel one another, but similars that
breed their kind. It is the deed that teaches
not the name we give it.' "
--
October 31, 2005
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