On the subject of whether or not Jerry Kilgore ever lobbied for an increase in the Buchanan County gas tax, Frank Kilgore (no relation), the former deputy county attorney who hired Jerry, says the following:
Two media sources asked me for a summary of exactly what Jerry Kilgore’s role was as lobbyist for the Buchanan County Board of Supervisors when he was in private practice at Richmond. Here it is:
Jerry helped Buchanan County on the Coalfields Expressway project, did an able job, charged the County a remarkably small fee for his work, advised me the gas severance tax bill would not fly and that he would not waste the County’s funds pursuing it, I pursued it for my client, the bill died as predicted and that is the end of the story.
How can I prove I was involved at all? Answer: The Secretary of Commonwealth lists me as the supervisor of the County’s lobbyists for the time in question. What is my definition of “lobbying”? Answer: Requesting a legislator or legislative body to vote for a particular bill pending before them.
My challenge to anyone who claims Jerry Kilgore lobbied for a 66% increase in natural gas taxes: If anyone can authentically document that Jerry Kilgore appeared before any legislative body, committee or sub-committee in behalf of this bill, or produce a true copy of any letter, email or other written thing from Jerry to any individual legislator asking them to support the bill I will donate $1000.00 to the Kaine campaign. My offer expires November 1, 2005. Down here in the mountains we call this challenge “put up or shut up time”.
An interesting glimpse of Jerry Kilgore can be read between the lines. Kilgore was employed as a lobbyist in Richmond — he derived his income from generating billable hours. Yet he turned down the work from Buchanan County because he thought it was a waste of time. A lot of people might have given the same advice but taken the work anyway. By Frank Kilgore’s account, Jerry Kilgore acted in an honorable way. It is ironic that the Kaine campaign used this particular episode to inaccurately tar Kilgore.
Jerry Kilgore increasingly strikes me as a decent and honorable man. I still worry, though, how strong he would be as a leader. I don’t look at this election through a partisan lens. I want to know who would do a better job of standing up to Senate Finance Chair John “Tax-and-Build” Chichester on the issue of raising some $2 billion a year in transportation taxes in the 2006 session — Jerry Kilgore or Tim Kaine? Who’s got the stronger backbone? I don’t know.
