Herbert Hoover

June 16th, 2008 | Mike Henry

By now, you've seen the ad about the budget mess that Mark Warner inherited. You learned how he adopted a business-minded approach to cut spending by targeting waste and inefficiency. And you watched as he worked across the aisle to pass a bipartisan tax reform package that turned our state around and saved our AAA bond rating.

But Jim Gilmore has repeatedly accused Mark Warner of lying. Gilmore says that Warner concocted a "myth" about the budget disaster - that there was "no" fiscal crisis, "no" budget shortfall, that it was all a grand conspiracy to deceive the people of Virginia -- and some of the state's leading Republicans were in on it.

After weeks of attacks by Jim Gilmore, yesterday's Washington Post finally called him out on his role in the budget disaster, noting that, "In Mr. Gilmore, Virginia had its very own Herbert Hoover." But we need your help to set the record straight. The sad truth about these kinds of attacks is they work -- unless they are thoroughly and unambiguously answered. That's why we need your help to let voters across the state know the truth about what really happened.

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The Post said that Gilmore's "muddle-headed policies and acerbic style of governance sapped Virginia's fiscal strength, undercut its tradition of good government and embroiled Richmond in the sort of toxic political strife that struck voters as an unwanted import from Washington."

Using "budgetary gimmickry and sleight of hand of the sort seldom seen in Virginia" the newspaper noted that Gilmore "refus[ed] to compromise on his car tax foolishness" and insisted on pushing it through "even after it became crystal clear that the repeal would drain hundreds of millions of dollars from the budget and cripple state finances."

It said that "he shrugged off specific, repeated and well grounded forecasts that Virginia was heading for an economic slowdown brought on by the bursting of the technology and stock market bubble -- a slump Mr. Gilmore simply denied."

Ultimately, the Post acknowledged that "the state's fiscal crisis ... fell to Mr. Warner, who succeeded Mr. Gilmore as governor."

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Thanks for your support. With your help, we'll hold Jim Gilmore accountable for his absurd attacks and send Mark Warner to the US Senate.