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Appraising Kaine

Whether he’s delivering good or bad news, or talking about the highs and lows of his term, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is fond of citing the outside praise Virginia’s received for its governance and business climate.

“I think I can credibly say right now Virginia’s the leading state in the nation. And that makes me feel great going out the door,” Kaine said in an interview at the Governor’s Mansion. “And I think some of that has been masked because it’s a tough time.”

Although those accolades are a positive reflection of the state and his leadership, Kaine has said, those reminders can’t avert the eyes of history from the economic tumult and the Virginia Tech tragedy that marred his time as governor.

And it is his response to those circumstances that will shape how Kaine is remembered, his defenders and detractors say.

Kaine’s actions in the weeks just after the April 2007 massacre that claimed 32 lives at Virginia Tech were “the highlight of his governorship,” said House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, a Salem Republican and frequent critic of Kaine.

Kaine won praise for flying back from an Asian trade mission to offer comfort and condolences, and for his decisiveness in naming a panel to investigate the incident.

In the next legislative session, Kaine garnered bipartisan support for sweeping mental health law reforms – Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho had a history of mental troubles.

Any goodwill, however, was squandered when the governor supported requiring criminal background checks before private gun sales occur, Griffith said, calling it an attempt to stick it to the GOP.

Democrats contend that the relationship was ruined earlier, when House Republicans in 2006 rejected Daniel LeBlanc as Kaine’s nominee for Secretary of the Commonwealth, which was an unprecedented rebuff at the time.

Kaine and Republicans found little common ground on a lasting solution to the state’s transportation funding problems.

Only once, in 2007, did they agree on a plan to fix Virginia’s aging road network, empowering Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia to levy taxes for transportation projects. Within a year, a court ruling and legislative action unraveled the deal.

Other attempts, including a 2008 special session Kaine called, ended in failure.

Part of the problem, explained George Mason University political scientist Mark Rozell, was Republicans’ fear of a backlash for supporting tax increases, similar to the 2004 outcry when some supported then-Gov. Mark Warner’s tax and budget plan.

Unlike Warner, Kaine does not leave office with a successor from his own party.

Republican Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell, a conservative with Virginia Beach ties, will be sworn into office Saturday. His governing philosophy, it’s safe to say, is decidedly different from Kaine’s.

“Kaine had the misfortune of leading during a time when the opposition party was in no mood to cut deals again with a Democratic governor,” Rozell said.

There’s an element of truth to that, conceded Griffith, who still faults Kaine for failing to broker deals with rivals.

“Either he lacked the skills or he wasn’t willing to work towards some type of compromise,” Griffith said.

To counter such claims, Kaine points to coalitions he forged to improve Virginia’s foster care system and reduce infant mortality. He also highlights the restaurant smoking ban accord reached with Republicans last year.

Although those policy achievements may be closer to consolation prizes than blue ribbons, they came at a time when the worst recession in decades forced Kaine to slash state spending.

“There can’t be spectacular victories when you’ve got to deal with an economy, like the one Kaine, through no doing of his own, inherited,” observed Forrest “Frosty” Landon, retired founder of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government. “That’s what you’ve got to measure him on.”

While cutting several billion dollars from the budget, Kaine worked to expand health care access, increase the availability of pre-kindergarten and establish green energy standards.

In each case, he made strides but came up short of his original goals.

His career, Kaine has often said, is dedicated to helping “the least of these” in society. He arrived in Richmond in 1984, a harmonica-playing Midwestern transplant, to work as a civil rights lawyer.

Through a stunning, and sometimes fortuitous, chain of events, Kaine rose from attorney to Richmond city councilman to the highest elected office in Virginia.

Despite his populist leanings, Kaine never turned out to be the bleeding heart opponents suggested he was during the 2005 campaign, nor the crusader some liberals had hoped for.

During the campaign, some questioned whether Kaine, as a Roman Catholic, would carry out the death penalty as governor. He permitted 11 executions during his tenure and commuted one death sentence.

Some of the same environmentalists who hailed his support for Chesapeake Bay cleanup efforts howled when he backed a proposed coal-fired plant in southwest Virginia.

Gay rights activists appreciated Kaine’s continuation of a state non discrimination policy and his opposition to a 2006 constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage and civil unions. But they wish he’d pushed to extend health benefits to domestic partners sooner than the final days of his term.

And though Kaine restored the voting rights of more than 4,300 former felons as governor, several interest groups are pressing him to do more before leaving office.

Known for his trademark smile, slightly elevated left eyebrow and easy way with people, Kaine also isn’t above getting misty-eyed in public. That sentimentality conceals another facet of his personality: the hardened political scrapper.

On his watch, Virginia Democrats gained control of the state Senate, picked up seats in the House of Delegates, and won the state’s two U.S. Senate seats and a majority of the U.S. House of Representatives delegation.

Kaine also was a key early supporter of Barack Obama, the first Democrat in 44 years to carry Virginia en route to a presidential victory in 2008. At one point, Kaine made the list of vice-presidential contenders.

“A hundred years from now when people write about important elections that were real bellwethers for the nation, I feel completely secure that that’s going to be mentioned,” Kaine said.

He takes comfort in knowing that he played a role in it.

Not every recent election has been kind to Democrats, however.

Republicans crushed the party in November, winning all three statewide seats by wide margins and taking back seats in the House.

“In the end I think his losses outweigh his gains,” said Quentin Kidd, political expert at Christopher Newport University. “He came into office with Democrats on the ascendancy in Virginia, and he left office with Democrats having suffered losses unlike any in recent memory.”

After leaving office, Kaine will continue his political career as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He’ll also teach a couple of classes at the University of Richmond.

He said he doubts he’ll ever run for office again but, like any politician worth his salt, leaves himself some wiggle room.

When asked whether he was ruling out a future run, he replied, “I don’t feel the need to make a pledge.”