Bolling, Wagner trade barbs in debate

SALEM -- The candidates for lieutenant governor hurled insults at each other tonight in a debate that became so edgy that the staffs screamed at each other in the hallway outside the debate room.

"That was a meaningless platitude about nothing," Republican Bill Bolling said at one point in the debate at Roanoke College.

"Bill, I don't need a lecture from you about fiscal responsibility," Democrat Jody Wagner told Bolling at another point.

In the first and only debate of the campaign for lieutenant governor, Bolling called Wagner a tax and spend liberal who, as Secretary of Finance, badly miscalculated state revenue.

Wagner criticized Bolling, who is seeking re-election, of repeatedly missing meetings of advisory commissions of which he was a member.

"Bill, it's not just about showing up, it's about leadership," Wagner said.

In her closing statement, Wagner drew laughter from the audience by thanking Bolling for showing up.

The campaign for the No. 2 spot has taken an increasingly negative tone in recent weeks.

Bolling has criticized Wagner over state revenue projections that missed the mark. Wagner notes that other states did not envision the magnitude of the national recession and that Forbes.com has recognized Virginia as the best state for business four years in a row.

Wagner says that in the past four years Bolling has attended about 6 percent of the meetings of nine state boards and commissions that he either is required by law to attend, or to which he "has a standing invitation."

Bolling said tonight that Wagner omitted some commissions and that he actually attended 78 percent of such meetings.

Confusion over the ground rules for the debate prompted the loud and profane argument in the hallway outside the Olin Hall.

The Young Lawyers Division of the Virginia Bar Association, which sponsored the debate, had told Wagner she could not use notes. When Bolling began reading from negative news stories about Wagner, she accused him of breaking the rules.

But the Bolling campaign handed the moderator a copy of the ground rules, showing that candidates were allowed to use notes.

In the hallway outside the auditorium, Matt Wells, campaign manager for Bolling, began yelling profanely at a Wagner staff member. A campus police officer led the campaign staffers outside to calm them down.

Bolling spent much of the night linking himself to Bob McDonnell, the Republican candidate for governor. Wagner made scant mention of Democrat R. Creigh Deeds, who trails McDonnell in the polls.

Wagner said she would not raise taxes when "people are hurting." To help transportation she said she would emphasize telecommuting, smart growth and mass transit.

Bolling said Wagner has supported every tax increase proposed in the last eight years by the administrations of Govs. Mark R. Warner and Timothy M. Kaine.

Wagner noted that Bolling presided over the state Senate for four years and did nothing to break the deadlock over transportation. That's because the Democrats' solution was to raise taxes, Bolling said.

The candidates agreed on one point: they favor bipartisan redistricting. The General Assembly will redraw the boundaries of legislative and congressional districts in 2011, after the 2010 census.