Endorsement: Why Virginia Needs Bob McDonnell

Virginia's roads are clogged. Health care costs are climbing, as are expenses at colleges and universities. Too many public schools fail too many students. Unemployment continues to rise, and -- complicating each of these challenges -- the state budget almost certainly will require more cuts.

The results of this year's election for governor will have consequences -- for the next four years. Voters face a heightened civic responsibility to elect a gifted leader who is also an able manager.

The commonwealth is fortunate that two thoroughly decent, knowledgeable men are seeking its highest office this year. Creigh Deeds and Bob McDonnell have long records of admirable public service. We believe that each possesses the integrity and experience required to be governor of Virginia, one of the most powerful executive offices in the country. Both candidates, for example, seem to understand that the state's difficulties with information technology partner Northrop Grumman will not improve until the unwieldy governance and oversight structure is repaired -- with responsibility ultimately resting with the commonwealth's top elected official.

The troubles facing our next governor are almost enough to make one question why anybody would want the job. The answer is, of course, simple: Difficult times require superb leaders. We believe Bob McDonnell has demonstrated the temperament, talent, and solid philosophy needed to guide the Old Dominion to a more prosperous future and to ensure that even the most vulnerable citizens benefit from the revival. He has earned our endorsement, through his deeds and his platform.

McDonnell's insistence that taxes not be raised on Virginia's citizens and businesses represents not only a sound and pragmatic policy decision -- it also demonstrates one of his fundamental beliefs about the relationship between the government and the governed. In an era when government at many levels seems out of control -- prone to bouts of fiscal immaturity -- McDonnell understands that an effective, compassionate public sector is always defined by limited government. And he knows that those who earn paychecks and profits have first claim on those earnings. The tax collector must play a secondary role.

This fundamental difference between McDonnell and Deeds is reason enough to support the former attorney general. Virginia needs a strong voice defending free enterprise and personal liberty, a strong hand protecting the sanctity of the family budget, and a strong governor willing to reverse the national trend toward handouts, bailouts, high taxes, more regulation, and stronger unions. Bob McDonnell's voice has been clear throughout this campaign, his hand has been steady as attorney general and state legislator, and as governor he will be a principled and pragmatic problem-solver.

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It's hard to imagine anyone whose qualifications to serve as governor are superior to McDonnell's. At first glance, one might be tempted to think a scriptwriter invented the man's biography. He has served his country as an Army officer, worked as a business manager, and earned a law degree. He was a prosecutor, a member of the House of Delegates for 14 years, and attorney general from 2006 to 2009, building a reputation for working across the aisle to serve the interests of Virginia. McDonnell has raised a family; he has lived in Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and Central Virginia. He is, quite simply, an accomplished adult in an era when too few elected officials seem to meet that simple but essential standard.

The Deeds campaign has made much of a brief chapter from McDonnell's 30s -- his now-famous graduate school thesis. We disagree with some of McDonnell's musings in that document. So does he. Even candidates for governor are allowed to change their minds, as Sen. Deeds has frequently proven. Some portions of the thesis, analyzing problems facing the American family, could have been composed by Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Other passages, frequently drawing on traditional Catholic doctrine, could easily have been penned by Pope John Paul II. We are pleased that Virginia voters, despite the best efforts of the Deeds camp, have, in deciding who should lead the commonwealth, given the 20-year-old term paper the weight it deserves -- not much.

"Government shouldn't do things that undermine the family, shouldn't do things that undermine traditional values that have served Virginia well," McDonnell said during a meeting with the Editorial Board this fall. "But government shouldn't be the moral police."

That sounds about right.

"People are much more concerned about the nuts and bolts of government," he said. "It's jobs, the economy, roads, and schools. Clearly, that's what we need to focus on."

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McDonnell has offered a plan for raising money to pay for improved transportation that is as reasonable as any we've seen yet. It includes selling the state's ABC stores (a good idea even if it doesn't produce as much revenue as expected), issuing bonds (the best way to fund capital projects), creating state-line tolls on two major highways, and expanding public-private partnerships. He also advocates the prudent use of the general fund to finance what is undeniably a public good -- better roads and railways. His opponent has offered platitudes and higher taxes.

In a time when jobs are scarce, we are especially troubled by Deeds' reliance on massive funding from national unions, many of which represent public employees.

The unions expect a return on their investment in the Deeds campaign. Yet stronger unions will certainly mean fewer jobs in the private sector and public-employee unions will only add to the state's budget troubles. Just take a look at California for an example of the disastrous effects of beefed-up public-sector unions -- on the state budget, the political process, and the quality of life of everyday citizens and taxpayers. That's one road Virginia must not follow.

McDonnell has outlined a sensible plan for boosting education, with an emphasis on directing more money to the classroom. He is a strong supporter of charter schools as a means to improve all public schools and expand opportunities for the most at-risk students. He understands the importance of higher education to economic development and a better quality of life in the commonwealth, though like his opponent, he has been a bit vague about how he'll pay for more degrees and greater affordability at Virginia's colleges and universities.

We are impressed by McDonnell's fundamental belief in the primacy of the private sector in restoring economic prosperity. He understands that growth and job creation are always products of entrepreneurs, risk-takers, investment, and hard work -- not expanded regulation and increased government spending. And he recognizes the importance of not only encouraging alternative energy development, but also investing responsibly in plentiful and affordable energy sources, such as oil, coal, and natural gas.

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Virginia needs strong leadership in a time of especially complex challenges. Bob McDonnell has proved himself -- through his life and his career -- to be a strong and principled leader, a man of moderate temperament and exceptional accomplishment. He is the right man to become the next governor of Virginia.