Commonwealth Conservative
As Attorney General, Regent graduate Bob McDonnell is poised and present.
As a young man with a law degree from Regent University, fresh from a D.C. internship, Robert F. “Bob” McDonnell ’89 (Law and Government) began his political career in 1991 running for the House of Delegates in Virginia Beach, Va., against a 20-year Democrat incumbent who had run unopposed for a decade.
McDonnell won.
Fast forward 15 years.
McDonnell, his family and close supporters are together in Richmond watching the returns while the GOP faithful survey the results on television sets at a downtown hotel.
The parking lot is full of satellite trucks. Middle-aged, long-haired, leather-clad bikers hand out stickers at the ballroom door. Rock music blares. Two TV screens show Fox News and the latest outcomes. McDonnell is in a tightly contested race for Virginia’s attorney general, a top-level position that provides legal counsel to the Commonwealth and defends Virginia laws if challenged on constitutional grounds.
Earlier in the evening, McDonnell was winning 58 percent to 42 percent with five percent of precincts reporting. As more precincts report, McDonnell’s lead narrows. With 86 percent of precincts reporting, the race stands at a virtual tie.
The crowd lets out a sigh.
It was becoming obvious that running mate Jerry Kilgore wasn’t going to win the governor’s race. The Associated Press called Democrat Timothy Kaine’s victory around 9 p.m. McDonnell’s Republican running mate, Bill Bolling, could claim victory in the lieutenant governor’s election.
Sen. George Allen addresses the crowd. “It’s easier when it’s a clean sweep,” he says before Kilgore takes the stage.
Kilgore thanks his campaign staff and volunteers, then smiles wearily and heads offstage.
Allen smiles. The next one is a victory. “It looks like our next lieutenant governor is going to be Fireball Bill Bolling,” he says. The crowd cheers. Bolling speaks to the crowd, then leaves.
One loss. One win. One what? The stage was empty.
A boy of about 12 sleeps on a chair. Glasses of melting ice sit on the
tables. The TV reporters finish their stand-ups. Production crews begin
pulling up cables. Print reporters finish their stories, then pack up. Hotel
staff begins packing up chairs. Someone takes the Kilgore sign off the
lectern.
Rumors swirl among the few left. “Bob is coming out!” The chants begin. “Bob! Bob! Bob!”
Republican GOP chairman Kate Obenshain Griffin introduces McDonnell. “We hope this will be our next great Republican attorney general,” she says.
“Good things come to those who wait,” McDonnell tells the crowd. “We are confident that with a few more precincts reporting, we’re going to have a victory to declare sometime this morning. I’m so delighted so many of you here stuck it out these last few hours waiting for results to come in.” His smile is dazzling.
“You all are the greatest volunteers I could hope for. I have every confidence when we wake up tomorrow morning we’ll have a victory to declare.”
He hugs his kids and they exit the stage to applause.
But for McDonnell, the election wasn’t over Nov. 8. As early returns were tallied, he gained a lead over fellow lawmaker Democrat Creigh Deeds. But McDonnell’s margin of victory began shrinking to the low thousands as the night wore on. The day after the election, McDonnell claimed victory based on a lead of about 1,600 votes. The State Board of Elections began the mandatory process of canvassing localities to determine whether vote counts were accurate. While other candidates were either celebrating or licking their wounds, McDonnell was still waiting.
McDonnell took a brief vacation, but spent half his time on the phone, getting results of the canvassing which showed him losing votes.
The State Board of Elections officially certified a winning margin of just 323 votes on Nov. 28. Not surprisingly, Deeds immediately asked for a recount.
Meanwhile, both men began building their transition teams, planning the inauguration, and readying themselves to run the 150-lawyer law firm that is the state attorney general’s office.
After weeks of court hearings and the physical counting of select ballots, a certified recount on Dec. 22 showed McDonnell gaining a few more votes for a 360-vote victory margin out of nearly 2 million ballots cast.
It was the closest statewide race in modern Virginia politics.
A Legacy of Service
Born in Philadelphia in 1954, he was raised Irish Catholic in Northern Virginia where his mother, Emma, worked nearby at Mount Vernon. John McDonnell, his father, a retired Air Force officer, joined the military several months prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. McDonnell attributes his father’s service as part of the reason he pursued an Army ROTC scholarship at the University of Notre Dame. He continued serving on active duty and in the Reserves, retiring in 1997. Beginning in 1992, McDonnell began a 14-year career as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates.
Now, as attorney general, he can define the important legal issues confronting Virginia.
He’s also a rising star in the state GOP, although he’s too politically astute to discuss plans beyond his term as attorney general. No Regent University graduate has ever had a greater opportunity to improve the life of Virginians and, perhaps, to participate on the national political stage.
This General Assembly session, McDonnell, 51, plans to focus his attention on improving public safety in Virginia, starting with tougher penalties for drug and sex crimes. April may be the first good chance he’s had to sit down in months.
“These are tough campaigns,” McDonnell said during a campaign stop in Williamsburg last fall. “There’s a lot of attention paid to everything a politician says or does.” He is suddenly introduced to someone described as a third-generation farmer. Out went the hand. On came the smile. Cameras flashed. Away from the cameras, he stopped to chat with two college Republicans. “Hi guys, how y’all doing?”
Says one McDonnell staffer in admiration, “He really likes people, so it makes it easier to be in politics.”
Red Letter Day
The inauguration and the busy General Assembly session took place a mere three weeks after the election results were certified. This time, the former seven-term delegate from Virginia Beach wasn’t casting votes. Instead, he was asking key allies for votes on his crime legislation package and other proposals.
Access shouldn’t be a problem with his former fellow lawmakers. As
a delegate, McDonnell had been known as a team player who was willing
to give his bills to others. He was looking to accomplish his goals and
credit was secondary, according to Mrs. McDonnell.
New delegate Sal Iaquinto, McDonnell’s former legislative aide who now sits in McDonnell’s seat in the General Assembly, speaks with admiration of McDonnell’s sincerity and hard work.
“Bob is a great guy,” Iaquinto says. “Everybody who meets him loves him. He’s sincere. He’ll tell you exactly how he feels on an issue. He’ll do it in a way that you know he’s researched the issues and that he cares about the issues. He talks the talk and walks the walk. He’s the real deal.”
Foundation in Faith
A man's shoes may tell a lot about him. McDonnell’s are well worn. He knocked on 3,500 and 7,000 doors, respectively, during his first two campaigns running for a seat in the General Assembly. But McDonnell wore out more than just his shoes.
McDonnell’s personal Bible reveals a man in politics whose faith is genuine. The cover of his New International Version is torn at each corner, revealing the layering of leather beginning to separate and split the outside edge. Copious handwritten notes and reference reminders are scattered throughout the Old and New Testaments. Some are written in blue ink. Other times in black. Pamphlets and note cards spill from the inside. It’s his guide to the challenges of leadership. And McDonnell isn’t afraid to share his faith with others, especially on midweek mornings.
Every Wednesday during the session of Virginia’s General Assembly, two dozen lawmakers, legislative staff and lobbyists, House Speaker William J. “Bill” Howell and McDonnell begin the day with a Bible study and prayer meeting. He and Howell started the group over 10 years ago. It’s a mix of Republicans and Democrats. This year, they’re studying the Beatitudes. McDonnell often leads the group in opening or closing prayer. Combining faith with a job description isn’t a new concept for McDonnell. He’s a firm believer that the Founding Fathers were driven by their Christian heritage.
“The foundations of this nation clearly came out of the Judeo- Christian tradition,” says McDonnell. “The writings of our forefathers, from the Declaration to the Constitution, were pretty consistent; they believed that some of the central principles of government were derived from the Judeo-Christian heritage. Those were timeless and important grounding principles for government. We embrace the participation of all faiths in the public square. For a democracy to work, it is imperative for people of faith to be involved in the political process.”
What appeal did Regent, then CBN University, have for McDonnell, a Catholic boy from near Mt. Vernon who looks up to George Washington? (These days, he’s added another George to the list of those he admires: Republican Senator George Allen).
“As I was looking at schools, Regent was one of the few with a faith-based mission,” he says. “It was one of the few that really tried to integrate faith and learning, which is the way all the great schools in America were even 100 years ago. Regent took the job seriously. As someone who grew up Catholic, went to Catholic high school and Catholic college, I believed in the importance of integrating your faith with your profession.”
His professional experience includes two decades as an active or reserve Army officer, four years as a manager with the American Hospital Supply Corp., and two years prosecuting crime in the Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office.
As for Regent, McDonnell enjoyed his years studying law and public policy, but may have been too busy to savor it.
“I worked three jobs, going to school full time. I had a Christian toy business. I was working for The Virginian-Pilot and I was in the Army Reserve. Between that and being a father,” his voice trails off.
McDonnell was one of a group of third-year law students who helped write a brief that led the American Bar Association to provisionally accredit Regent’s School of Law in 1989.
His studies at Regent prepared him for a career of public service, a career of often being in the spotlight as a man of faith.
“When you attach the name ‘Christian’ to yourself, it puts a higher burden on you,” he says. “People hold you to a higher standard—your speech, your ethics, everything you do. Certainly the mainstream media puts a Christian conservative under the microscope more than they would a liberal candidate.”
Family Man
Despite the rigors of campaigning and serving in politics, the McDonnell kids—who range in age from 25-year-old Jeanine, who’s an Army officer serving in Iraq, to 14-year-old twins Bobby and Sean—won’t have horror stories to tell about how their dad abandoned them en route to political success. In this tightly-knit family, McDonnell remains a hands-on dad.
His scheduler, Charles Slemp, whom he inherited from previous attorneys general, knows to plan this AG’s schedule around his daughter Rachel’s cheerleading and his twin sons’ soccer games.
“I follow the soccer schedule very closely,” Slemp says. “I try to stay away from events when there’s a soccer game.”
Family meals also are a priority.
“Some of the best times we have are just talking,” Maureen McDonnell, his wife, says. “We comment all the time how we have free entertainment at home. Bob and I will sit there quietly and just listen to the kids interact.”
This is a family where it’s not uncommon for the four youngest kids to be piled into a small loveseat together, laughing and cutting up as they watch a sports event. Second-oldest daughter, Cailin, missed her family so much when she went away to college that she transferred to a school closer to the family’s Virginia Beach home to finish. This fall, she’ll be near family again as she heads to graduate school in Richmond and the family completes a move to the Richmond area.
Maureen McDonnell says her husband usually tries to plan his trips to leave early so he could come back the same day to leave more time for family. Even on the road, he still makes time to be there, calling in to help the kids with their homework.
He’s a hands-on dad, literally.
“Bob’s mother was a great woman and she always hugged her kids,” Mrs. McDonnell says. “We’re always embracing each other. I told my husband right off the bat when we had our daughters, ’You hug these girls every minute you’re with them. You give them affection. If you don’t give it to them, they’re going to look for it someplace else.’”
The Platform
This spring McDonnell’s planned changes in the state’s legal system should be well underway. Last winter, he announced a task force to look at reforms to the state justice system.
“We’re looking at implementation of a family court, reform of our regulatory system, and various litigation reforms designed to make the system of justice more cost effective and fair,” he says. “It’s a long-term project that I plan to start in earnest in March and April. It’s one of the best things I can do as attorney general.”
One of his top priorities has been tougher penalties for child sex predators. McDonnell has pushed for minimum sentences of 25 years to keep offenders off the streets. He notes that over 40 percent are rearrested for a new crime within five years, and that the number who actually commit new crimes, but aren’t caught, may be much higher.
“These people are very dangerous,” McDonnell says. “A critical component of my plan is mandatory minimum sentences of 25 years. If you sexually assault a child, you’re off the street for a quarter of a century.”
Many aspects of his plan are just common sense. For example, McDonnell would require sex offenders to register their addresses with Virginia’s sex offender registry before they leave prison as opposed to waiting 10 days. He also advocates drastic reforms to the state Sex Offenders Registry website so that it’s easier to navigate and easier for parents to find out if a sex offender lives near their church, school or neighborhood.
McDonnell also advocates high tech GPS tracking for sex offenders if they do get released, “so we know where they are. We can actually prevent new crimes with this technology.”
McDonnell also plans to fight drug abuse, citing it as a root cause for numerous other crimes. He’s been especially concerned about methamphetamine labs.
“Virginia has one of the fastest growing rates of new meth labs in the country, he says. “There are at least three really bad things about meth. One is it’s extremely addictive, more so than crack (cocaine). Two, it’s cheaper and easier to manufacture than crack. All the elements can be purchased over the counter at drug stores, and recipes are on the Internet. Third, the physical impact on the body in a short period of time is frightening. A recent Newsweek article showed some of the before and after pictures of regular meth users. It’s almost unbelievable, the aging that took place-rotting gums, teeth falling out, open sores on the body. The contents of meth are toxic. It also creates a terrible environmental mess.”
He is also championing legislation this year to crack down on gang violence and identity theft, improve homeland security and protect private property rights.
What’s next? McDonnell started preparing for his current job nearly four years out; is the governor’s race his next election? Not surprisingly, he’s not yet ready to discuss those plans. If he does run, it could be an interesting primary with Republican lieutenant governor Bill Bolling also a front runner for the job.
“The only thing I want to do right now is to do a good job as attorney general,”
McDonnell says firmly. “If I do that, I know there will be other opportunities.” 
