Jerry W. Kilgore

Jerry W. Kilgore resigned as Virginia's Attorney General in February 2005 [1] to run as a Republican candidate for Governor of Virginia in November 2005. Kilgore lost to Democrat Timothy M. Kaine.

"Kilgore attributes his defeat to two trends beyond his control: the record-smashing popularity of outgoing Gov. Mark Warner, a Democrat whom Kaine promised to emulate; and the plummeting popularity of President [George W.] Bush, a Republican who rallied with Kilgore on the final evening of the campaign," according to Warren Fiske in the April 30, 2006, The Virginian Pilot. [2]

Following the election, Kilgore remained in Richmond, Virginia, and "resumed a partnership with Williams Mullen, a large law firm he left in 2001 when he was elected attorney general. He is opening a new practice representing businesses facing multi state regulatory problems," Fiske wrote.

Kaine rehired "Kilgore's wife, Marty, to head the state's Tobacco Settlement Foundation," a job she held "several years before resigning" in summer 2005 to "campaign for her husband," Fiske wrote.

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Campaign Issues

Illegal Immigration

"Gilmore in Virginia lost last November despite a series of ads criticizing taxpayer-funded job centers and Gilmore's criticism of his Democrat opponent Tim Kaine." [3]

Death Penalty

"Democratic candidate Tim Kaine beat the Republican Jerry Gilmore in the elections to become governor of Virginia. ... Kaine, a Catholic, won by a clear margin following a bitter campaign between the two in which the Democratic candidate had openly expressed his opposition to the death penalty. His opponent, former District Attorney Kilgore, is a staunch defender of lethal injection.

"Virginia is second only to Texas in the number of people executed since the death penalty was reintroduced in the United States in 1976. (Sources: Ansa, 10/11/2005)" [4]

Campaign Team

• Kilgore's "top adviser" was Maverick Media's Scott Howell, "the same guy who smeared triple-amputee and Vietnam War hero (and former Senator from Georgia) Max Cleland as a disloyal, unpatriotic, Saddam- and Osama-loving traitor. Oh yeah, Howell was also behind the racist 'black hands' ad in the 2004 Oklahoma Senate race for his far-right-wing extremist client, Republican Tom Coburn (yeah, the same guy who favors the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions and is obsessed with 'rampant lesbianism' in the schools of southeastern Oklahoma)." [5]

• Wade Zirkle, co-founder of the pro-war in Iraq Vets for Freedom who is from Edinburg, in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley [6], was the Shenandoah Valley and Piedmont [7][8] Regional Field Director for Kilgore's 2005 campaign. [9]

Campaign Contributions and Supporters

• Kilgore Committees, VPAP.org: Kilgore for Attorney General; Kilgore for Governor; Kilgore Inaugural Committee 2002; and Virginians for Jerry Gilgore.
• Kilgore for Governor Summary, VPAP.org.
• Career Givers to Jerry Kilgore, VPAP.org.
• The Virginians for Jerry Kilgore website (http://www.jerrykilgore.com/) provides only welcome page and is inactive.
• Robert J. Perry, Republican donor who in August 2004 was the single biggest donor to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, [10] donated $15,000 to Kilgore's gubernatorial campaign. [11]

Related SourceWatch Resources

• Campaign Solutions
• George Allen
• tobacco industry

External Links

• Michael D. Shear, "Governor Hopefuls Hit Hard And Often. Kaine, Kilgore Stress Values in First Debate," Washington Post, December 9, 2004.
• Waldo Jaquith, "VA Republicans’ eavesdropping story doesn’t add up," waldojaquith.org, December 10, 2004.
• Chris Graham, "Will the GOP eavesdropping scandal have legs into '05?" The Augusta Free Press (VA), December 10, 2004.
• Bob Gibson, "Political Notebook: Troubling testimony still echoes," The Daily Progress (Charlottesville, VA), December 12, 2004.
• Laurence Hammack, "Small-town election, big-time trouble. Southwest Virginia's voting scandal," The Roanoke Times (VA), February 20, 2005.
• Bob Gibson, "At UVa, Kilgore quiet on DeLay," The Daily Progress (Charlottesville, VA), April 14, 2005. re Tom DeLay
• Michael D. Shear and Chris L. Jenkins, "At Shad Planking, Traditional Roast Of Va. Politicians. Campaign Season Gets Underway With Gentle Exchange of Barbs," Washington Post, April 21, 2005.
• Tyler Whitley, "Plant signs, plank shad. Even a duck is caught up in the controversies at the annual political gathering," Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 21, 2005.
• Barnie Day, "Can we talk? Perspectives," The Augusta Free Press (VA), April 21, 2005.
• RaisingKaine.com: "Swift Boat Veterans for Kilgore?", April 21, 2005; "Koch Industries and Kilgore: An 'Explosive' Connection," April 22, 2005.
• RaisingKaine.com: "Typical Kilgore," April 12, 2005; "Passing the buck," May 13, 2005; "Jerry Kilgore: All Hat, No Cattle," July 20, 2005; "Virginia Doesn’t Have Earthquakes," July 26, 2005. Scroll down through cache file for article titles.
• "Debate Tests Positions Of Kaine And Kilgore," Washington Post, September 22, 2005. Debate was moderated by "Tim Russert, NBC's Washington bureau chief and host of Meet the Press."
• Robert T. Hall, Letter to the Editor: "Jerry Kilgore and the Wrong Message on Justice," Washington Post, October 20, 2005.
• Warren Fiske, "Life after the campaign for Jerry Kilgore," The Virginian-Pilot, April 30, 2006.
• Hugh J. Rushing, "Immigration Reform: A Hot-Button Issue of 2006," Business Alabama, June 2006.