With weeks left, Gov. Kaine reflects on term

Republicans complain that he didn’t do anything. Democrats acknowledge that it hasn’t been easy for him.

As Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s four-year term winds down and Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell prepares to take office, Kaine reflected on his accomplishments and disappointments in an interview with the Register & Bee while in Danville earlier this week.

“I had two challenges as governor,” Kaine said. “One was the Republican House (of Delegates) … but dealing with the toughest economy since the 1930s — that was the real challenge.”

Meeting his goals

Kaine divided his gubernatorial goals into executive, legislative and political ones. In the executive realm, which he said was probably 60 percent of the job, he touted the numerous accolades Virginia has received in the past four years. Those included being named the best state for business and the best state to raise a child, along with attracting industries and maintaining its AAA bond rating.

“We didn’t get the accolades by accident,” Kaine said. “I feel very, very good about ... how Virginia is performing relative to other states in a very tough time. I feel good about what we’ve done.”

Danville attracted a number of major businesses during Kaine’s term, including IKEA’s Swedwood plant, Unarco Industries, Inc. and Essel Propack in 2006; Com.40 Ltd. and CBN Secure Technologies in 2008; and Japan Tobacco International this October. Those announcements totaled more than 2,000 jobs, according to releases from the governor’s office.

“Danville’s story has been a great story,” Kaine said. “A story of can-do and finding new opportunities.”

Kaine said the only weakness on the executive side was troubled state agency VITA — the only state agency that does not report directly to the governor and “a model that was destined to create challenges.”

Under his legislative goals, Kaine praised the state’s expansion of pre-K education by 40 percent and the passage of the statewide smoking ban. But his biggest disappointments also fell under the legislative umbrella — failing to reach solutions in a growing transportation crisis and nonpartisan redistricting.

“The House knew what they were against,” Kaine said of the transportation battle. “But they never articulated what they were for … I didn’t view much of it as personal.”

Many transportation projects and announcements made in the last year, including replacing Danville’s Robertson Bridge, were only made possible because of federal stimulus funding.

“I’m a believer that we ought to be helping ourselves,” he said. “…That is not how I’d like to see us doing transportation.”

Politically, Kaine regretted that Creigh Deeds did not win the gubernatorial race. He said he would have run again if he could, “and I probably could have won pretty easily.” But he also felt he had achieved a larger goal in 2008 — making Virginia competitive in presidential politics — and thus relevant in national politics.

“If you’re too reliably red or blue, the president wouldn’t have to worry about courting you,” he said. “Both parties will not take Virginia for granted for the next 10 years.”

Facing a tough crowd and economy

Danville Democratic Committee Chairwoman Sheila Baynes blamed the Republican Party for the lack of transportation solutions and called Kaine “an excellent governor.”

“I also think it hasn’t been very easy for him,” Baynes said. “Even though you hear the political groups talking about working together, you don’t always see that happen … I really think it’s the Republican Party that has been difficult to work with.”

Nick Fowler, Danville Republican Committee chairman, said Kaine was ineffective and did not think he “really had his eye on Southside.”

“I think we had a do-nothing governor,” Fowler said. “... I think he was an ineffective governor. I think he started out that way and ended that way.”

Isaac Wood, director of communication at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, said Kaine deserved some praise for his state management.

“Any governor who served during this recession deserves to pat themselves on the back for keeping their state’s finances at least somewhat in order,” Wood said.

Although he was “certainly no Mark Warner,” in celebrity status and mass favorability, Wood said, more than half of Virginians approve of the job Kaine did.

“That’s no easy task to manage to keep half of Virginians approving of you when you have to make such difficult (budget) decisions,” Wood said. “I don’t think people will remember him as the best governor the state has ever had, but he’s not among the worst, either.”

Kaine’s future

After leaving office, Kaine will stay in Richmond and teach two courses at the University of Richmond in the spring, one at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies and one at the T.C. Williams School of Law. He will also continue his term as chairman of the Democratic National Committee — a position many Republicans complained distracted Kaine from his gubernatorial duties.

“Having a close relationship with the president does not work out badly for Virginia,” Kaine said.

For Democrats to win in 2010, he said the party needed to sell results by passing legislation such as health care reform. The legislation is not perfect, he said, but “I think it’s gonna be enormously positive and will send a signal” that the president and Congress can accomplish goals.

“We’ve gotten to be friends,” Kaine said of his relationship with Pres. Barack Obama, “and he knows I’m loyal to him and that I want him to succeed. He’s counting on me to lead the party in that path — a results-focused path. I think he liked what he saw about Virginia Democrats.”