Detainees unwelcome in Va., Brian Moran says

Here’s one controversy on which all four candidates for governor agree: Keep Guantanamo Bay prisoners out of Virginia.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brian J. Moran said yesterday, after a period of wait-and-see, that he now opposes holding and trying Guantanamo detainees here.

He said as governor, his first priority would be keeping residents safe and that he would “do nothing to jeopardize their safety.“

He joins his two rivals in the June 9 Democratic primary, state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds of Bath County and former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe of McLean, in opposing the possible transfer of terrorism suspects to Virginia from Cuba.

The presumed Republican nominee, Bob McDonnell, last month announced his opposition to transferring Guantanamo detainees to Virginia. He favors a GOP-offered bill in Congress that would allow states to reject the prisoners.

“If other states want to take these prisoners and the money that comes with it, then they can work it out,“ said McDonnell, a former attorney general.

Moran’s stance differs from that of his brother, Rep. James P. Moran, D-8th.

In a May 9 opinion column in The Washington Post, the congressman wrote that while he’s not advocating for the “burden” of holding terrorism suspects, if the Obama administration selected the federal courthouse in his hometown of Alexandria to try some of the detainees, he believes residents would accept the prospect.

The U.S. courthouse in Alexandria has been mentioned as a possible destination for detainees. Zacarias Moussaoui, the convicted Sept. 11 conspirator, was held and prosecuted there.

McAuliffe, in Richmond yesterday to accept the endorsement of the Richmond Crusade for Voters, said Virginia should be closed to suspected terrorists.

“I don’t believe, like Congressman Moran, that we should invite them,“ McAuliffe said.

“It’s a public-safety issue,“ he said. “I just don’t think we should be bringing alleged terrorists to any population center.“

Deeds’ camp said he opposes any proposal to bring the detainees to Virginia.

The five Republicans in Virginia’s congressional delegation have urged Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat and close ally of President Barack Obama, to resist moving detainees to the state.

Rep. Eric I. Cantor, R-7th, the No. 2 Republican in the House, reiterated his opposition yesterday after Obama said in a speech that the nation’s maximum-security prisons could handle prisoners from Cuba.

“The American people expect the United States to keep terrorists where they belong—apart from civilized society and outside of America’s borders,“ Cantor said.

Kaine hasn’t weighed in on the issue. His spokesman, Gordon Hickey, has said Kaine has faith in Obama and the armed forces to determine “the appropriate conditions and circumstances.“

Brian Moran, a former member of the House of Delegates from Alexandria, disclosed his opposition three days after U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., said he does not believe the terrorism suspects should be tried in the United States.