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| Kaine: He 'is getting back into state politics in a major way' |
Gov. Tim Kaine stumps for state Sen. Roscoe Reynolds’ re-election campaign on Saturday at the Horsepasture Volunteer Fire Department. |
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Sunday, September 2, 2007
By DEBBIE HALL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Former Gov. Mark Warner is expected to announce within two weeks that he “is getting back into state politics in a major way,” according to Gov. Tim Kaine.
There has been speculation that Warner, a Democrat, will seek the seat held by Sen. John Warner, who announced Friday that he will retire from the U.S. Senate at the end of his term in January 2009.
Kaine, however, would not elaborate on whether Mark Warner will announce he is running for the Senate seat or a second term as governor.
In Virginia, governors are prohibited from succeeding themselves.
Either way, Kaine said Warner has his full support.
“There’s one guy all of us Democrats” would like to see return to politics — Mark Warner, Kaine told about 150 people gathered at the Horsepasture Volunteer Fire Department for a picnic for the re-election campaign of state Sen. Roscoe Reynolds, D-Ridgeway.
Kaine said he has known John Warner, a Republican, for several years and his retirement is “bittersweet. John Warner is a wonderful” man and whoever wins the post in 2008 will be his successor “but not his replacement,” said Kaine, a Democrat.
Kaine, wearing a burgundy and orange Virginia Tech shirt and khaki slacks, said he arrived at the Horsepasture Volunteer Fire Department from Blacksburg where he and his son, Woody, attended a football game.
His staunch support of Tech President Charles Steger has not wavered despite calls for his removal from office following the April shooting deaths of 32 students and faculty members at Tech.
“Charlie has done a good job at Tech,” Kaine said, listing Steger’s accomplishments as a student, then dean and now as president.
A 1969 Virginia Tech graduate, Steger received both his master's degree and doctorate in architecture. He is the 15th president of Tech, named to the post in January 2000.
Several parents of victims of the April 16 massacre called for Steger’s removal after a report on the tragedy was released to Kaine last week. The governor has vowed he would act on the report, but that action does not include removing Steger from office.
Steger is not part of the problem, Kaine said, but he “will be part of the solution.”
The university has been diligent about safety practices, having “already pretty much” installed a system which uses text messages to send alerts in the event of an emergency, and Kaine has said the General Assembly will take up other findings of the report when it convenes in January. |
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