RICHMOND — Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County, is facing what is probably the most important General Assembly session of his 17-year legislative career.
Deeds, a 51-year-old lawmaker who represents Charlottesville and the counties of Albemarle, Nelson and western Buckingham, is one of three candidates aiming to win the June 9 Democratic primary race for governor.
Deeds’ opponents in the primary are former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe and former Del. Brian Moran, who stepped down from his seat in December to run full-time for governor. Unlike McAuliffe and Moran, Deeds is prohibited to raise money for his gubernatorial bid until the General Assembly session wraps up at the end of February.
As a result, Deeds is gambling that he can forgo crucial campaign contributions in exchange for the chance to show himself as an effective lawmaker and leader at a time when Virginia is facing painful budget cuts and a $2.9 billion revenue shortfall.
“He’s trying to project an image of a statesman and somebody who is tirelessly working on these tough issues facing the state, rather than just talking about them,” said Larry J. Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. “That’s his gambit.”
Deeds said in a recent interview that his decision to remain in office during the legislative session was not a difficult one.
Strategy carries risk
“I didn’t really even have to think hard about whether or not I was going to serve this session,” Deeds said. “The voters re-elected me just over a year ago for another term in the state Senate. I’ve got a commitment to the people who voted for me. I’ve got a commitment to all of the people of Virginia. I’ve got a commitment to my colleagues in the state Senate. I’ve got a commitment to the governor. To be here in this tough time and helping to make decisions about Virginia’s future, I can’t back away from that. I can’t put my ambition above my responsibilities. I’m here. Those other guys aren’t. If that creates a disadvantage for me, so be it. I just can’t be someone I’m not.”
Yet Deeds’ strategy carries some risk, Sabato said. Deeds might have to cast more than a few unpopular votes during the state’s fiscal crisis, including cuts of public schools, higher education, transportation and health care.
Plus, if the General Assembly fails to balance the budget by Feb. 28, the lawmakers may be forced to continue working in Richmond. If that happens, Deeds will continue to be banned from fundraising during the session and may fall even further behind in the money race.
According to campaign finance reports filed Thursday, Deeds collected $658,284 in campaign contributions during the second half of 2008. He had $891,422 left in the bank on Dec. 31, records show.
During that same period, Moran raised $768,368 and had $769,605 in cash on hand. McAuliffe, who did not officially jump into the race until early January, managed to bring in $947,504 with $718,079 left in his campaign account.
Attorney General Bob McDonnell, who is unopposed for the GOP nomination for governor, outpaced all three Democrats in fundraising. According to his filing, McDonnell raised $1.61 million during the second half of 2008 and had $2.03 million left to spend.
Deeds acknowledged that he has a fundraising disadvantage, but said he is campaigning hard and is picking up support across Virginia.
“If this campaign is about money, don’t talk to me,” Deeds said. “I’m not the guy to talk to about that. I’ll have enough money to be heard. I’ll have enough money to make sure the voters of Virginia know that there’s a choice out there. And I’m convinced if they know there’s a choice, they’ll make the right choice — and that’s a vote for me.”
Deeds’ campaign made a hard last-minute push to generate campaign contributions before the General Assembly convened Wednesday morning. On Monday and Tuesday, Deeds’ campaign sent out multiple fundraising pitches that highlighted the pending deadline.
“Folks, we’re in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression,” wrote Sen. Majority Leader Dick Saslaw, D-Fairfax County, in one of the letters. “Virginia needs steady leaders like Sen. Deeds to manage our economic recovery so we can keep moving forward. He’s going to stay and fight with Gov. Kaine and me for the hard working families all over the commonwealth. But for the next six weeks, Sen. Deeds can’t accept your financial support while he’s working to get our economy back on track.”
So far during the General Assembly session, Deeds has introduced several bills that underscore his campaign themes of creating “green” jobs and boosting economic growth in Virginia.
At the request of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, Deeds has introduced several bills that are part of Kaine’s Renew Virginia initiative.
Renewable energy push
One bill would exempt the purchase of residential renewable energy systems — such as wind or solar power-generating devices — from the state sales tax. The measure is intended to promote alternative power and to create a market for businesses manufacturing and selling such devices.
Another bill would expand a grant program that aims to bring green energy companies to Virginia. The grant would be available to new or expanding companies that produce equipment or products related to clean energy and energy efficiency.
Yet another bill, filed at the request of Charlotte-sville’s City Council, would allow the city to start a clean energy program that could offer residents incentives to purchase renewable energy-generating equipment or make energy efficiency improvements.
In an effort to create jobs in Virginia’s sagging economy, Deeds has introduced a bill that would create a tax credit of up to $10,000 for companies buying capital equipment that creates new jobs. Another such bill would allow businesses to receive a refund of sales tax paid on new capital that creates at least 10 jobs.
“These are bills that are right down the alley of what I’ve been talking about for two years on the campaign trail,” Deeds said.
Deeds has also filed two bills that would establish a bipartisan redistricting commission that would redraw Virginia’s political boundaries every 10 years. By removing politics from the process, he said, districts would be less likely to be gerrymandered and would produce more competitive elections, thereby encouraging more accountability and the best possible public policy.
“The [Virginia] Constitution says you keep districts compact and contiguous and keep communities of interest together,” Deeds said. “But the communities I represent stretch across multiple communities of interest and across several mountain ranges. I’m proud as I can be to be their state senator. But I’m convinced the framers certainly did not intend the district I represent to be a model. Sure, gerrymandering’s been around since the beginning of the Republic. But just because it’s been done that way forever doesn’t mean there’s not a better way.”
Deeds’ goal of bipartisan redistricting has been defeated multiple times in recent years. Even if his bills fail again, he said, he still might have the opportunity to oversee the process in 2011 — if he manages to win the Democratic primary and then defeat McDonnell in the general election in November.
“If I’m elected governor, I will take partisanship out of the process. I’m convinced I could do that,” he said. “I could do it through amendments and vetoes.”
No front-runner yet
In Sabato’s view, there is no clear leader yet in the Democratic primary race.
“I think it’s a jump ball,” Sabato said. “Nobody could reasonably claim to be the frontrunner.”
Virginia Democrats, he said, are waiting to see what happens. They are nervous about McDonnell, he said, and they want to pick the candidate with the best possible shot of winning the governor’s mansion.
“Democrats don’t know what to do,” he said. “They want somebody who can win. They’re worried about McDonnell.”
Democrats are also nervous about the so-called “curse” that suggests that Virginia elects governors of the opposite party of the candidate who is elected president. The trend has persisted for eight election cycles in a row. Yet Sabato added that few trends last forever.
“A lot of them are worried about the curse,” he said. “But they need to remember that it’s not an iron-clad rule.”
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