Bob McDonnell: Governor of Virginia

Bob McDonnell is an American politician form Virginia. He is currently the 71st

Governor of the state, and has been since January 2010. Once a lieutenant for the United States

Military, Bob McDonnell served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1993 all the way to

2006. From 2006 to 2009 he served as the Attorney General for Virginia, carrying his slogan,

“Bob’s for jobs.” On January 16, 2009 he was inaugurated and now serves for chairman of

Republican Governors Association.

Early Life:

Bob McDonnell was born in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. During Bob’s Childhood he and

his family had moved from Philadelphia Pennsylvania to Fairfax County in Northern Virginia.

During his high school career, Bob had played on the football team for Bishop Ireton High

School. During his Football career, Bob broke the T.C Williams High School shutout streak.

This was not only an accomplishment for him, but for T.C Williams High School as well. Bob

graduated at the end of his senior year and received a scholarship to the University of Notre

Dame. Later on Bob had acquired his B.B.A in management in 1976 at Notre Dame. Once his

college career had come to an end he joined the U.S army. During his time there, he served as a

medical officer for four years. Later in 1979 to 1981 he attended Boston University attending

nightly classes. During his attendance to Boston, he obtained a job working for the American

Hospital Supply Corporation. Soon after, Bob’s career path ended up changing gears, when he

got involved with law and public policy. In pursuit of this new goal, he attended Rutgers

University and took a joint degree program during his time there.

Early Life

Bob McDonnell was at the age of one in 1955 when his father, USAF Lt. Colonel John

McDonnell, moved the family to Fairfax County. John and the rest of his family moved to

Germany four years later, when John was stationed in Germany. However, Bob’s time away

from Fairfax would be short lived. At age 8 Bob McDonnell and his family moved back into

Fairfax Virginia, on Wagon Wheel Road in the Mount Vernon area home. The family would

remain there for the duration of Bob McDonnell’s childhood. Years later in 1964 his father

retired from the Air Force and went on to a second career in the Naval Investigative Service.

McDonnell’s father still owns the same house today. McDonnell’s mom worked for a

Democratic Congressman from Texas, Representative Olin Teague. She retired at George

Washington’s Mount Vernon where she passed away in 1994.

As a child McDonnell attended St. Louis Catholic School from the third grade through

fifth grade. He then went on to attended Woodley Hills Elementary School for 6th grade, where

he eventually transferring into Walt Whitman Junior High School for his 8th and 9th grade

education. McDonnell attended Bishop Ireton in Alexandria for his High School education. It

was while attending Bishop Ireton that he experienced the true power of the gridiron victory or

football, by scoring a touchdown with a two-point conversion against the famed 1971 T.C.

Williams Titans.

After completing his high school career, McDonnell moved out to South Bend, Indiana to

attend his dream school, University of Notre Dame. In order to pay for his college education he

was granted a full ROTC scholarship. For McDonnell, a higher education was bundled with his

desire for serving his country. Just as his father did before, McDonnell would become a U.S

officer in the military. In 1967, McDonnell had graduated Notre Dame with a BBA degree in

business management.

In October of 1976, McDonnell went on active duty in the U.S. Army. There he attended

basic training in San Antonio, Texas and later would be reassigned to a city called Grafenwohr,

Germany. Earlier that year Governor McDonnell married Maureen Gardner, of McLean Virginia,

who accompanied him to Germany. They had gotten married, and have been for the past thirty

five years, and have had five children.

While stationed in Germany, McDonnell served as a platoon leader in the 2nd Armored

Division. As well as being in charge of his platoon, McDonnell also ran a medical clinic for the

base. Later in the year of 1979 Bob had left Germany, and was going to Fort Eustis in Newport

News, Virginia. However, he left Germany with a helpful skill to aid him in his future pursuits:

he had received his MSBA in business administration which he had earned when he finished his

nightly courses from the past three years at Boston University.

After graduating from Boston University, McDonnell worked at McDonald Army

Hospital as the Medical Supply Officer at Fort Eustis in Newport News. Then in April 1981

McDonnell had left on active duty. Even though he was not on active duty, he did not leave the

service. All in all, Governor McDonnell would serve 21 years in the U.S. Army, both on active

duty and stationed in the reserves back home. He went on to retirement, retiring as a Lt. Colonel

in 1997.

Later on in his life, Governor McDonnell took his family, as well as his oldest daughter

Jeanine who had just been born, to Atlanta in pursuit of working with the American Hospital

Supply Corporation. There, he would put his business degrees earned and his military experience

to the test in a new Fortune 500 company. Once there Bob was promoted several times, and

moved around a little bit with those promotions.

After a year with the company, McDonnell had been promoted into the company’s

headquarters in the suburban area of Chicago. One year later, McDonnell was placed in charge

of the companies’ multi-million dollar custom products regional division. Once there, he was

managing the Minneapolis, Kansas City, St. Louis s offices. Based in Kansas City, McDonnell

was skyrocketing very quickly up the corporate tree.

Governor McDonnell was still able to use the Vietnam-era GI Bill. The problem with it

was that those benefits would vanish after the year 1989. McDonnell realized that he needed to

go and finish education, so he used the GI Bill benefits to return to Virginia where he had

enrolled at Regent University in Virginia Beach. There he was seeking for a Master’s Degree in

Public Policy. A few months went by after enrolling in 1985, then the university had announced

the development of a new law school. McDonnell quick applied for admission into the new

university. This started, as he says, “the years without sleep.”

McDonnell was able to simultaneously attended law school, continue to work for a

Master’s Degree in public policy, raise his family, keep his job as a sales manager for The

Virginian-Pilot newspaper, and served in the Army in the 18th field Hospital in Norfolk while in

the active reserves.

During his time at law school McDonnell enrolled in an internship on Capitol Hill with

the House Republican Policy Committee. He served in the committee itself, spending much of

his time with its Chairman, Congressman Jerry Lewis of California, as well as other members on

the committee. McDonnell realized that he had an interest in this and wanted to get deeper

involved with public policy. Bob thought the only way to this would be to go through and elected

office. Not long after his pursuit in that direction took off quickly.

McDonnell graduated from Regent in 1989 and soon later got hired for a job as a

prosecutor for the Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. Once there Bob served

on the criminal justice system, working on different types of cases. Each case that he worked on

made him realize that he should fight for victims’ rights and support other policies that put

criminals in prison, and held them there for longer periods of time. More important than keeping

criminals in prison, was to keep citizens safer while in their homes. He now found a greater goal

building inside him, which was to make Virginia a safer and stronger place to live and exist in.

Achievements Made

Next, in 1992 McDonnell was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. As a delegate

he served 14 years and also represented the 84th district of Virginia Beach. From the year 1998 to

2001, he made many arrangements between the Democratic Party and the Republican House.

Then In 2003, He became the Assistant Majority Leader and was the Chair of the Courts of

Justice Committee. In 2005 his campaign was primarily running for Attorney General. One of

the issues he put forth while running was to protect adolescents from violence and drug use.

Other threats he brought attention to was identity theft, gang violence, terrorism and especially

drugs. In 2005 McDonnell won the election for Attorney General with 232 votes in total. On

December 20, 2005 preliminary figures granted him 37 more votes which sealed the victory in

McDonnell’s favor. As well as receiving the victory, McDonnell outspent Deeds who was his

political opponent in the election by one million dollars. As well Bob received in donations

2,084,089 dollars to his campaign donated by the republican state Leadership Committee. On

January 14, 2006 McDonnell became inaugurated as governor in Williamsburg Virginia.

McDonnell had also announced he would run for the 2009 Virginia Gubernatorial

election at American Legion’s Boy’s State of Virginia in 2007. By running in the election this

made Bob the seventh runner in a row who was elected for the position of Attorney General in

Virginia history. Later in June the polls had changed positions from being on Creigh Deeds, to

now aiming towards McDonnell. The Washington Post also reported that the poles had turned

towards McDonnell’s favor. In the general election, McDonnell had defeated Creigh 59% to

41%, creating the highest percentage vote rate for any governor candidate in the country since

1961. Also in 1961, the Republicans had won another two ballots.

Term as Governor

Once elected McDonnell had promised was that employment would rise for Virginians,

and that other changes would occur. One promise he had made simplify the tax code, and to

lower the cost of operating the government in an attempt to boost the economy. The strategy he

based his campaign on had focused on three major ideas, transportation, public safety, and

economic issues. In each of the issues facing the state, Bob has come up with ideas on how to fix

those issues.

Transportation

For transportation, McDonnell advocating $3 billion in transportation bonds to rejuvenate

and improve the Virginia Department of Transportation. This was intended to encourage and

improve public-private partnerships in order to enhance the infrastructure and to also jump start

the economy and get it moving. An example his plan to improve the roadways is to widen I-66 to

handle the vast amount of traffic, and improve the road conditions on I-95.

In addition to the roadways, McDonnell plans to finish the Metrorail to Dulles Airport

project in order to make the trip between the two safer and easier for travelers. However, he and

democrats were unable to secure the additional 300 million dollars needed; Bob said that they

would not spend over 150 million. In addition to the trains, one way trips that now cost $2.25

could increase to 6.75 by the year 2018. The rise in tolls will help to maintain and improve the

current highway system and any upgrades it will receive in the future.

Education Reform

With the economic issues facing the state, he planned to open up the first commercial

spaceport in America. In addition, move $480,000 a year from the educational administrators,

and relocate that money to benefit the Schools and overall education system. He also is pushing

for online learning through virtual schools, to bring the educational system into the 21st century.

This would require a national monitoring program, where children from different areas around

the state would learn the exact same material at the exact same time. This would not only

improve the standardized testing scores from different areas in the state, but increase the idea of

online learning and make it into a reality. McDonnell has also supported Obama’s redesigned

educational system, ideas about charter schools, and digital monitoring programs for the new

system.

Running as Governor

McDonnell had plenty of experience working in the public service as a prosecutor, and as

a soldier. Despite that fact, running for public office was a huge decision for him, one like

nothing he had ever been reaching for before this. If Bob decided to go ahead and run for the

Virginia House of Delegates, it would mean going head to head with an “entrenched twenty-year

incumbent”(4). McDonnell then decided to look on the streets and talk to thousands of voters for

support. He would go to their doors, work places, and gatherings looking for support. Later that

year on one November evening in 1991, McDonnell was elected to the House of Delegates by a

mere six-point margin. Since then, Bob has never lost an election he has run in.

After the election Bob McDonnell went to Richmond for the representation of the 84th

District in Virginia Beach. In the House of Delegates, he rose through the ranks to the position of

Assistant Majority Leader and Chairman of the House Courts of Justice Committee. He became

the Chief Patron of various types’ bills during his career. This including Governor Allen’s

Juvenile Justice Reform Initiative, the reform of Virginia’s drunk driving laws, Virginia’s

historic Welfare Reform legislation, and a complete crack down on sex predators and gangs in

the Virginia area. As well he bought legislation to abolish death tax, and had the legislation

improve and rewrite the Virginia’s Public Private Partnership Transportation Act. He even

authored legislation and secured funding for the creation of Virginia’s Judicial Performance

Evaluation Program. This program was to guide the General Assembly in the procedure in

reappointing judges to the stand.

McDonnell’s impressive track record and performance stood out from the crowd. He was

known as the “Network of Victims of Crime Legislator of the Year in 1996, The National Child

Support Enforcement Association National Legislator of the Year in 1998, The Family

Foundation of Virginia’s Legislator of the Year in 1998 and 2001 and the Virginia Sheriff’s

Association Legislator of the Year in 2005.” This showed a few of his many accomplishments

and what he did over the past few years. This was a big help in winning the election and

becoming the governor of Virginia.

One article written in The Virginian-Pilot pointed out that, “His fingerprints are all over

major pieces of legislation from welfare reform, to judicial performance evaluations, to juvenile

justice and parole reform, to tort revisions. Few legislators can duplicate his track record of

involvement and success.” (Virginian-Pilot article, “Beach delegate stakes claim to state’s No. 3

slot,” Warren Fiske, October 19, 2005) (3).

As the Attorney General for the state of Virginia, McDonnell focused on policies that

would help keep Virginia safe, strong, and prosperous. He kept his promises from the campaign

run, and was able to fulfill all 7 of his campaign pledges. He then enacted a 25-year mandatory

minimum sentencing for violent child sex predators. He also “increased the penalties for drug

dealers, protected Virginians from terrorist threats, safeguarded private property rights, reduced

frivolous lawsuits and made Virginia a national leader in combating internet crimes and identity

theft.”

During the three years he spent in office, 92 of his 105 legislative proposals as Attorney

General were out into law, with many of them overwhelming bipartisan support. As well, he has

been commended for his Attorney General work to strengthen Virginia’s mental health laws.

There he establishes a “Senior Alert” to assist in locating missing seniors with mental

deficiencies, and other serious mental health issues. He also created a state of the art Sex

Offender Registry to help and provide new tools for law enforcement involved in online

investigations of, “identity theft, sexual predators, and other 21st Century criminals”. McDonnell

created and led the Virginia’s Youth Internet Safety Task Force, which received nationwide

attention for its redesigned recommendations to improve online safety. Another agency that he

helped to establish is the ongoing Attorney General’s Task Force on Regulatory and Government

Reform. This task force alone had already made over 300 recommendations to streamline

Virginia’s Administrative Code. By making the code streamlined, this reduced the burdensome

government regulation and has made it easier for the agency to operate.

In all the progress that Governor McDonnell has done, The Virginian-Pilot, the largest-

circulation newspaper in the state of Virginia, had an article written about him. In the article it

remarked about McDonnell that his “conservative credentials paired with his streak of

practicality have served him well over a long and productive public life.” (Virginian-Pilot

editorial, March 26, 2008) (1). As Attorney General, McDonnell allied himself with other

organizations to help children in need. A couple such agencies were the Federation of Virginia

Food Banks, The Healing Place, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and the Cal Ripken Sr.

Foundation. He has stood by his belief that in America, every single person deserves an

opportunity to prosper and succeed.

In February of 2009 McDonnell announced that he was stepping down from his position

in office to run for the position of Governor of Virginia. He officially started his campaign in

March and would forge on to receive nearly 59% of the total votes. This was a new record, to

receive the most votes of any candidate in the history of Virginia for governor. McDonnell was

then sworn in as the 71st Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, on January 16, 2010. As

Virginia’s Chief Executive he is granted the power of implementing policies and initiatives that

order to increase and create more jobs and opportunities for all Virginians. As well, promote

economic development, and pursue more reform and enhanced innovation in state government of

Virginia.

Plans as Governor

His proposals will include improved accessibility, affordability, and in Virginia’s higher

education system; by putting half a billion dollars per year into Virginia’s school classrooms

without increasing the taxes. Also in the plan, he wants to put Virginia in the vanguard of the

national charter school expansion effort. As well as to make Virginia the “Energy Capital of the

East Coast”, in order to increase the state economy and to better the nation. Also to “strategically

reform the operations of state government; and, ensuring that Virginia becomes the best state in

America in which to open and grow a small business.”(7).

With the education system, the proposal is to bring it to the modern age. With the half

billion, major upgrades and changes will occur in the education system. As well he plans to

consolidate or eliminate certain programs in the school system. Programs that he wants to push

forward are math, and technology programs and courses. These two courses are vital to the

future of the state and to the United States. As well, county colleges would see improved

developments in their education system, and would encourage more partnership between the

public and private sectors. As well as saving the campuses money by using renewable resources

to cut energy costs to the schools.

As well, McDonnell has developed a budget that will also give $100 million divided into

other sectors of the state. With $438 million in funding for education of grades K-12, and an

extra $100 million for college education. This money will cover the costs of updating the

schools, and building more educational facilities in the state of Virginia.

Recently, McDonnell has proposed that officials give ballots to those who did not have

proper identification so they can vote. As of right now thirty U.S states have laws in place that

require voters to show some kind of identification in order to vote. As well, McDonnell’s plan

wants the state of Virginia to “Broaden acceptable identification to include community college

identity cards and removing a clause relaxing the voter ID requirements if an elections officer

recognizes the voter.”(5). This way, there will be a lot less voters registering more than once, and

doing so under false identification.

Also his plan for a green state when it comes to energy is also underway. He has helped

to support a Renewable Energy Program staff in order to facilitate the development of clean

energy. As well, he has offered $120,000 each year in order to restore the Virginia Marine

Resources Commission. "The Governor's personal engagement with EPA on cleaning the Bay

has been instrumental in improving the state's watershed implementation plan while protecting

jobs," commented Secretary of Natural Resources Doug Domenech. "Now we are showing that

commitment to the clean up by doing our part to fund the plan."(10).

By using renewable energy, Virginia is helping not only the environment but the

economy as well. Using clean energy such as solar, and wind power has lasting effects on the

economy as well as the environment. Solar and wind are free power sources, it doesn’t cost

anything for the sun to shine. Plus the energy is constant, and the price of it will not go up. It also

creates new jobs for the state, increasing the economy in that aspect. Also, it doesn’t hurt the

environment and helps the Renewable Energy Program grow and become larger. Bob

McDonnell is sending Virginia down the right path for its energy needs. Clean, cheap, and

renewable energy is what’s going to make Virginia and clean energy state in the United States.

Conclusion

For Bob McDonnell it has been a long journey to this point for him. His hard work and

determination to become the governor for Virginia has helped him get this far. He has had a very

successful career so far, and his future as governor looks bright. McDonnell has however not

gone this journey alone. For the past 34 years he has been married to his loving wife Maureen.

They now have 5 children, ages 18-29. Their oldest daughter, Jeanine, answered the same call to

military service as her Dad and both her Grandfathers. She completed service in the U.S. Army,

including a tour of duty in Baghdad, Iraq in 2005-2006. This shows just how far Bob has come,

from the father of his children, dedication in his military career, and now his career as the

governor of Virginia. Bob McDonnell is the future for Virginia, and has many great ideas and

goals in store for the state.

The values and rewards of service, honor, and hard work. Those are the values that have

gotten Governor Bob McDonnell to this point. And they are the values that will define his term

as Virginia’s 71st Governor. His career has been a long and fulfilling one. From his college

education to becoming governor of the state of Virginia, Bob McDonnell has accomplished his

goal of being the governor of one of America’s great states.

Bibliography

1. Office of the Governor Robert F. McDonnell. "Robert F. McDonnell- Short Bio."

www.governor.virginia.gov. http://www.governor.virginia.gov/aboutthegovernor/mcdonnell-

shortBio.cfm (accessed February 27, 2012).

This site talked about Robert F. McDonnell and about some of the accomplishments he

has done. Also in the article, it talked about a little bit of background information such as his

educational history, and plans.

Chicago formatting by BibMe.org.

2. National Governors Association. "Robert McDonnell." Home.

http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/current-governors/col2-content/main-content-list/

robert-mcdonnell.html (accessed February 28, 2012).

The information talked about some of the things he accomplished as

governor of Virginia. Some accomplishments were reforming the education system, and adding

67,900 new jobs to the state since his term began.

3. Office of the Governor Robert F. McDonnell. "Robert F. McDonnell- Short Bio."

www.governor.virginia.gov. http://www.governor.virginia.gov/aboutthegovernor/mcdonnell-

shortBio.cfm (accessed February 27, 2012).

The information in this article covered some aspects of his early life. Such

as serving in the military 1997, and being elected as the 44th attorney general of Virginia in

2005. As well as where he was stationed and what rank he reached.

Chicago formatting by BibMe.org.

“Bob McDonnell.” http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Bob_McDonnell.

www.absoluteastronomy.com//_McDonnell, 2011. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.

<http://www.absoluteastronomy.com//_McDonnell>.

The Governer’s view on jobs and some of the things he has done. He made 110 deals that

will produce about 1 billion dollars in capital investment boosting the state’s economy levels.

4. http://www.nga,org/cms/home/governors/current-governors/col2-content/main-

content-list/robert-mcdonnell.html ‘=

http://www.nga,org/cms/home/governors/current-governors/col2-content/main-co

ntent-list/robert-mcdonnell.html

This gave some information on his background. Different ideas and concepts he wants to

bring out to the world. One of them was to improve transportation and upgrade the modern

highway systems to make them more efficient.

5. "RUTHFULLY YOURS." GOVERNOR ROBERT McDONNELL OF

VIRGINIA TRUMPS ALL OTHER GOP CANDIDATES. Ruth King, 14 Apr. 2011. Web. 12

Apr. 2012. <http://www.ruthfullyyours.com/2011/04/14/governor-robert-mcdonnell-of-virginia-

trumps-all-other-gop-candidates/>.

Gave a brief description of education, and what he has accomplished as governor of

Virginia. An example would be his college education and a little bit about his high school

background.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47012233/ns/politics/.

Reuters, Thomson. "Virginia Governor Seeks to Soften Voter ID Legislation." Virginia

Governor Seeks to Soften Voter ID Legislation. Thomson Reuters, Apr. 2012. Web. 16 Apr.

2012. <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47012233/ns/politics/>.

6. McDonnell's proposal to allow voters to vote even if they do not have with them

valid identification.

"RUTHFULLY YOURS." GOVERNOR ROBERT McDONNELL OF VIRGINIA L

OTHER GOP CANDIDATES. Ruth King, 14 Apr. 2011. Web. 12 Apr. 2012.

<http://www.ruthfullyyours.com/2011/04/14/governor-robert-mcdonnell-of-virginia-trumps-all-

other-gop-candidates/>.

Gave a brief description of education, and what he has accomplished as governor of

Virginia. Such as his transportation improvement plans and his plan for the highway

system upgrade.

"Virginia governor seeks to soften voter ID legislation - politics - msnbc.com."

msnbc.com - Breaking news, science and tech news, world news, US news, local news-

msnbc.com. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47012233/ns/politics/. (Accessed April 16, 2012).

7. Hunley, Jonathan . "BibMe: Fast & Easy Bibliography Maker - MLA, APA,

Chicago, Turabian - Free." BibMe: Fast & Easy Bibliography Maker - MLA, APA, Chicago,

Turabian - Free. http://www.bibme.org/ (accessed April 16, 2012).

This article delt with the educational plan that McDonnell is pushing for in Virginia and

other schools around the nation.

"Virginia governor seeks to soften voter ID legislation - politics - msnbc.com."

msnbc.com - Breaking news, science and tech news, world news, US news, local news-

msnbc.com. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47012233/ns/politics/. (accessed April 16, 2012).

This site proivded information on the election, and what Bob McDonnell wants to

improve upon if elected as govornor. The improvements are over a wide range, from the

education system, to health care reform.

Turabian formatting by BibMe.org.

8. Washington Examiner. "Virginia’s McDonnell unveils $85 billion spending plan |

Washington Examiner." Washington DC News, Maryland and Virginia News, US Politics News

and Headlines | Washington Examiner.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/virginia/2011/12/virginia%E2%80%99s-mcdonnell-

unveils-85-billion-spending-plan/151294 (accessed April 16, 2012).

This site provided information on the governor’s 85 billion dollar spending plan and how

he is going to spend it. As well as which aspects of the state, will receive financial support.

9. Washington Examiner. "Virginia’s McDonnell unveils $85 billion spending plan |

Washington Examiner." Washington DC News, Maryland and Virginia News, US Politics News

and Headlines | Washington Examiner.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/virginia/2011/12/virginia%E2%80%99s-mcdonnell-

unveils-85-billion-spending-plan/151294 (accessed April 16, 2012).