Getting Things Done

By Bob McDonnell

I am now more than halfway through my term as the 44th Attorney General of Virginia. That’s hard to believe. Time moves quickly though, and already the attention of political observers has turned to upcoming elections. However, even as we look ahead, I think a little time spent looking back is in order.

Every campaign season voters are inundated with promises and pledges. Then we move forward, and rarely is a glance back afforded. But a vibrant and participatory democracy is dependent upon faith being kept between candidates and voters. Accountability matters. Rhetoric must lead to results or citizens lose confidence.

With this in mind I have recently gone back through the platform we ran on in our 2005 campaign. I want to be accountable for how we have done once in office.

I am pleased to report that the proposals we made in 2005 have been enacted.

When I ran for Attorney General we made seven major campaign promises. If elected, we pledged to:

• Protect Children from Sexual Predators
• Take Dangerous Drug Dealers off our Streets
• Defend Virginians against 21st Century Crimes like Identity Theft
• Combat Gang Violence
• Strengthen Virginians' Property Rights
• Curb Frivolous Prisoner Lawsuits
• Protect Virginians from Terrorist Threats.

Here is what we have accomplished.

Protect Children from Sexual Predators

A cornerstone of our first legislative agenda was passing “Jessica’s Law” in Virginia, establishing a 25-year mandatory minimum sentence for certain sexual predators who commit violent crimes against children. We created a state of the art Sex Offender Registry. We instituted GPS monitoring for certain sexually violent predators upon release, and an improved civil commitment process to detain the most dangerous. We also instituted proactive, innovative educational programs to teach children about Internet safety.

Take Dangerous Drug Dealers off our Streets

When I ran for Attorney General I spoke about the importance of getting drug dealers off of our streets and away from our children. In particular I was concerned that we were failing to go after the “mid-level” drug dealers through whom so much of the drug traffic flows. With the help of Del. Rob Bell and Sen. Ken Stolle, we created a new “mini-kingpin” statute that imposed a 5-year mandatory minimum sentence and a fine of up to $1 million on these mid-level drug dealers.

Defend Virginians against 21st Century Crimes like Identity Theft

Virginia has a reputation as a national leader in combating 21st Century crimes. We pledged to continue to improve our laws. We have done so. In the 2006 session we increased the number of identity theft crimes that are prosecutable as a felony. We have expanded our Identity Theft passport program for victims, publish informative booklets and educate the public about this fast growing but preventable crime.

Combat Gang Violence

I believe we have to approach the gang problem with punishment and prevention, by enacting tougher penalties for gang members, and creating new opportunities for young people to keep them out of gangs. We are doing this. We passed legislation adding to the list of crimes that make someone eligible for prosecution under Virginia's gang participation laws. We’ve secured legislation that punishes gang recruitment, and we’ve given judges the ability to impose restrictions on interaction with gang members as part of an individual’s terms of probation. In southside Richmond communities our innovative GRIP program is keeping young people gang-free by giving them positive opportunities, and has led to a significant decline in the crime rate in Richmond.

Strengthen Virginians' Property Rights

In the case of Kelo v. New London, decided in the middle of the 2005 campaign, the U.S. Supreme Court gave the government broad authority to take private property for public purposes. It was a bad decision, and it spurred us to act. It was not an easy fight. However, on July 1st, 2007 our legislation protecting private property rights, championed by Del. Rob Bell, Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, Sen. Steve Newman and Sen. Tommy Norment became law. This legislation creates strict limitations regarding any taking of private property, and forbids the taking of private land when the primary purpose is private financial gain, private benefit, an increase in tax base or revenues, or an increase in employment.

Curb Frivolous Prisoner Lawsuits

Frivolous prisoner lawsuits have a debilitating effect on our courts system, and the professionals who work in it. These lawsuits waste taxpayer dollars and take precious time away from more important matters. Working with Del. Terry Kilgore we passed our proposals to curb frivolous prisoner lawsuits by giving judges discretion on issuing subpoenas, and permitting the dismissal of certain inmate lawsuits without the need for hearings.

Protect Virginians from Terrorist Threats

Virginians are well aware that the Commonwealth is a target for terrorists. We must be prepared for these threats. Working with Del. Beverly Sherwood and Sen. William Wampler we codified the mission and outlined the preparedness and security duties of the Office of Commonwealth Preparedness and the Secure Commonwealth Panel, and made this office permanent. We also changed the funding structure to be based on threat, and conducted a legal table-top exercise to prepare all state agencies for coordination in the event of an attack.

Records matter. I am pleased to say that we have kept our campaign promises, and through our work we have begun to build a safer and stronger Virginia. There is much more to be done. As we unveil new policy proposals I hope voters will look at our record and know that we are committed to solving problems and getting results for the citizens of Virginia.

Bob McDonnell is the 44th Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Virginia Read More. . . .

McDonnell Op-Ed to Run on The Virginian Federalist

Attorney General Bob McDonnell has written an Opinion Article to be posted exclusively here on The Virginian Federalist tomorrow morning. The article will discuss his performance in carrying out his campaign promises. Read More. . . .

2nd Amendment Case Update

In a previous post we noted that Attorney General Bob McDonnell, joining with the Attorneys General of 30 other states, had filed a brief in favor of the individual rights of citizens position in DC vs. Heller now before the Supreme Court. The question before the court was whether a virtual ban on individual private possession of a weapon under the District of Columbia's ordinance violates the Second Amendment rights of individuals who are not affiliated with any state-regulated militia but who wish to keep handguns and other firearms for private use in their homes.

We were very appreciative of Attorney General McDonnell for adding Virginia to the 30 other states who participated in this brief and for his firm defense of the individual constitutional rights of Virginians. In reading the brief or the quotes provided below we believe Virginia's citizens will not be disappointed in the spirited defense of their rights that is offered. The brief is now available and has a number of passages which are eminently quotable.

An individual right that can be altogether abrogated is
no right at all. Amici States are sovereign governmental
bodies with strong interests in maintaining extant
regulations barring, for example, convicted felons from
possessing firearms. But none of the 31 amici States
believes that its citizens’ constitutional rights should be
effectively erased from the Bill of Rights. Because, under
any standard, a total prohibition on the possession of
firearms cannot be reconciled with the individual right to
keep and bear arms, the court of appeals’s judgment
should be affirmed.

1. The “right of the people” is an
individual right.
The Second Amendment’s operative words protect the
right of “the people,” not the “militia” and not the “States,”
to keep and bear arms. The meaning to be given to the
words “the people” as used in the Second Amendment
phrase “the right of the people” should be the same
meaning attributed to that same phrase in the
contemporaneously submitted and ratified First and
Fourth Amendments. Pet. App. 18a; United States v.
Emerson, 270 F.3d 203, 227 (5th Cir. 2001). And all three
amendments describe personal, individual rights.

The Second Amendment answered the potential
threat of a standing army with the guarantee that
individual citizens could not be disarmed. The Framers
saw that individual right as an essential bulwark of the
people’s liberties. This Court should as well, and should
affirm the judgment of the court of appeals.

But all 31 amici States agree that striking down the
District of Columbia’s categorical ban on all operative
firearms would pose no threat to these reasonable
regulations. Instead, this case is a threshold case: at issue
is whether the Second Amendment has any modern
meaning whatsoever. Remaining faithful to the
Constitution, there should be only one answer.
CONCLUSION
The Court should affirm the judgment of the court
of appeals.

Read More. . . .

AG McDonnell working to remove alien sex offenders from Virginia

The Virginia State Police, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell are working together to remove from Virginia convicted criminal alien sex offenders. The state and federal cooperative action will be a model for other states. At a press conference this morning the AG reported that the coordinated actions of the agencies has resulted in processing 135 convicted criminal alien sex offenders for deportation upon completion of their incarceration and an additional 36 criminal alien sex offenders being taken into federal custody to be processed for removal. The AG, the Commonwealth and ICE are to be commended for their joint action to improve the safety of the citizens of the Commonwealth. Read More. . . .

McDonnell Promotes Youth On-Line Safety

MySpace, the on line social networking site owned by Robert Murdoch's News Corporation, has agreed to voluntary action to better protect children in its system. Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell, working with the ten other AG's who on a National Association of Attorney's General executive committee convinced My space to make several changes including allowing parents to prevent children from establishing profiles for related to children's email addresses they submit, making the default setting private for 16 and 17 year old members, and providing more rapid response to inappropriate content complaints. Work will continue to develop workable age and identify verification tools for social networking websites.

In announcing the agreement McDonnell said:

“I commend MySpace for stepping up and leading the way in improving security features on social networking websites. This agreement serves as a significant step towards making the Internet safer for our children. This is the way we keep children safer online, by working for progress and improvements with technology leaders. We can’t do this without cooperation, and MySpace has led the way in working with Attorneys General nationwide.”

Read More. . . .

McDonnell and Virginia side with 2nd Amendment Individual Rights Position

In a press release today, Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell announced that Virginia will join Texas and other states in a friend of court brief supporting individual liberty and and the right of the people to keep and bear arms. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled recently in Heller v. District of Columbia that the Second amendment provides an individual right to keep and bear arms and that as a result the District of Columbia's near total ban on possession of arms by private citizens was unconstitutional.

The complete Court of Appeals Decision (courtesy of a great second amendment blog Of Arms & the Law)

Read More. . . .

Who is Michael Mukasey

Never having heard of President Bush’s nominee to be the 81st Attorney General of the United States, Michael B. Mukasey, I decided that a little fact finding is in order. The following is taken from a fact sheet in support of Judge Mukasey. I have taken the liberty of attempting to remove any un-attributed opinion statements. You can decide for yourself.

Judge Mukasey's Record Of Rulings In National Security Cases And Experience As A Criminal Prosecutor . . .

• Judge Mukasey Was Appointed By President Ronald Reagan To Serve On The United States District Court For The Southern District Of New York, A Position He Held For Over 18 Years.


• Judge Mukasey was a strong leader during his six years as Chief Judge of this court, one of the country's most important and prestigious Federal district courts. His distinctive service earned him the Federal Bar Council's Learned Hand Medal for Excellence in Federal Jurisprudence in 2004 and an honorary degree from Brooklyn Law School in 2002.


• Judge Mukasey Presided Over The 1995 Trial Of 10 Individuals Accused Of Plotting Terrorist Attacks In New York City – Including Omar Abdel Rahman, The "Blind Sheikh" Involved In Planning The 1993 World Trade Center Bombing. Judge Mukasey sentenced Rahman and another man, El Sayyid Nosair, to life in prison, a decision that required him to keep armed guards with him for protection.



• Judge Mukasey Issued The First Ruling On Jose Padilla's Challenge To His Detention
  As An Enemy Combatant. He found that the Government had the right to hold Mr. Padilla as an enemy combatant without charging him for a crime. Judge Mukasey also granted a defense motion to allow Mr. Padilla to meet with his attorneys.


• A Former Prosecutor, Judge Mukasey Served For Four Years (1972-76) As An Assistant United States Attorney For The Prestigious And Demanding Southern District Of New York Office. While in the United States Attorney's office, Judge Mukasey demonstrated strong leadership and management skills as the Chief of the Official Corruption Unit.

Judge Mukasey Has Demonstrated A Keen And Independent Interest In National Security And Terrorism Issues

• In A Recent Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, Judge Mukasey Argued Jose Padilla's "Case Shows Why Current Institutions And Statutes Are Not Well Suited To" The Effort To Combat Terrorism. "The history of Padilla's case helps illustrate in miniature the inadequacy of the current approach to terrorism prosecutions. …[S]uch prosecutions risk disclosure to our enemies of methods and sources of intelligence that can then be neutralized. Disclosure not only puts our secrets at risk, but also discourages allies abroad from sharing information with us lest it wind up in hostile hands. And third, consider the distortions that arise from applying to national security cases generally the rules that apply to ordinary criminal cases." (Michael B. Mukasey, Op-Ed, "Jose Padilla Makes Bad Law," The Wall Street Journal, 8/22/07)


• In 2004, Judge Mukasey Wrote An Op-Ed Commending The USA PATRIOT Act And Encouraging Opponents To Avoid "Reflexive" Or "Recreational" Criticisms. "I think most people would have been surprised and somewhat dismayed to learn that before the Patriot Act was passed, an FBI agent could apply to a court for a roving wiretap if a drug dealer switched cell phones, as they often do, but not if an identified agent of a foreign terrorist organization did; and could apply for a wiretap to investigate illegal sports betting, but not to investigate a potentially catastrophic computer hacking attack, the killing of U.S. nationals abroad, or the giving of material support to a terrorist organization. Violations like those simply were not on the list of offenses for which wiretaps could be authorized." (Michael B. Mukasey, Op-Ed, "The Spirit Of Liberty," The Wall Street Journal, 5/10/04)

Commentary On Michael Mukasey's Record:

• U.S. District Court Judge Edward Korman: "His legacy is the manner in which he has administered justice in the cases that have come before him. … In that regard Michael Mukasey is an outstanding judge." (Joseph Goldstein, "As Judge Leaves For Law Firm, His Legacy Is Remembered," The New York Sun, 7/26/06)


• Padilla Lawyer Donna Newman: "When asked to comment on Judge Mukasey's departure from the bench, one of Mr. Padilla's lawyers, Donna Newman, said, 'I admire him greatly.' She described herself as 'another weeping fan.'" (Joseph Goldstein, "As Judge Leaves For Law Firm, His Legacy Is Remembered," The New York Sun, 7/26/06)


• The Washington Post's Benjamin Wittes: Judge Mukasey's ruling in the Padilla case was "the single most compelling judicial opinion yet written on the due process rights of citizens held as enemy combatants." (Benjamin Wittes, "Checks Balances, And Wartime Detainees," Policy Review, April-May 2005)


• New York Lawyer Kenneth Bialkin: "I do feel his return to private practice unfortunately deprives the court system of one of the most outstanding, competent, experienced, tough, and honest judges on the bench." (Joseph Goldstein, "As Judge Leaves For Law Firm, His Legacy Is Remembered," The New York Sun, 7/26/06)


• The United States Court of Appeals For the Second Circuit: In affirming the verdicts in the trial of the 10 terrorist defendants who plotted to bomb New York City landmarks and helped plan the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit took the unusual step of commending Judge Mukasey’s work, writing: “The trial judge, the Honorable Michael B. Mukasey, presided with extraordinary skill and patience, assuring fairness to the prosecution and to each defendant and helpfulness to the jury. His was an outstanding achievement in the face of challenges far beyond those normally endured by a trial judge.”

Judge Mukasey's Career Is Marked By Other Valuable Experiences . . .

• From 1976-87, Judge Mukasey Worked At The Law Firm Of Patterson, Belknap, Webb, And Tyler In New York City. Judge Mukasey returned to his position as a partner at Patterson Belknap following his retirement from the bench in 2006.


• Judge Mukasey Received His Undergraduate Degree From Columbia University In 1963 And His Law Degree From Yale University In 1967.

Read More. . . .