Elected 44th Attorney General of Virginia on November 8, 2005
Regent University Graduate 1989,
School of Law and Government
Represented the 84th District in the Virginia House of Delegates for
14 years, defeating a 20-year Democrat incumbent in1991
Served as prosecutor in the Virginia Beach Commonwealth's Attorney's office
Served 21 years in the U.S. Army and retired as a Lt. Colonel
Partner at the law firm of Huff, Poole, & Mahoney, P.C. for 14 years
Undergraduate degree in
Management from Notre Dame
M.S. in Bus. Admin, Boston Univ.
Married to Maureen, 5 children
GUEST
Bob McDonnell: A Politician Full of Faith
By
The 700 Club
CBN.com
– REGENT ALUMNUS
Attorney General Bob McDonnell has a political career that often spotlights him as a man of faith. He was just inaugurated into office on January 14, 2006. It was a close race – by election evening, the results of McDonnell and his Democrat opponent Creigh Deeds were too close to call. The day after the election, McDonnell claimed victory based on a lead of about 3,000 votes. The State Board of Elections began a mandatory process of canvassing localities to determine whether the vote count was accurate. As a result of this, McDonnell won by 323 votes. Deeds asked for a recount. After weeks of court hearings and a physical recounting of ballots, McDonnell still came up the winner (a certified vote count showed McDonnell had a 360-vote victory margin out of nearly 2 million ballots cast, the closest statewide race in current Virginia politics).
Some of the issues McDonnell has been focusing on are tougher sentencing for violent sexual predators, cracking down on dealers who sell drugs to children, protecting Virginians from terrorist threats, and continuing to put Virginia in the national lead in combating internet crimes and identity theft. He credits his Regent University law degree for giving him a high quality education, spiritually and academically.
McDonnell says Regent teaches the core principles that America was founded on and he learned good personal and professional conduct rules. Servant leadership is the key to management – think about/serve the customer, how to treat employees well, etc.
He chose to go to Regent because it was one of a few schools with a faith-based mission that really tried to integrate faith and learning. McDonnell was one of a group of third-year law students at Regent who helped write a brief that led the American Bar Association to provisionally accredit Regent's School of Law in 1989.
McDonnell is in good company. At least eight people in his office have also attended Regent University – only one wasn't in the office prior to McDonnell's election, the others were already there. From the beginning of his run for office, many Regent students helped with his campaign and were very important at the grassroots. His campaign manager, Janet Polarek, who is now his director of administration, also attended Regent.
THE ISSUES
In his few months as Virginia's Attorney General, 20 out of 21 of the bills in his legislative agenda passed by the legislature and will become law July 1. Over the next four years, he first wants to deal with sexual predators.
Then he wants to make a difference on the war on drugs - his view is tough punishment as well as Class Action, a values–based program, where law enforcement officers will talk to kids about the dangers of drug abuse.
He also believes there is a need to have faith-based rehabilitation for criminals. The former Attorney General, Mark Earley, the current president of Prison Fellowship, and McDonnell's office have maintained a relationship. Also, he is reforming the regulatory system in Virginia for business, because he wants strong businesses in VA and a good free enterprise system.
On a larger scale, his office is in partnership with the federal government to crack down on gangs in the state capital city Richmond, Virginia.
Also, over the next year, McDonnell has the opportunity to talk about the 400-year celebration in Jamestown and what principles this country has been founded on.
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