Gilmore, beginning Senate bid, blasts Mark Warner on taxes

By Warren Fiske and Austin Wright

RICHMOND

Former Gov. Jim Gilmore began a statewide swing in his Republican bid for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday with pledges to oppose new taxes and support more domestic drilling for oil.

Gilmore labeled his Democratic opponent, former Gov. Mark Warner, a "limousine liberal" who is untrustworthy, big-spending and naive in foreign policy.

"Mark Warner is just like a hungry piranha," Gilmore said during a morning news conference in Richmond at the state Capitol. "There's just no end to his appetite for the people's taxes."

Gilmore made similar statements during news conferences at Norfolk International Airport and in Manassas.

Gilmore was governor from 1998 to 2002 and could not seek re-election because Virginia does not allow its chief executive to serve successive terms. Warner succeeded him, serving from 2002 to 2006. The two politicians are longtime rivals.

Gilmore, who eked out the Republican nomination at a state convention late last month, called his campaign "a crusade for the working families of Virginia."

"Today, working families, regular folks out there that I have always supported in my public career, they're in a lot of distress," he said. "They're concerned right now about whether they can make ends meet."

Gilmore said his top priority is reducing gas prices. He called for aggressive drilling in Alaska and off the Atlantic Coast. Warner opposes drilling in Alaska and says more exploration is needed before drilling is allowed off the Atlantic Coast. The Democrat has said Americans need to weaned off their dependence on oil.

Gilmore scolded Warner for repeatedly promising in his 2001 gubernatorial campaign not to raise taxes, then ushering in a $1.4 billion tax increase in 2004.

"Mark Warner is an elite, limousine liberal that has gone out there and said one thing to get elected... and then broke his word to the people of Virginia," Gilmore said.

Warner said one reason he raised taxes is because Gilmore had masked a massive shortfall in revenue at the end of his administration. Gilmore said Tuesday that Warner's charge is not true.

Gilmore called for making permanent 10-year federal tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003. Warner supports repealing tax cuts on top incomes, which he has loosely defined as families earning more than $250,000 a year. Gilmore said the repeal would lead to fewer jobs.

The Republican opposed setting deadlines to begin troop withdrawal from Iraq. He scoffed at Warner for suggesting in a speech earlier this year that troops should start coming home in January.

"That's not an appropriate approach, and you would expect that from someone who has no foreign policy experience," said Gilmore, who was chairman of a civilian committee appointed by Congress in the late 1990s to study terrorism.

Warner has recently said that he would support a January withdrawal only if military leaders concurred and there was evidence that the Iraqi government was meeting goals for self-sufficiency.

Gilmore left open strong possibilities that he might support attacking Iran to prevent the nation from developing an atomic bomb.

"I think we have to have a national discussion right now with the American people about whether or not it is in the best interest for any or all of civilization for this country to have a nuclear weapon," he said, referring to Iran.

Kevin Hall, a spokesman for Warner, issued a written statement decrying the tone of Gil-more's remarks.

"Electing Mr. Gilmore will mean more of the negative, name-calling politics of the past, and Mr. Gilmore's policies will lead to bigger deficits, higher oil company profits, and will offer no real relief to working families," Hall said.

Warren Fiske, (804) 697-1565, warren.fiske@pilotonline.com