McDonnell's graduate thesis adds new twist to campaign

RICHMOND

Bob McDonnell isn't the first politician whose past writings have gotten him into hot water, but he is the latest now that a 20-year-old graduate thesis he penned has surfaced.

The paper, submitted in 1989, shows McDonnell's thoughts at the time about the harmful social impact of working women, feminists and nontraditional families; the flaws of public education; and his disagreement with a federal court decision allowing the use of contraceptives by unmarried couples.

The contents of the thesis were first reported Sunday in The Washington Post. McDonnell, the Republican candidate for governor, wrote it at age 34 as a candidate for law and master's degrees at what is now Regent University in Virginia Beach.

Democrats immediately pounced on the paper. Gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds' campaign labeled it a window into archconservative values that belie the moderate image McDonnell has tried to portray.

McDonnell, now 55, dismissed the writings in an e-mail as an academic exercise that doesn't reflect his current beliefs.

"Like everybody, my views on issues have changed as I have gotten older," McDonnell said. "When I left the academic world and went into public service my record has been one of proposing innovative ideas, building consensus and getting bipartisan results to improve the lives of Virginians."

The scrutiny of McDonnell's writings is similar to that faced by U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, whose 1979 article about the perils of women in military combat drew criticism during his 2006 senatorial race.

Likewise, Barack Obama's past writings about race drew fire during his presidential campaign last year.

The stir caused by Webb's and Obama's writings didn't derail their campaigns. What potential harm McDonnell's thesis will cause his campaign is unclear, according to observers who have long followed Virginia politics.

"As with anything else in politics, it's a piece of the mosaic that is created prior to Election Day. The only question is how big a piece, and that's up to the candidates," said University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato.

"If McDonnell handles it well and continues to talk it back, it could be a small piece," he added. "This is something Deeds can run with and it's necessary to an upset victory by him, but it's not sufficient for an upset victory. Unless Deeds makes this a major continuing issue, voters are not going to cast their ballots on the basis of this."

The topics covered in the 93-page thesis raise questions that McDonnell will have to answer, said Mark Rozell, George Mason University political science professor.

"This story casts him in a wholly different light for many people who did not know about McDonnell's past views on a variety of social issues," he said. "It is now much more than a charge from Democrats that 'Hey, this guy is an extremist' when he had been so successful portraying himself as moderate."

The thesis argues in support of a range of public policy changes aimed at supporting what McDonnell calls "traditional family values" by rewarding people who adhere to them and refusing government aid to those who don't.

"Every level of government should statutorily and procedurally prefer married couples over cohabitators, homosexuals, or fornicators," McDonnell wrote in one passage. "The cost of sin should fall on the sinner not the taxpayer."

McDonnell can disavow his words or defend them, Rozell said, but he "cannot write this off as some kind of meandering youthful indiscretion."

Since the work came to light, McDonnell has held up his record in public office as the true example of his beliefs, noting that, for example, he hired several women for senior positions as attorney general. He also mentioned his 1995 legislative work on welfare reform, which he said became a model for the national law signed by Democrat Bill Clinton, as a reflection of his views on family policy.

A statement released by the state Democratic Party noted that McDonnell cast several votes against the use of contraceptives in some circumstances while a member of the House of Delegates.

Republicans were as quick to defend McDonnell Sunday as Democrats were to condemn him.

"My overwhelming political sense of it is that voters are going to say, 'Give me a break,' " said Gary C. Byler, GOP 2nd Congressional District chairman. "I don't think 1 in 50 is going to care about what Bob wrote in his dissertation. If this is the best they can come up with, it just shows how desperate Democrats are and it tells me the Deeds campaign is in trouble."

The responses were reversed when the Webb and Obama writings made headlines in recent years.

"There'll be the usual dollop of hypocrisy on both sides. There always is," predicted Sabato, noting that the lesson from McDonnell's current troubles is "yet another reminder to people with ambitions to be very careful what they write and say."

Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com