WAKEFIELD -- Minutes yesterday after Democrat Mark R. Warner called for a bipartisan approach to governing, Republican Jim Gilmore accused him of going back on the promises he made when he ran for governor in 2001.
The normally light-hearted mood of the annual Shad Planking quickly evaporated, as the two former governors shared the stage for the first time in their potential match for the U.S. Senate.
Gilmore said Warner promised not to raise taxes when he ran for governor in 2001 and then promoted a $1.4 billion tax increase.
"I told you what I was going to do and I did it," Gilmore said.
Warner says Gilmore left the state's finances in such disarray that he had to raise taxes to keep the state's top credit rating.
Warner, Gilmore and Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, who are angling for John W. Warner's seat in the U.S. Senate, spoke to about 3,000 people attending the 60th annual political rite set in the piney woods of Sussex County.
This year's event, falling on the anniversary of the Virginia Tech slayings, was replete with references to the tragedy. Many wore the maroon and orange of Virginia Tech.
Marshall opened his remarks by asking the crowd to join him in a recitation of the Lord's Prayer.
Mark Warner, who is not related to the retiring senator, described himself as "a radical centrist" who would try to put together a coalition of 10 to 12 senators from both parties to try to get something done in Washington.
"I am proud to be a Democrat, but I do not think the American people trust either party enough to give either of them a blank check," he said.
Gilmore criticized Warner for stands on the war in Iraq, on energy policy and on Warner's failure to finish off Gilmore's proposal to repeal the car tax.
The promise to repeal the car tax helped Gilmore win the governorship in 1997. The cost of the repeal proved so high that it was stopped at about $950 million, about 70 percent of the outright repeal. Warner said he tried to finish the repeal, but Republican legislators blocked it.
Marshall, known as a maverick in the House of Delegates, touted his conservative stances against abortion, taxes and gay rights.
"I have not [been], nor will I ever be a go-along, get-along politician," he said.
Gilmore tried to align himself with the presumed Republican presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, and festooned the grounds with "McCain-Gilmore" signs. He also tried to link Warner with the eventual Democratic presidential nominee, referring to "Obama-Clinton-Warner." Warner has not taken sides in the Democratic presidential contest between Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The Shad Planking is named for the bony fish that migrates inland every spring and is regarded as a Virginia delicacy. It is slowly smoked on boards of wood and offered up to thousands of political insiders, enthusiasts and elected officials.
Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or twhitley@timesdispatch.com.
Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 649-6814 or jschapiro@timesdispatch.com.
