Name	Virginia
Fullname	Commonwealth of Virginia
Flag	Flag of Virginia.svg
Flaglink	Flag
Seal	Seal of Virginia.svg
Seallink	Seal
Map	Map of USA VA2.svg
Flagalt	Navy blue flag with the circular Seal of Virginia centered on it.
Sealalt	A circular seal with the words "Virginia" on the top and "Sic Semper Tyrannis" on the bottom. In the center, a woman wearing a blue toga and Athenian helmet stands on the chest of dead man wearing a purple breastplate and skirt. The woman holds a spear and sheathed sword. The man holds a broken chain while his crown lies away from the figures. Orange leaves encircle the seal.
Mapalt	Virginia is located on the Atlantic coast along the line that divides the Northern and Southern halves of the United States. It runs mostly east to west. It includes a small peninsula across a bay which is discontinuous with the rest of the state.
Nickname	Old Dominion; Mother of Presidents
Motto	Sic Semper Tyrannis (Latin)
Mottoenglish	Thus always to tyrants
Former	Colony of Virginia
Capital	Richmond
Largestcity	Virginia Beach
Largestmetro	Northern Virginia
Demonym	Virginian
Governor	Bob McDonnell (R)
Lieutenant governor	Bill Bolling (R)
Legislature	General Assembly
Upperhouse	Senate
Lowerhouse	House of Delegates
Senators	Jim Webb (D)Mark Warner (D)
Representative	8 Republicans, 3 Democrats
Electoralvotes	13
Postalabbreviation	VA
Officiallang	English
Languages	English 94.6%, Spanish 5.9%
Arearank	35th
Totalareaus	42,774.2
Totalarea	110,785.67
Pcwater	7.4
Poprank	12th
2000pop	8,001,024
Densityrank	16th
2000densityus	202.6
2000density	78
Medianhouseholdincome	$61,044
Incomerank	8th
Admittanceorder	10th
Admittancedate	June 25, 1788
Timezone	Eastern: UTC−5/−4
Latitude	36° 32′ N to 39° 28′ N
Longitude	75° 15′ W to 83° 41′ W
Widthus	200
Width	320
Lengthus	430
Length	690
Highestpoint	Mount Rogers
Highestelevus	5,729
Highestelev	1,747
Meanelevus	950
Meanelev	290
Lowestpoint	Atlantic Ocean
Lowestelevus	0
Lowestelev	0
Isocode	US-VA
Website	www.virginia.gov }}

The Commonwealth of Virginia () is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most populous city and Fairfax County the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealth's population is over eight million.

The area's history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony. Slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colony's early politics and plantation economy. Virginia was one of the 13 Colonies in the American Revolution and joined the Confederacy in the American Civil War, during which Richmond was made the Confederate capital and Virginia's northwestern counties separated to form the state of West Virginia. Although the Commonwealth was under conservative single party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, both major national parties are competitive in modern Virginia.

The Virginia General Assembly is the oldest legislature in the Americas. The state government has been repeatedly ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States. It is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginia's economy has many sectors: agriculture in the Shenandoah Valley; federal agencies in Northern Virginia, including the headquarters of the Department of Defense and CIA; and military facilities in Hampton Roads, the site of the region's main seaport. Virginia's public schools and many colleges and universities have contributed to growing media and technology sectors. As a result, computer chips have become the state's leading export.

Geography

Virginia has a total area of , including of water, making it the 35th-largest state by area. Virginia is bordered by Maryland and Washington, D.C. to the north and east; by the Atlantic Ocean to the east; by North Carolina and Tennessee to the south; by Kentucky to the west; and by West Virginia to the north and west. Virginia's boundary with Maryland and Washington, D.C. extends to the low-water mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, though surveyor error led to deviations of as much as three arcminutes.

Geology and terrain

The Chesapeake Bay separates the contiguous portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginia's Eastern Shore. The bay was formed following a meteoroid impact crater during the Eocene. Many of Virginia's rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, which create three peninsulas in the bay. Geographically and geologically, Virginia is divided into five regions from east to west: Tidewater, Piedmont, Blue Ridge Mountains, Ridge and Valley, and Cumberland Plateau.

The Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay. The Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic. The region, known for its heavy clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the chain of Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state, the tallest being Mount Rogers at . The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains, and includes the Great Appalachian Valley. The region is carbonate rock based, and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the south-west corner of Virginia, below the Allegheny Plateau. In this region rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin.

The state's carbonate rock is filled with more than 4,000 caves, ten of which are open for tourism. The Virginia seismic zone has not had a history of regular activity. Earthquakes are rarely above 4.5 on the Richter magnitude scale because Virginia is located away from the edges of the North American Plate. The largest earthquake, at an estimated 5.9 magnitude, was in 1897 near Blacksburg. A 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck central Virginia on August 23, 2011, near Mineral. The earthquake was reportedly felt as far away as New York City and Toronto, Canada. Coal mining takes place in the three mountainous regions at 40 distinct coal beds near Mesozoic basins. Other resources such as slate, kyanite, sand, and gravel are mined, with an annual value over $2 billion .

Climate

The climate of Virginia becomes increasingly warmer and more humid farther south and east. Seasonal extremes vary from average lows of in January to average highs of in July. The Atlantic ocean has a strong effect on eastern and southeastern coastal areas of the state. Influenced by the Gulf Stream, coastal weather is subject to hurricanes, most pronouncedly near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay.

Virginia has an annual average of 35–45 days of thunderstorm activity, particularly in the western part of the state, and an average annual precipitation of . Cold air masses arriving over the mountains in winter can lead to significant snowfalls, such as the Blizzard of 1996 and winter storms of 2009–2010. The interaction of these elements with the state's topography creates distinct microclimates in the Shenandoah Valley, the mountainous southwest, and the coastal plains. Virginia averages seven tornadoes annually, most F2 or lower on the Fujita scale.

In recent years, the expansion of the southern suburbs of Washington, D.C. into Northern Virginia has introduced an urban heat island primarily caused by increased absorption of solar radiation in more densely populated areas. In the American Lung Association's 2011 report, 11 counties received failing grades for air quality, with Fairfax County having the worst in the state, due to automobile pollution. Haze in the mountains is caused in part by coal power plants.

Flora and fauna

Forests cover 65% of the state, primarily with deciduous, broad leaf trees. Lower altitudes are more likely to have small but dense stands of moisture-loving hemlocks and mosses in abundance, with hickory and oak in the Blue Ridge. However since the early 1990s, Gypsy moth infestations have eroded the dominance of oak forests. Other common trees and plants include chestnut, maple, tulip poplar, mountain laurel, milkweed, daisies, and many species of ferns. The largest areas of wilderness are along the Atlantic coast and in the western mountains, where the largest populations of trillium wildflowers in North America are found. The Atlantic coast regions are host to flora commonly associated with the South Atlantic pine forests and lower Southeast Coastal Plain maritime flora, the latter found primarily in southeastern Virginia.

Mammals include White-tailed deer, black bear, beaver, bobcat, coyote, raccoon, skunk, groundhog, Virginia Opossum, gray fox, and eastern cottontail rabbit. Birds include cardinals, barred owls, Carolina chickadees, Red-tailed Hawks, and Wild Turkeys. The Peregrine Falcon was reintroduced into Shenandoah National Park in the mid-1990s. Walleye, brook trout, Roanoke bass, and blue catfish are among the 210 known species of freshwater fish. Running brooks with rocky bottoms are often inhabited by a plentiful amounts of crayfish and salamanders. The Chesapeake Bay is host to many species, including blue crabs, clams, oysters, and rockfish (also known as striped bass).

Virginia has 30 National Park Service units, such as Great Falls Park and the Appalachian Trail, and one national park, the Shenandoah National Park. Shenandoah was established in 1935 and encompasses the scenic Skyline Drive. Almost 40% of the park's area (79,579 acres/322 km²) has been designated as wilderness under the National Wilderness Preservation System. Additionally, there are 34 Virginia state parks and 17 state forests, run by the Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Department of Forestry. The Chesapeake Bay, while not a national park, is protected by both state and federal legislation, and the jointly run Chesapeake Bay Program which conducts restoration on the bay and its watershed. The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge extends into North Carolina. The Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge marks the beginning of the Outer Banks which also extends into North Carolina.

History

Jamestown 2007 marked Virginia's quadricentennial year, celebrating 400 years since the establishment of the Jamestown Colony. The celebrations highlighted contributions from Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans, each which had a significant part in shaping Virginia's history. Warfare, including among these groups, has also had an important role. Virginia was a focal point in conflicts from the French and Indian War, the American Revolution and the Civil War, to the Cold War and the War on Terrorism. Stories about historic figures, such as those surrounding Pocahontas and John Smith, George Washington's childhood, or the plantation elite in the slave society of the antebellum period, have also created potent myths of state history, and have served as rationales for Virginia's ideology. The legacy of slavery in the state has also continued to affect the society's racial politics.

Colony

The first people are estimated to have arrived in Virginia over 12,000 years ago. By 5,000 years ago more permanent settlements emerged, and farming began by 900 AD. By 1500, the Algonquian peoples had founded towns such as Werowocomoco in the Tidewater region, which they referred to as ''Tsenacommacah''. The other major language groups in the area were the Siouan to the west, and the Iroquoians, who included the Nottoway and Meherrin, to the north and south. After 1570, the Algonquians consolidated under Chief Powhatan in response to threats from these other groups on their trade network. Powhatan controlled more than 30 smaller tribes and over 150 settlements, who shared a common Virginia Algonquian language. In 1607, the native Tidewater population was between 13,000 to 14,000.

In 1583, Queen Elizabeth I of England granted Walter Raleigh a charter to explore and plant a colony north of Spanish Florida. In 1584, Raleigh sent an expedition to the Atlantic coast of North America. The name "Virginia" may have been suggested then by Raleigh or Elizabeth, perhaps noting her status as the "Virgin Queen", and may also be related to a native phrase, "Wingandacoa", or name, "Wingina". Initially the name applied to the entire coastal region from South Carolina to Maine, plus the island of Bermuda. The London Company was incorporated as a joint stock company by the proprietary Charter of 1606, which granted land rights to this area. The Company financed the first permanent English settlement in the "New World", Jamestown. Named for King James I, it was founded in May 1607 by Christopher Newport. In 1619, colonists took greater control with an elected legislature called the House of Burgesses. With the bankruptcy of the London Company in 1624, the settlement was taken into royal authority as a British crown colony.

Life in the colony was perilous, and many died during the "starving time" in 1609 and the Anglo-Powhatan Wars, including the Indian massacre of 1622, which fostered the colonists' negative view of all tribes. By 1624, only 3,400 of the 6,000 early settlers had survived. However, European demand for tobacco fueled the arrival of more settlers and servants. The headright system tried to solve the labor shortage by providing colonists with land for each indentured servant they transported to Virginia. African workers were first imported in 1619, and their slavery was codified after a 1654 lawsuit over the servant John Casor. Tensions between the working and ruling classes led to Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, by when current and former indentured servants made up as much as 80% of the population. Colonists appropriated land from Virginia Indians by force and treaty, including the Treaty of 1677, which made the signatory tribes tributary states. Williamsburg became the colonial capital in 1699, following the founding of The College of William & Mary in 1693.

Statehood

The British Parliament's efforts to levy new taxes following the French and Indian War (1754–1763) were deeply unpopular in the colonies. In the House of Burgesses, opposition to taxation without representation was led by Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee, among others. Virginians began to coordinate their actions with other colonies in 1773, and sent delegates to the Continental Congress the following year. After the House of Burgesses was dissolved by the royal governor in 1774, Virginia's revolutionary leaders continued to govern via the Virginia Conventions. On May 15, 1776, the Convention declared Virginia's independence from the British Empire and adopted George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was then included in a new constitution. Another Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, drew upon Mason's work in drafting the national Declaration of Independence.

When the American Revolutionary War began, George Washington, who had commanded Virginia's forces in the French and Indian War, was selected to head the colonial army. During the war, the capital was moved to Richmond at the urging of Governor Thomas Jefferson, who feared that Williamsburg's location would make it vulnerable to British attack. In 1781, the combined action of Continental and French land and naval forces trapped the British army on the Virginia Peninsula, where troops under George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau defeated British General Cornwallis in the Siege of Yorktown. His surrender on October 19, 1781, led to peace negotiations in Paris and secured the independence of the colonies.

Virginians were instrumental in writing the United States Constitution. James Madison drafted the Virginia Plan in 1787 and the Bill of Rights in 1789. Virginia ratified the Constitution on June 25, 1788. The three-fifths compromise ensured that Virginia, with its large number of slaves, initially had the largest bloc in the House of Representatives. Together with the Virginia dynasty of presidents, this gave the Commonwealth national importance. In 1790, both Virginia and Maryland ceded territory to form the new District of Columbia, though the Virginian area was retroceded in 1846. Virginia is sometimes called "Mother of States" because of its role in being carved into states like Kentucky, which became the 15th state in 1792, and for the numbers of American pioneers born in Virginia.

Civil War and aftermath

In addition to agriculture, slave labor was increasingly used in mining, shipbuilding and other industries. Nat Turner's slave rebellion in 1831 and John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859 showed deep social discontent about slavery and its role in the plantation economy. By 1860, almost half a million people, roughly 31% of the total population of Virginia, were enslaved. This division contributed to the start of the American Civil War.

Virginia voted to secede from the United States on April 17, 1861, after the Battle of Fort Sumter and Abraham Lincoln's call for volunteers. On April 24, Virginia joined the Confederate States of America, which chose Richmond as its capital. After the 1863 Wheeling Convention, 48 counties in the northwest separated to form a new state of West Virginia, which chose to remain loyal to the Union. During the war, more battles were fought in Virginia than anywhere else, including Bull Run, the Seven Days Battles, Chancellorsville, and the concluding Battle of Appomattox Court House. After the capture of Richmond in 1865, the capital was briefly moved to Danville. Virginia was formally restored to the United States in 1870, due to the work of the Committee of Nine.

During the post-war Reconstruction era, Virginia adopted a constitution which provided for free public schools, and guaranteed political, civil, and voting rights. The populist Readjuster Party ran an inclusive coalition until the conservative white Democratic Party gained power after 1883. It passed segregationist Jim Crow laws and in 1902 rewrote the Constitution of Virginia to include a poll tax and other voter registration measures that effectively disfranchised most African Americans and many poor whites until passage of federal legislation in the 1960s. Though their schools were segregated and underfunded, as were services, due to a lack of political representation, African Americans were able to create their own communities.

Contemporary era

Protests started by Barbara Rose Johns in 1951 in Farmville against segregated schools led to the lawsuit ''Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County''. This case, filed by Richmond natives Spottswood Robinson and Oliver Hill, was decided in 1954 with ''Brown v. Board of Education'', which rejected the segregationist doctrine of "separate but equal". However in 1958, under the policy of "massive resistance" spearheaded by the influential segregationist Senator Harry F. Byrd and his Byrd Organization, the Commonwealth prohibited desegregated local schools from receiving funding.

The Civil Rights Movement gained many participants in the 1960s and achieved the moral force to gain national legislation for protection of suffrage and civil rights for African Americans. In 1964 the United States Supreme Court ordered Prince Edward County and others to integrate schools. In 1967, the Court also struck down the state's ban on interracial marriage. From 1969 to 1971, state legislators under Governor Mills Godwin rewrote the constitution, after goals such as the repeal of Jim Crow laws had been achieved. In 1989, Douglas Wilder became the first African American elected as governor in the United States.

New economic forces also changed the Commonwealth. In 1926, Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin, rector of Williamsburg's Bruton Parish Church, began restoration of colonial-era buildings in the historic district with financial backing of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.; their work led to the development of Colonial Williamsburg, the state's most popular tourism site. World War II and the Cold War led to massive expansion of national government programs housed in offices in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., and correlative population growth. Among the federal developments was the Pentagon, which was later targeted in the September 11 attacks, during which 189 people died.

Cities and towns

Virginia is divided into 95 counties and 39 independent cities, which both operate the same way since independent cities are considered to be county-equivalent. This method of treating cities and counties equally is unique to Virginia, with only three other independent cities in the United States outside Virginia. Virginia limits the authority of cities and counties to countermand laws expressly allowed by the Virginia General Assembly under what is known as Dillon's Rule. In addition to independent cities, there are also incorporated ''towns'' which operate under their own governments, but are part of a county. Finally there are hundreds of unincorporated communities within the counties. Virginia does not have any further political subdivisions, such as villages or townships.

Virginia has 11 Metropolitan Statistical Areas; Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and Richmond-Petersburg are the three most populous. Richmond is the capital of Virginia, and its metropolitan area has a population of over 1.2 million. , Virginia Beach is the most populous city in the Commonwealth, with Norfolk and Chesapeake second and third, respectively. Norfolk forms the urban core of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, which has a population over 1.6 million people and is the site of the world's largest naval base, Naval Station Norfolk. Suffolk, which includes a portion of the Great Dismal Swamp, is the largest city by area at .

Fairfax County is the most populous locality in Virginia, with over one million residents, although that does not include its county seat Fairfax, which is one of the independent cities. Fairfax County has a major urban business and shopping center in Tysons Corner, Virginia's largest office market. Neighboring Loudoun County, with the county seat at Leesburg, is both the fastest-growing county in Virginia and has the highest median household income ($114,204) in the country . Arlington County, the smallest self-governing county in the United States by land area, is an urban community organized as a county. The Roanoke area, with an estimated population of 300,399, is the largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in western Virginia.

Demographics

{|style="float:right;" |- | |} , Virginia had a population of 8,001,024 which is an increase of 118,434, or about 1.5%, from the prior year's estimate and an increase of 922,509, or 13%, since 2000. This includes an increase from net migration of 314,832 people into the Commonwealth. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 159,627 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 155,205 people. The center of population is located in Goochland County outside of Richmond.

English was passed as the Commonwealth's official language by statutes in 1981 and again in 1996, though the status is not mandated by the Constitution of Virginia. English is the only language spoken by , though it is spoken "very well" by an additional 570,638 (7.9%) for a total of 94.6% of the Commonwealth. Among speakers of other languages, Spanish is the most common with 424,381 (5.9%). Asian and Pacific Islander languages, including Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipino.

Ethnicity

, the five largest reported ancestry groups in Virginia are: African (19.6%), German (11.7%), unspecified American (11.4%), English (11.1%), and Irish (9.8%). People of English heritage settled throughout the Commonwealth during the colonial period, and others of British and Irish heritage have since immigrated. Those who self-identify as having "American" ancestry are predominantly of English descent, but have ancestry that has been in North America for so long that they choose to identify simply as American. Of the English immigrants to Virginia in the 1600s, 75% came as indentured servants. The western mountains have many settlements that were founded by Scotch-Irish immigrants before the American Revolution. There are also sizable numbers of people of German descent in the northwestern mountains and Shenandoah Valley.

Most African American Virginians have been descendants of enslaved Africans who worked on tobacco, cotton, and hemp plantations. These men, women and children were brought from west-central Africa, primarily from Angola and the Bight of Biafra. The Igbo ethnic group of what is now southern Nigeria were the single largest African group among slaves in Virginia. Though the black population was reduced by the Great Migration, since 1965 there has been a reverse migration of blacks returning south.

More recent immigration in the late 20th century and early 21st century has fueled new communities of Hispanics, particularly Central Americans, and Asians. , 7.9% of Virginians are Hispanic, 5.5% are Asian, and 0.9% are American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. The state's Hispanic population rose by 92% from 2000 to 2010, with two-thirds of Hispanics living in Northern Virginia. Hispanics in Virginia have higher median household incomes and educational attainment than the general United States or Virginia population.

Northern Virginia has some of the largest populations nationwide of Vietnamese Americans, whose major wave of immigration followed the Vietnam War, and Korean Americans, whose migration has been more recent and was induced in part by the quality school system. The Filipino American community has about 45,000 in the Hampton Roads area, many of whom have ties to the U.S. Navy and armed forces. Virginia has extended state recognition to eight Native American tribes resident in the state, though all lack federal recognition status. Most Native American groups are located in the Tidewater region.

{|class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto 1em auto" |

! colspan="2" style="background:#ccf;"		Largest Ancestries by County	! colspan="3" style="background:#ccf;"
Non-Hispanic White		rowspan="5" style="text-align:center; width:280px;"|270px|alt=Virginia counties colored either red, blue, yellow, green, or purple based on the populations most common ancestry. The south-east is predominately purple for African American, while the west is mostly red for American. The north has yellow for German, with two small areas green for Irish. Yellow is also found in spots in the west. A strip in the middle is blue for English.U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 special tabulation. American Factfinder provides census data and maps.
Black or African American
Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
Asian
American Indian and Alaska Native

|}

Religion

{|class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin-left:15px; margin-top:0;" |- ! style="background:#ccf;" colspan="3"|Religion (2008) |- |colspan="2" style="border-bottom:0;"|Christian |align=right|76% |- |rowspan="5" style="border-top:0; border-bottom:0;"| |Baptist |align=right|27% |- |Roman Catholic  |align=right|11% |- |Methodist |align=right|8% |- |Lutheran |align=right|2% |- |Other Christian |align=right|28% |- |colspan="3" style="border-top:0;"| |- |colspan=2|Buddhism |align=right|1% |- |colspan=2|Hinduism |align=right|1% |- |colspan=2|Judaism |align=right|1% |- |colspan=2|Islam |align=right|0.5% |- |colspan=2|Unaffiliated |align=right|18% |}

Virginia is predominantly Christian and Protestant; Baptists are the largest single group with 27% of the population . Baptist denominational groups in Virginia include the Baptist General Association of Virginia, with about 1,400 member churches, which supports both the Southern Baptist Convention and the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship; and the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia with more than 500 affiliated churches, which supports the Southern Baptist Convention. Roman Catholics are the second-largest religious group, and the group which grew the most in the 1990s. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington includes most of Northern Virginia's Catholic churches, while the Diocese of Richmond covers the rest.

The Virginia Conference is the regional body of the United Methodist Church and the Virginia Synod is responsible for the congregations of the Lutheran Church. Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Congregationalists, and Episcopalians each composed 1–3% of the population . The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, Southern Virginia, and Southwestern Virginia support the various Episcopal churches.

In November 2006, 15 conservative Episcopal churches voted to split from the Diocese of Virginia over the ordination of openly gay bishops and clergy in other dioceses of the Episcopal Church; these churches continue to claim affiliation with the larger Anglican Communion through other bodies outside the United States. Though Virginia law allows parishioners to determine their church's affiliation, the diocese claims the secessionist churches' properties. The resulting property law case is a test for Episcopal churches nationwide.

Among other religions, adherents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints constitute 1% of the population, with 190 congregations in Virginia . Fairfax Station is the site of the Ekoji Buddhist Temple, of the Jodo Shinshu school, and the Hindu Durga Temple. While the state's Jewish population is small, organized Jewish sites date to 1789 with Congregation Beth Ahabah. Muslims are a growing religious group throughout the Commonwealth through immigration. Megachurches in the Commonwealth include Thomas Road Baptist Church, Immanuel Bible Church, and McLean Bible Church. Several Christian universities are also based in the state, including Regent University, Liberty University, and Lynchburg College.

Economy

Virginia's economy is balanced, with diverse sources of income, including government and military, farming, and business. Virginia has 4.1 million civilian workers, and one-third of the jobs are in the service sector. The unemployment rate was 6.3% . The Gross Domestic Product of Virginia was $363 billion in 2009. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Virginia had the most counties in the top 100 wealthiest in the United States based upon median income in 2007.

Virginia has the highest concentration of technology workers of any state. Computer chips became the state's highest-grossing export in 2006, surpassing its traditional top exports of coal and tobacco combined. Northern Virginia, once considered the state's dairy capital, now hosts software, communication technology, and consulting companies, particularly in the Dulles Technology Corridor. Northern Virginia's data centers currently carry more than 50% of the nation's internet traffic, and by 2012 Dominion Power expects that 10% of all its electricity in Northern Virginia will be used by data centers. Loudoun and Fairfax counties in Northern Virginia have the highest and second highest median household income, respectively, of all counties in the United States .

Virginia companies received the fourth-highest amount of venture capital funding in the first half of 2011 after California, Massachusetts, and New York. In 2009, ''Forbes Magazine'' named Virginia the best state in the nation for business for the fourth year in a row, while CNBC named it the top state for business in 2007, 2009, and 2011. Virginia has 20 Fortune 500 companies, ranking the state eighth nationwide.

Virginia has the highest defense spending of any state per capita, providing the Commonwealth with around 900,000 jobs, and 10% of all U.S. federal procurement money is spent in Virginia. Virginia has over 800,000 veterans, more than any other state, and is second to California in total Department of Defense employees. Many Virginians work for federal agencies in Northern Virginia, which include the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense, as well as the National Science Foundation, the United States Geological Survey and the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Many others work for government contractors, including defense and security firms, which hold more than 15,000 federal contracts. The Hampton Roads area has the largest concentration of military bases and facilities of any metropolitan area in the world. The largest of the bases is Naval Station Norfolk.

Agriculture occupies 24% of the land in Virginia. , about 357,000 Virginian jobs were in agriculture, with over 47,000 farms, averaging , in a total farmland area of 8.1 million acres (12,656 sq mi; 32,780 km²). Though agriculture has declined significantly since 1960 when there were twice as many farms, it remains the largest single industry in Virginia. Tomatoes surpassed soy as the most profitable crop in Virginia in 2006, with peanuts and hay as other agricultural products. Although it is no longer the primary crop, Virginia is still the fifth-largest producer of tobacco nationwide. Eastern oyster harvests are an important part of the Chesapeake Bay economy, but declining oyster populations from disease, pollution, and overfishing have diminished catches. Wineries and vineyards in the Northern Neck and along the Blue Ridge Mountains also have begun to generate income and attract tourists.

Virginia collects personal income tax in five income brackets, ranging from 3.0% to 5.75%. The state sales and use tax rate is 4%, while the tax rate on food is 1.5%. There is an additional 1% local tax, for a total of a 5% combined sales tax on most Virginia purchases and 2.5% on most food. Virginia's property tax is set and collected at the local government level and varies throughout the Commonwealth. Real estate is also taxed at the local level based on 100% of fair market value. Tangible personal property also is taxed at the local level and is based on a percentage or percentages of original cost.

Culture

Virginia's historic culture was popularized and spread across America and the South by figures such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Robert E. Lee. Their homes in Virginia represent the birthplace of America and the South. Modern Virginia culture has many sources, and is part of the culture of the Southern United States. The Smithsonian Institution divides Virginia into nine cultural regions. The Piedmont region is one of the most famous for its dialect's strong influence on Southern American English. While a more homogenized American English is found in urban areas, various accents are also used, including the Tidewater accent, the Old Virginia accent, and the anachronistic Elizabethan of Tangier Island.

Literature in Virginia often deals with the state's extensive and sometimes troubled past. The works of Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Glasgow often dealt with social inequalities and the role of women in her culture. Glasgow's peer and close friend James Branch Cabell wrote extensively about the changing position of gentry in the Reconstruction era, and challenged its moral code with ''Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice''. William Styron approached history in works such as ''The Confessions of Nat Turner'' and ''Sophie's Choice''. Tom Wolfe has occasionally dealt with his southern heritage in bestsellers like ''I Am Charlotte Simmons''. Virginia also names a state Poet Laureate, currently Kelly Cherry of Halifax County, who will serve until 2012.

Besides the general cuisine of the Southern United States, Virginia maintains its own particular traditions. Virginia wine is made in many parts of the state. Smithfield ham, sometimes called "Virginia ham", is a type of country ham which is protected by state law, and can only be produced in the town of Smithfield. Virginia furniture and architecture are typical of American colonial architecture. Thomas Jefferson and many of the state's early leaders favored the Neoclassical architecture style, leading to its use for important state buildings. The Pennsylvania Dutch and their style can also be found in parts of the state.

Fine and performing arts

Though rich in cultural heritage, Virginia ranks near the bottom of U.S. states in terms of public spending on the arts, at nearly half of the national average. The state government does fund some institutions, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Science Museum of Virginia. Other museums include the popular Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum and the Chrysler Museum of Art. Besides these sites, many open-air museums are located in the Commonwealth, such as Colonial Williamsburg, the Frontier Culture Museum, and various historic battlefields. The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities works to improve the Commonwealth's civic, cultural, and intellectual life.

Theaters and venues in the Commonwealth are found both in the cities and suburbs. Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts is located in Vienna and is the only national park intended for use as a performing arts center. The Harrison Opera House, in Norfolk, is home of the Virginia Opera. The Virginia Symphony Orchestra operates in and around Hampton Roads. Resident and touring theater troupes operate from the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton. The Barter Theatre in Abingdon won the first ever Regional Theatre Tony Award in 1948, while the Signature Theatre in Arlington won it in 2009. There's also a Children's Theater of Virginia, Theatre IV, which is the second largest touring troupe nationwide. Virginia has launched many award-winning traditional musical artists and internationally successful popular music acts, as well as Hollywood actors. Notable performance venues include The Birchmere, the Landmark Theater, and Jiffy Lube Live.

Festivals

Many counties and localities host county fairs and festivals. The Virginia State Fair is held at the Meadow Event Park every September. Also in September is the Neptune Festival in Virginia Beach, which celebrates the city, the waterfront, and regional artists. Norfolk's Harborfest, in June, features boat racing and air shows. Fairfax County also sponsors Celebrate Fairfax! with popular and traditional music performances. The Virginia Lake Festival is held during the third weekend in July in Clarksville. Wolf Trap hosts the Wolf Trap Opera Company, which produces an opera festival every summer.

On the Eastern Shore island of Chincoteague the annual Pony Swim & Auction of feral Chincoteague ponies at the end of July is a unique local tradition expanded into a week-long carnival. The Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival is a six-day festival held annually in Winchester that includes parades and bluegrass concerts. The Old Time Fiddlers' Convention in Galax, begun in 1935, is one of the oldest and largest such events worldwide. Two important film festivals, the Virginia Film Festival and the VCU French Film Festival, are held annually in Charlottesville and Richmond, respectively.

Media

The Hampton Roads area is the 43rd-largest media market in the United States as ranked by Nielsen Media Research, while the Richmond-Petersburg area is 57th and Roanoke-Lynchburg is 66th . Northern Virginia is part of the much larger Washington, D.C. media market.

There are 36 television stations in Virginia, representing each major U.S. network, part of 42 stations which serve Virginia viewers. More than 720 FCC-licensed FM radio stations broadcast in Virginia, with about 300 such AM stations. The nationally available Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is headquartered in Arlington. The Arlington PBS member station WETA-TV produces programs such as the ''PBS NewsHour'' and ''Washington Week''. A wide range of independent PBS affiliates exist throughout Virginia; there is no common state-wide PBS organization, unlike neighboring states (e.g. Maryland, North Carolina).

The most circulated native newspapers in the Commonwealth are Norfolk's ''The Virginian-Pilot'' (156,968 daily subscribers), the ''Richmond Times-Dispatch'' (118,489), ''The Roanoke Times'' (75,740), and Newport News' ''Daily Press'' (63,366), . Several Washington, D.C. papers are based in Northern Virginia, such as ''The Washington Examiner'' and ''Politico''. The paper with the nation's widest circulation, ''USA Today'', with 1.83 million daily subscriptions, is headquartered in McLean. Besides traditional forms of media, Virginia is the home base for telecommunication companies such as Voxant and XO Communications. In Northern Virginia, The Washington Post is the dominant newspaper, since Northern VA is located in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

Education

Virginia's educational system consistently ranks in the top ten states on the U.S. Department of Education's National Assessment of Educational Progress, with Virginia students outperforming the average in all subject areas and grade levels tested. The 2011 ''Quality Counts'' report ranked Virginia's K–12 education fourth best in the country. All school divisions must adhere to educational standards set forth by the Virginia Department of Education, which maintains an assessment and accreditation regime known as the Standards of Learning to ensure accountability. In 2010, 85% of high school students graduated on-time after four years. Between 2000 and 2008, school enrollment increased 5%, the number of teachers 21%.

Public K–12 schools in Virginia are generally operated by the counties and cities, and not by the state. , a total of 1,267,063 students were enrolled in 1,873 local and regional schools in the Commonwealth, including three charter schools, and an additional 109 alternative and special education centers across 132 school divisions. Besides the general public schools in Virginia, there are Governor's Schools and selective magnet schools. The Governor's Schools are a collection of more than 40 regional high schools and summer programs intended for gifted students. The Virginia Council for Private Education oversees the regulation of 320 state accredited and 130 non-accredited private schools. An additional 24,682 students receive homeschooling.

, there are 176 colleges and universities in Virginia. In the ''U.S. News and World Report'' ranking of public colleges, the University of Virginia is second and The College of William & Mary is sixth. Virginia Commonwealth University is ranked the top public graduate school in fine arts, while James Madison University has been recognized as the top regional public master's program in The South since 1993. The Virginia Military Institute is the oldest state military college and a top ranked public liberal arts college. George Mason University is the largest university in Virginia with over 32,000 students. Virginia Tech and Virginia State University are the state's land-grant universities. Virginia also operates 23 community colleges on 40 campuses serving over 260,000 students. There are 129 private institutions, including Washington and Lee University, Hampden–Sydney College, Emory & Henry College, Roanoke College, Stratford University and the University of Richmond.

Health

Virginia has a mixed health record, and is ranked as the 22nd overall healthiest state according to the 2010 United Health Foundation's Health Rankings. Virginia also ranks 21st among the states in the rate of premature deaths, 7,104 per 100,000. In 2008, Virginia reached its lowest ever rate of infant mortality, at 6.7 deaths per 1,000. There are however racial and social health disparities, with African Americans experiencing 27.9% more premature deaths than whites, while 12.7% of Virginians lack any health insurance. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2009 survey, 25.5% of Virginians are obese and another 35.1% are overweight. 78.1% of residents claim to have exercised once in the past three months. About 30% of Virginia's 10- to 17-year-olds are overweight or obese. Virginia banned smoking in bars and restaurants in January 2010. 19% of Virginians smoke tobacco.

There are 89 hospitals in Virginia listed with the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Notable examples include Inova Fairfax Hospital, the largest hospital in the Washington Metropolitan Area, and the VCU Medical Center, located on the medical campus of Virginia Commonwealth University. The University of Virginia Medical Center, part of the University of Virginia Health System, is highly ranked in endocrinology according to ''U.S.News & World Report''. Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, part of the Hampton Roads based Sentara Health System and a teaching institution of Eastern Virginia Medical School, was the site of the first successful in-vitro fertilization birth. Virginia has a ratio of 124 primary care physicians per 10,000 residents, which is the 13th highest nationally. Virginia was one of five states to receive a perfect score in disaster preparedness according to a 2008 report by the Trust for America's Health, based on criteria such as detecting pathogens and distributing vaccines and medical supplies.

Transportation

Because of the 1932 Byrd Road Act, the state government controls most of Virginia's roads, instead of a local county authority as is usual in other states. , the Virginia Department of Transportation owns and operates of the total of roads in the state, making it the third largest state highway system in the United States. Although the Washington Metropolitan Area, which includes Northern Virginia, has the second worst traffic in the nation, Virginia as a whole has the 21st-lowest congestion and the average commute time is 26.9 minutes.

Virginia has Amtrak passenger rail service along several corridors, and Virginia Railway Express (VRE) maintains two commuter lines into Washington, D.C. from Fredericksburg and Manassas. VRE is one of the nation's fastest growing commuter rail services, handling nearly 20,000 passengers a day. The Washington Metro rapid transit system serves Northern Virginia as far west as communities along I-66 in Fairfax County, with expansion plans to reach Tysons Corner by 2013, and Loudoun County by 2017. Major freight railroads in Virginia include Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation. Commuter buses include the Fairfax Connector and the Shenandoah Valley Commuter Bus. The Virginia Department of Transportation operates several free ferries throughout Virginia, the most notable being the Jamestown-Scotland ferry which crosses the James River in Surry County.

Virginia has five major airports: Washington Dulles International handling over 23 million passengers a year, Reagan Washington National, Norfolk International serving the Hampton Roads area, Richmond International, and Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport. Several other airports, for example ''Charlottesville/Albemarle Airport (CHO)'', offer limited commercial passenger service. Sixty-six public airports serve the state's aviation needs. The Virginia Port Authority's main seaports are those in Hampton Roads, which carried of bulk cargo in 2007, the sixth most of United States ports. The Eastern Shore of Virginia is the site of Wallops Flight Facility, a rocket testing center owned by NASA, and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, a commercial spaceport. Space tourism is also offered through Vienna-based Space Adventures.

Law and government

In colonial Virginia, free men elected the lower house of the legislature, called the House of Burgesses, which together with the Governor's Council, made the "General Assembly". Founded in 1619, the Virginia General Assembly is still in existence as the oldest legislature in the Western Hemisphere. The modern government is ranked by the Pew Center on the States with an A− in terms of its efficiency, effectiveness, and infrastructure. This is the second time Virginia received the highest grade in the nation, which it shares with two others.

Since 1971, the government has functioned under the seventh Constitution of Virginia, which provides for a strong legislature and a unified judicial system. Similar to the federal structure, the government is divided in three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislature is the General Assembly, a bicameral body whose 100-member House of Delegates and 40-member Senate write the laws for the Commonwealth. The Assembly is stronger than the executive, as it selects judges and justices. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor are elected every four years in separate elections. Incumbent governors cannot run for re-election, however the Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General can, and governors may serve non-consecutive terms. The judicial system, the oldest in America, consists of a hierarchy from the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Court of Appeals of Virginia to the lower general district and circuit courts.

The Code of Virginia is the statutory law, and consists of the codified legislation of the General Assembly. The Virginia State Police is the largest law enforcement agency in Virginia. The Virginia Capitol Police is the oldest police department in the United States. The Virginia National Guard consists of 7,500 soldiers in the Virginia Army National Guard and 1,200 airmen in the Virginia Air National Guard. Since the resumption of capital punishment in Virginia in 1982, 107 people have been executed, the second highest number in the nation. The "total crime risk" is 28% lower than the national average. Since Virginia ended prisoner parole in 1995, the rate of recidivism has fallen to 28.3%, among the lowest nationwide.

Politics

Over the 20th century, Virginia shifted from a largely rural, politically Southern and conservative state to a more urbanized, pluralistic, and politically moderate environment. Up until the 1970s, Virginia was a racially divided single-party state dominated by the Byrd Organization. African Americans were effectively disfranchised until after passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s. Enfranchisement and immigration of other groups, especially Hispanics, have placed growing importance on minority voting. Regional differences play a large part in Virginia politics. Rural southern and western areas moved to support the Republican Party in response to its "southern strategy", while urban and growing suburban areas, including much of Northern Virginia, form the Democratic Party base. Democratic support also persists in union-influenced parts of Southwest Virginia, college towns such as Charlottesville and Blacksburg, and the southeastern Black Belt Region.

Political party strength in Virginia has likewise been in flux. In the 2007 state elections, Democrats regained control of the State Senate, and narrowed the Republican majority in the House of Delegates to eight seats. Yet elections in 2009 resulted in the election of Republican Robert McDonnell as governor by a 17 point margin, the election of a Republican Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General, as well as Republican gains of six seats in the House of Delegates. State election seasons traditionally start with the annual Shad Planking event in Wakefield.

In federal elections since 2006, both parties have seen success. In the 2006 Senate election, Democrat Jim Webb won on a populist platform over the Republican incumbent following a very close race. The party took both U.S. Senate seats with the election of former Governor Mark Warner to replace retiring Republican John Warner. Virginia, which has 13 electoral votes, was won by Democrat Barack Obama in 2008, after being won by Republican candidates in the previous ten presidential elections. In the 2010 elections, Republicans picked up three House seats from Democrats. Of the state's 11 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, Republicans hold eight and Democrats hold three. Virginia may be considered a "swing state" in future presidential elections.

Sports

Virginia is the most populous U.S. state without a major professional sports league franchise. The reasons for this include the lack of any dominant city or market within the state and the proximity of teams in Washington, D.C. Virginia has several minor league clubs, especially in baseball and soccer, and the Virginia Destroyers of the United Football League are set to start play in 2011. Additionally, the Washington Redskins have Redskins Park, their headquarters and training facility, in Ashburn and the Washington Capitals train at Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Ballston. Virginia has many professional caliber golf courses including the Greg Norman course at Lansdowne Resort and Kingsmill Resort, home of the Michelob ULTRA Open. NASCAR currently schedules Sprint Cup races on two tracks in Virginia: Martinsville Speedway and Richmond International Raceway. Current Virginia drivers in the series include Jeff Burton, Denny Hamlin, and Elliott Sadler.

The Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles also have followings due to their proximity, and both are broadcast in the state on MASN. When the New York Mets ended their long affiliation with the Norfolk Tides in 2007, the Orioles adopted the minor league club as their top level (AAA) minor league affiliate. The San Francisco Giants' AA team, the Richmond Flying Squirrels, began play at The Diamond in 2010, replacing the AAA Richmond Braves, who relocated after 2008. Additionally, the Nationals, Orioles, Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, Chicago White Sox, and Atlanta Braves also have Single-A and Rookie-level farm teams in Virginia.

Virginia does not allow state appropriated funds to be used for either operational or capital expenses for intercollegiate athletics. Despite this, both the Virginia Cavaliers and Virginia Tech Hokies have been able to field competitive teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference and maintain modern facilities. Their rivalry is followed statewide. Several other universities compete in NCAA Division I, particularly in the Colonial Athletic Association. Three historically black schools compete in the Division II Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, and two others compete in the Division I Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Several smaller schools compete in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference and the USA South Athletic Conference of NCAA Division III. The NCAA currently holds its Division III championships in football, men's basketball, volleyball and softball in Salem.

State symbols

The state nickname is its oldest symbol, though it has never been made official by law. Virginia was given the title "Dominion" by King Charles II of England at the time of The Restoration, because it had remained loyal to the crown during the English Civil War, and the present moniker, "Old Dominion" is a reference to that title. The other nickname, "Mother of Presidents", is also historic, as eight Virginians have served as President of the United States, including four of the first five.

The state's motto, ''Sic Semper Tyrannis'', translates from Latin as "Thus Always to Tyrants", and is used on the state seal, which is then used on the flag. While the seal was designed in 1776, and the flag was first used in the 1830s, both were made official in 1930. The majority of the other symbols were made official in the late 20th century. The Virginia reel is among the square dances classified as the state dance. Virginia currently has no state song. In 1940, Virginia made "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" the state song, but it was retired in 1997 and reclassified as the state song emeritus. Various alternatives, including a version of "Oh Shenandoah", have met with resistance in the Virginia House of Delegates. {|border="0" style="margin:auto;" |- |valign="top"|

Mammal: Virginia Big-Eared Bat

Beverage: Milk

Boat: Chesapeake Bay deadrise

Bird: Cardinal

Dance: Square dancing

|valign="top"|

Dog: American Foxhound

Fish: Brook trout, Striped bass

Flower/Tree: Dogwood

Fossil: Chesapecten jeffersonius

Insect: Tiger swallowtail

|valign="top"|

Motto: Sic Semper Tyrannis

Nickname: The Old Dominion

Shell: Eastern oyster

Slogan: Virginia is for Lovers

Tartan: Virginia Quadricentennial

|}

See also

List of National Register of Historic Places in Virginia

U.S. state

References

Bibliography

External links

General

Encyclopedia Virginia

Government

State Government website

Virginia General Assembly

Virginia's Judicial system

Constitution of Virginia

Virginia State and County Government Websites

Tourism and recreation

Virginia Tourism Website

Virginia State Parks

Virginia Main Street Communities Travel

WikiTravel guide

Culture and history

Virginia Historical Society

Virginia's First People

WPA Guide to the Old Dominion

Library of Virginia

Maps and Demographics

USGS geographic resources of Virginia

Virginia State Climatology Office

Virginia State Fact Sheet

==Related information==

Category:Former British colonies Category:States and territories established in 1607 Category:States and territories established in 1788 Category:States of the Confederate States of America Category:States of the Southern United States Category:States of the United States

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Post	Governor
Body	Virginia
Insignia	Seal of Virginia.svg
Insigniasize	100px
Insigniacaption	Seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia
Style	His Excellency
Incumbent	Bob McDonnell
Incumbentsince	January 16, 2010
Residence	Executive Mansion (Virginia)
Termlength	Four years, immediate re-election prohibited. Term limited to one, re-eligible after 4 years.
Formation	July 5, 1776
Inaugural	Patrick Henry
Website	www.governor.virginia.gov/ }}

The governor of Virginia serves as the chief executive of the Commonwealth of Virginia for a four-year term. The position is currently held by Republican Bob McDonnell, who was inaugurated on January 16, 2010, as the 71st governor of Virginia.

Qualifications

Candidates for governor must be United States citizens who have resided in Virginia for five years prior to the election in which they are running. The candidates must be at least 30 years of age. Also, Virginia does not allow an incumbent Governor to succeed himself, so the incumbent Governor is barred from running in the election. However, a former governor may run again in subsequent gubernatorial elections (the most recent governor to serve multiple terms was Mills Godwin, 1966-70 and 1974-78). , Virginia is the only state in the U.S. in which governors cannot serve consecutive terms.

Duties

The Governor is required to live in the seat of government of Virginia. At every regular session, he must report the state of the Commonwealth to the General Assembly, Virginia's legislature. He must also convene the legislature when two-thirds of each house calls for a special session. The Governor must ensure that the laws of the Commonwealth are faithfully executed and is responsible for the safety of the state, as he serves as commander-in-chief of the Virginia Militia. The salary for Governor is $175,000.

Powers

The Governor has the legislative power to submit recommendations and to call special sessions when he finds them necessary.

The Governor has veto powers. All bills must be sent to the Governor before becoming law. The Governor may sign the bill, let it sit unsigned for seven days after which it becomes law, or veto the legislation. After a veto, the bill returns to its house of origin and may be overridden by two-thirds of the vote in each house.

The Governor also has the power to use a line-item veto. He may send legislation back to the legislature with recommendations and amendments. The legislature must either approve the changes by a majority in each house, or override the veto with a two-thirds majority in each house.

The Governor is commander-in-chief of Virginia's militia forces.

The Governor may also communicate with other States and foreign powers.

The Governor has the power to fill vacancies in positions unless the position is appointed by the legislature.

The Governor may commute fines or sentences and issue pardons. The Governor may also restore voting rights and overturn other political penalties on individuals.

History

The position of Governor of Virginia dates back to the first permanent English settlement in America, Jamestown. The Virginia Company of London set up a government run by a council. The President of the Council basically served as governor. The council was based in London and controlled the colony from afar. Nominally, Thomas Smith was the first President of the Council, but he never left England. Edward Maria Wingfield was the first President of the Council in residence, making him the first to exercise the actual authority of governing Virginia. The Virginia Company abandoned governance by council May 23, 1609, and replacing it with a Governor, John Smith.

In 1624, the English Monarchy took control from the Virginia Company and made Virginia a crown colony. Governors continued to be appointed by the monarch for many years. Most often, the appointed Governor would reside in England while a Deputy or Lieutenant Governor actually exercised authority. Royal rule was interrupted during the English Civil War after which Governors were appointed by the Commonwealth of England until the English Restoration. Virginia became an independent state during the American Revolution with Patrick Henry as its first Governor.

From the Revolution until 1851, the Governor was elected by the state legislature. After 1851, the state turned to popular elections.

During the American Civil War, Francis Harrison Pierpont was the Governor of the Union-controlled parts of the state. Pierpont also served as one of the provisional Governors during Reconstruction. These governors were appointed by the Federal government. In 1874, Virginia regained its right to self-governance and elected James L. Kemper as Governor. After Reconstruction, Virginia would not elect a Republican as Governor until A. Linwood Holton Jr. in 1969. However, in 1881 William E. Cameron was elected governor under the banner of the Readjuster Party, a coalition of Republicans and populist Democrats.

Douglas Wilder became the first elected and only the second African-American Governor of any U.S. state. He served as Governor from 1990-1994.

Ever since 1851, Virginia's gubernatorial elections have been held in "off-years"—years in which there are no national (presidential, senatorial, or House) elections; Virginia's gubernatorial elections are held one year after U.S. presidential elections (2001, 2005, 2009, etc.). (Most states hold gubernatorial elections either on presidential-election years or midterm-election years, when there are congressional elections.) This fact, coupled with the no-consecutive-terms rule, has been charged with limiting interest and voter turnout in gubernatorial elections in Virginia. There are never incumbents in the race, and voters are always being introduced to new politicians, so they often choose between two little-known politicians every four years. The no-consecutive-terms rule also, some argue, makes it very difficult for the state's chief executive to make sweeping changes in four short years. Of note, in every Virginia gubernatorial election starting with 1977, the governor elected has been from the opposite party as the President elected by the nation in the previous year, even when Virginia had voted for the President in office, as with Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama

Tim Kaine was inaugurated on January 14, 2006. Due to renovations on the Capitol in Richmond, his inauguration was held in Williamsburg, making him the first Governor to be inaugurated in Williamsburg since Thomas Jefferson in 1779.

Style

Unlike some other states where governors are referred to as "The Honorable", the Governor of Virginia is referred to as "His Excellency".

See also

List of Governors of Virginia

List of colonial governors of Virginia

References

External links

Official site for the Governor of Virginia

Category:Government of Virginia

de:Gouverneur von Virginia it:Governatore della Virginia ja:バージニア州知事

Name	Bob McDonnell
Order	71st
Office	Governor of Virginia
Lieutenant	Bill Bolling
Term start	January 16, 2010
Predecessor	Tim Kaine
Office2	Attorney General of Virginia
Governor2	Tim Kaine
Term start2	January 14, 2006
Term end2	February 20, 2009
Predecessor2	Judith Jagdmann
Successor2	Bill Mims
State delegate3	Virginia
District3	84th
Term start3	January 3, 1992
Term end3	January 14, 2006
Predecessor3	Glenn McClanan
Successor3	Sal Iaquinto
Birthname	Robert Francis McDonnell
Birth date	June 15, 1954
Birth place	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Party	Republican Party
Spouse	Maureen Gardner; 5 children
Residence	Executive Mansion
Alma mater	University of Notre DameBoston UniversityRegent University
Profession	Attorney at lawMilitary officer
Religion	Roman Catholic
Website	Official website
Branch	United States Army
Serviceyears	1976–1997
Rank
Unit	Army Reserve (1981–1997) }}

Robert Francis "Bob" McDonnell (born June 15, 1954) is the 71st and current Governor of Virginia and a former lieutenant colonel in the United States Army. McDonnell served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1993 until he was elected Attorney General in 2005. McDonnell, was elected as the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia on the back of the campaign slogan, ''"Bob's for Jobs"'' , defeating Democratic state Senator Creigh Deeds by a 17-point margin in a 2009 general election marked by the late-2000s recession. McDonnell was inaugurated on January 16, 2010, on the steps of the Virginia State Capitol to succeed Tim Kaine. He currently serves as chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

Since taking office, McDonnell has declared a Confederate History Month, successfully handed over two consecutive budget surpluses , and pushed for privatisation, extending a contract to outsource the state's computer operations and attempting to auction off the state's ABC liquor stores, and promoted offshore drilling for Virginia. He has sought to fund transportation improvements from non-traditional revenues sources including the proposal to auction-off liquor stores and establishing a toll booth at the Virginia-North Carolina border. He has used his amendatory veto power to restrict state funding for abortions.

Early life, education, and career

McDonnell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Emma (née Meiller) and Lt. Col. John Francis McDonnell. He is of Irish Catholic extraction on his father's side. His family moved to Fairfax County, Virginia in 1955 when he was one year old. He spent four years of his early childhood in Germany when his father, a United States Air Force officer, was sent out on assignment. After returning to Virginia four years later, the McDonnells permanently established residence in Fairfax County. His mother worked at Mount Vernon. McDonnell graduated from Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria, Virginia in 1972. While attending Bishop Ireton High School, McDonnell played football and broke the T. C. Williams High School shut out streak of 20 quarters by scoring a touchdown with minutes left in the game.

McDonnell attended the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana on an ROTC scholarship, graduating with a B.B.A. in management in 1976. Immediately following graduation, he served as a medical supply officer in the United States Army for four years. His military posts were medical clinics in Germany from 1976 to 1979, and in Newport News, Virginia from 1979 to 1981. In addition, he took night classes and received an MBA from Boston University in 1980. After leaving active duty in 1981, McDonnell worked for the American Hospital Supply Corporation, primarily in the custom products regional division.

His career path shifted from business to law and public policy when he selected a joint degree program at Regent University. He obtained a M.A./J.D. there in 1989. During his studies, McDonnell interned under Congressman Jerry Lewis (R-California).

Personal life and family

McDonnell is married to Maureen Patricia McDonnell (née Gardner), with whom he has five children. The oldest, Jeanine, served as a U.S. Army platoon officer in Iraq. Their younger daughter Cailin coordinated youth outreach for the Republican Party of Virginia's election efforts in 2009.

Bob McDonnell has twin sons, both who are athletes of the class of 2014 at the University of Virginia.

House of Delegates

McDonnell first ran and was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1992, serving seven terms (14 years). He represented the 84th district in Virginia Beach. Under the 1998–2001 power-sharing arrangement between House Republicans and Democrats, he was Co-Chair of the Committee on the Chesapeake and its Tributaries in 2000–2001. He became Chair of the Courts of Justice Committee in 2003. He also served on the Rules Committee 2000–2005, and was Assistant Majority Leader. McDonnell continued to serve as an officer in the U.S. Army reserve, ultimately retiring as a Lt. Colonel in 1997.

Attorney general

Campaign

In 2005, McDonnell ran for Attorney General. He campaigned on issues including protecting children from sexual predators, drug enforcement, identity theft, gang violence, and terrorism. The first result showed him with a victory of 323 votes, out of over 1.9 million votes cast, over his opponent, Democratic state Senator Creigh Deeds. Deeds filed for a recount, which began on December 20, 2005. A court decision limited the recount to just recompiling vote totals instead of examining individual optically-scanned ballots. After preliminary figures revealed 37 more votes for McDonnell and that Deeds could not make up the difference, he conceded the next day, giving McDonnell a 323 vote margin of victory. McDonnell outspent Deeds in the general election by nearly one million dollars; the VA Republican State Leadership Committee donated $2,084,089 to McDonnell's campaign. He was inaugurated on January 14, 2006, in Williamsburg along with Democratic Governor Tim Kaine and Republican Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling.

Other acts

In 2007, McDonnell "played a key role in early negotiations" on the transportation package that was the key issue of contention in the General Assembly. However, subsequently the package was declared unconstitutional based on a challenge filed by a Republican state senator.

Prior to a performance of the Sex Workers' Art Show at the College of William and Mary in 2008, McDonnell forbade the sale of the group's books on school grounds. McDonnell took the side of defecting Northern Virginia Episcopalians in a property lawsuit over the right of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia to retain church properties.

In February 2009, McDonnell resigned as Attorney General to campaign full time for the Governorship of Virginia in the 2009 election.

Candidate for governor

McDonnell announced his candidacy for the 2009 Virginia Gubernatorial election at American Legion's Boy's State of Virginia 2007, making him the seventh consecutive elected Attorney General to run. The statewide candidates, including McDonnell as Governor, were selected at a Republican State convention rather than a primary. Fewer than two weeks later, State Senator R. Creigh Deeds won his party’s nomination in a primary, setting up a "rematch" from the state attorney general's race four years earlier.

In early June, Creigh Deeds possessed a slight edge with a 47%-41% advantage in the early polls. As the campaign continued to progressed, the polls shifted toward McDonnell's favor, giving him even a commanding lead in some. When the Washington Post released McDonnell's thesis from Regent University, McDonnell's lead dwindled to only two percentage points per Rasmussen polling. As the election proceeded, McDonnell's campaign regained steam. McDonnell defeated opponent Creigh Deeds in the general election by a vote of 59%-41%, receiving the highest percentage of the vote for any candidate for governor since 1961. At the same time, the other two statewide offices on the ballot were also won by Republicans.

Issues

In a political and economic climate marked by the late-2000s recession, McDonnell promised that his priority as Governor would be employment for Virginians, with such campaign slogans as, ''"Bob's for Jobs"''. He supported right-to-work laws, low operating cost of government and a simplified tax code. Having lived in various parts of the state, his road-side billboard varied with geographic location, describing him as "Tidewater's Own", "Northern Virginia's Own" and "Fairfax's Own".

The McDonnell campaign strategy cast itself as focusing on economic issues, transportation, and public safety. Bob McDonnell's proposals included new job initiatives, boosting Virginia’s tourism, hospitality, and film industries, making Wallops Island the top commercial spaceport in America, and expanding growth in rural Virginia. McDonnell proposed measures that would move $480 million per year from school administration and put it directly into the classroom; establish more specialised high schools to support high-demand industries; increase online learning through virtual schools; and support educational mentoring programs. McDonnell has frequently expressed his support for President Barack Obama’s ideas on increasing parental choice through charter schools.

Abortion

Identifying as pro-life, McDonnell campaigned as an opponent of elective abortion. As a state legislator, he was the lead sponsor for legislation that would have banned partial birth abortions, as well as legislation requiring parental consent before a minor has an abortion and informed consent for women seeking an abortion. He opposed state and federal government funding for elective abortions.

Energy

McDonnell advocated making Virginia the energy capital of the East Coast. He supported drilling for oil off of the coast of Virginia while simultaneously developing new technologies for wind, solar, biomass, and other renewable energy resources. He intends to expand investments in renewable energy sources and incentivize green job creation.

Gun rights

McDonnell campaigned as a gun rights advocate. He holds an "A" rating from the NRA Political Victory Fund and won their endorsement in his 2009 campaign for Governor.

Same-sex marriage

McDonnell advocated for a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman, and therefore opposes same-sex marriage.

Transportation

McDonnell's campaign also turned to transportation, a major issue in heavily congested areas of Virginia, advocating issuing $3 billion in transportation bonds that had been approved by the Virginia General Assembly in 2007 but not funded with a revenue source, modernizing the Virginia Department of Transportation, and encouraging public-private partnerships to improve infrastructure. He has supported widening I-66 inside the Beltway, improving I-95, and finishing the Metrorail to Dulles Airport project.

Transparency

During McDonnell's campaign, he criticized then-Governor Tim Kaine for not disclosing his full schedule and for making out-of-state political appearances as Chair of the Democratic National Committee. McDonnell stated, "The citizens must be certain that the governor is attending to the duties for which he was elected. The governor is Virginia's chief executive and represents the commonwealth at all times." In March 2010, McDonnell received similar criticism for disclosing very few meetings or political appearances on his publicly released schedule.

Thesis

McDonnell's 1989 thesis for Regent University was a 93-page document titled ''The Republican Party's Vision for the Family: The Compelling Issue of The Decade''. The document explored the rise in the numbers of divorces and illegitimate births, and examined public policies that may have contributed to that increase and proposed solutions. The document gained attention in the campaign because it outlined a 15-point conservative agenda, including 10 points McDonnell pursued during his years in the General Assembly, according to press analysis.

This agenda includes opposition to abortion, support for school vouchers and covenant marriage, and tax policies that favor heterosexual families. In his thesis, McDonnell wrote "government policy should favor married couples over 'cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators.'" McDonnell "described working women and feminists as 'detrimental' to the family."

McDonnell "criticized a landmark 1965 Supreme Court decision" which legalized the use of contraceptives, writing that ''"man's basic nature is inclined towards evil, and when the exercise of liberty takes the shape of pornography, drug abuse, or homosexuality, the government must restrain, punish, and deter."'' McDonnell responded to the article, stating ''"Virginians will judge me on my 18-year record as a legislator and attorney general and the specific plans I have laid out for our future -- not on a decades-old academic paper I wrote as a student during the Reagan era and haven't thought about in years."''

''The Washington Post'' reported that McDonnell maintained: "Like everybody, my views on many issues have changed as I have gotten older." McDonnell says his evolved position on family policy is best represented by his 1995 welfare reform legislation where he ''"worked to include child day care in the bill so women would have greater freedom to work"''.

Campaign organization and financial support

McDonnell's campaign headquarters was located in Richmond. His campaign finance report for September 15, 2009 indicates that he had nearly 1,500 more new donors than the Deeds campaign had total donors, a total of 6,239 donors, 4,946 of them new.

The McDonnell For Governor campaign printed a variety of bumper stickers appealing to many interest groups, including "Women for McDonnell", "Sportsmen for McDonnell", and "Independents for McDonnell". Some appealed to the diverse minority groups throughout the Commonwealth. Some featured the mascots of select public universities such as the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, James Madison University, Virginia Military Institute, and Old Dominion University. "Irish for McDonnell" stickers were printed for the select Virginia residents who attended the University of Notre Dame as well. His road-side billboard varied with geographic location, describing him as "Tidewater's Own", "Northern Virginia's Own" and "Fairfax's Own."

Endorsements

McDonnell was endorsed by Sheila Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television and owner of the Washington Mystics; Virginia AgPAC: the Political Action Committee of the Virginia Farm Bureau, representing over 147,000 members; the Virginia Association of Realtors, the largest trade association in Virginia with over 33,000 Members; The Virginia Credit Union League, a trade association representing the Commonwealth’s 194 not-for-profit credit unions and the 3 million member-owners residing in Virginia; The Virginia Chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), a group whose membership consists of over 6,000 small businesses across Virginia; and the National Rifle Association, which reversed its pro-Deeds 2005 endorsement for Attorney General.

Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia

On January 16, 2010, McDonnell was inaugurated as the 71st governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, succeeding Kaine as governor. This was the first inaugural ceremony to occur on the newly renovated steps of the Virginia State Capitol. In keeping with tradition, McDonnell signed executive orders after taking the oath. Instead of keeping with a 30-year practice by signing an executive order banning discrimination in state employment (which he later signed on February 5), McDonnell signed orders establishing a Commission on job creation and a Virginia Commission on Government Reform and Restructuring.

Two of McDonnell's appointments drew criticism. On May 7, 2010, McDonnell appointed Fred Malek to chair a 31-member advisory commission on reforming state government. On May 10, 2010, several Democratic members of the Legislature criticized the appointment due to Malek's controversial actions as personnel director in the Nixon White House and due to a 2007 SEC investigation settlement. On May 25, 2010, McDonnell was asked about the Malek appointment and stated that he was not aware of Malek's role in the Nixon Administration, a remark which State Senator A. Donald McEachin (D-Richmond) told the Washington Post that McDonnell's claim was "absolutely stunning and, frankly, beyond belief." McDonnell also nominated Robert C. Sledd to Secretary of Commerce and Trade, but withdrew the nomination in the face of bipartisan opposition prompted by Sledd's refusal to give up paid outside corporate directorships.

On January 27, 2010, McDonnell delivered the Republican response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address. The response was delivered to GOP lawmakers and invited friends in the chamber of the Virginia House of Delegates. Critics have argued that the use of House chamber for McDonnell's speech did not comply with House Rule 82.

Since McDonnell's election as Governor in November 2009, he has shifted his fundraising activities to his "Opportunity Virginia PAC" which has raised $1,194,934 through June 2010. Many of these donations came from industries regulated by the state.

In April 2010, McDonnell renegotiated and extended a contract for outsourcing the state's computer operations to Northrop Grumman. At that time, McDonnell proposed legislation which was adopted to have the Virginia Information Technologies Agency report to the Governor instead of an independent board. Subsequently, McDonnell was criticized when the Northrup computer systems experienced a week-long computer outage from August 25 through September 2, 2010. As a result, as many as 45,000 citizens could not renew their drivers licenses prior to their expiration. Computer systems for 26 of the state's 89 agencies were affected. An estimated 4,240 driver's license and ID card applicants have been asked to return to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get their photos taken again after an Aug. 25 computer outage left their original photos unrecoverable. The system also experienced an unrelated outage on August 9. Subsequently, Northrop Grumman agreed to pay $250,000 to fund a state investigation of the computer outage.

The 2010 session of the General Assembly passed a bill exempting certain veterans' organizations from the registration and reporting requirements that apply to most charities which solicit donations in Virginia. The bill was introduced at the request of Bobby Thompson, director of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, who has made large contributions to certain Republican candidates. After the bill passed both the House and Senate, newspaper accounts of that charity's questionable practices caused a sponsor of the bill to request McDonnell to veto it, however the governor signed the bill into law notwithstanding those requests. As a result, the organization, which is under investigation in New Mexico (which barred the USNVA before the Virginia bill was signed), Florida and Missouri, as well as other non profit veterans' organizations will not have to report to Virginia on how they spend the donations that they receive. However, McDonnell later donated to charity the $5,000 campaign contribution that he had received from Thompson. In August 2010, Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray announced that a nation-wide arrest warrant had issued for Bobby Thompson, who had stolen the identity and Social Security Number of a victim who was not connected to the USNVA. Corday stated, "We know he bilked Ohioans out of at least $1.9 million, and we estimate that nationally he collected at least $20 million."

In January 14, 2011, McDonnell issued a directive ordering the Department of Conservation and Recreation to cease enforcing regulations that prohibit people from openly carrying firearms in state parks. He has also given preliminary approval to amend the regulations to allow people to carry open or concealed firearms in state forests. The regulations were already amended in 2003 to allow concealed weapons on park property.

On August 15, 2011, McDonnell was named chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

Social issues

On February 5, 2010, McDonnell signed an executive order that prohibits discrimination "on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, political affiliation, or against otherwise qualified persons with disabilities", reversing protections for gays and lesbians in Virginia, and rescinding the order that Gov. Kaine signed on January 14, 2006, which had covered all of these groups. McDonnell previously challenged Kaine's executive order (which was similar to the one issued by Kaine's predecessor Mark Warner) by issuing an opinion as Attorney General stating that issuing such a change in public policy was "within purview of General Assembly and, therefore, beyond scope of executive authority and is unconstitutional". After criticism from some gay rights groups, McDonnell issued an executive directive (which unlike an executive order, does not have the force of law) that prohibits employment discrimination because of sexual orientation without a rational basis.

On April 2, 2010, at the request of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Governor McDonnell issued a proclamation designating April 2010 as "Confederate History Month" following similar designations by two of his Republican predecessors, George Allen and James S. Gilmore. However, the last two governors, who were Democrats, did not designate such a month. Unlike Gilmore's proclamation, which included anti-slavery language, McDonnell's initial proclamation left out any direct mention of slavery, drawing criticism from the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus and the NAACP. When initially asked why he had made the omission, McDonnell stated that "there were any number of aspects to that conflict between the states. Obviously, it involved slavery. It involved other issues. But I focused on the ones I thought were most significant for Virginia."

On April 7, 2010, McDonnell conceded that omitting slavery from his proclamation was "a major omission", apologized and amended the document. McDonnell had previously refused to rule out the possibility that he would run for Vice President in 2012; while news analysts Chris Cillizza, Mark Plotkin, and Teddy Davis have speculated that the mistake may have a significant adverse impact on McDonnell's chances for a future Vice Presidential nomination, a May 22 ''Time Magazine'' article described McDonnell as "a politician who inexplicably kneecapped himself is clawing his way back." On September 24, 2010, McDonnell addressed an academic conference on slavery and announced that he will declare April 2011 as "Civil War in Virginia" month rather than "Conferederate History Month". He also called the April 2010 proclamation an "error of haste and not of heart."

In December 2009, Governor Tim Kaine started a process which would extend Virginia employee health benefits to same-sex partners. At McDonnell's request, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued a legal opinion that this change to the coverage of the state's health plan could not be made without explicit legislation authorizing it, thereby halting the administrative process to make the change. However, McDonnell did sign a law which wouid allow Virginia employers to offer private insurance coverage for employees' same-sex partners, after the bill passed with bipartisan support.

In a decision that drew international controversy, McDonnell declined to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment in the case of Teresa Lewis, who was executed on September 23, 2010. She became the first woman executed in Virginia since 1912 and was borderline mentally retarded.

Voting rights restoration for felons

In April 2010, McDonnell drew criticism from black leaders and civil rights groups when a draft policy proposal was mistakenly sent to 200 felons, informing them of his decision to require a written essay from each applicant seeking to have voting and other civil rights restored. Previously, applicants for restored voting rights were required to fill out a one page application. Only Virginia and Kentucky require the Governor to act on individual requests for restoring voting rights.

On May 21, McDonnell announced new policy on the issue of restoration of rights, imposing a 60-day deadline for his administration to act on an application once all of the required documentation is received from the applicant and the courts; reducing to two years from three years the time nonviolent felons must wait to apply for restoration of rights, and cutting to one year from two years the waiting period for reapplication if a request is denied. Of the new policy, Democratic Delegate David Englin commented, "By establishing a timely and more clearly defined process for non-violent ex-offenders seeking to have their rights restored, the Governor’s new policy has the potential make an important step in the right direction." On July 19, McDonnell restored voting rights for 506 felons out of a total of 574 eligible applications. As of September 26, 2010, McDonnell restored the rights of 780 of 889 applicants.

Transportation

On April 30, 2010, McDonnell authorized issuing $493 million in transportation bonds in May 2010 and an additional $1.493 billion over the five years to finance previously approved transportation projects. The bonds were a part of a transportation package enacted three years ago, but the bonds were not issued while Republican State Delegate Robert Marshall filed a lawsuit challenging the Constitutionality of that package and while certain transportation notes issued during the Gilmore Administration had not been paid off. Critics note that Virginia lacks a revenue source to amortize these new bonds. On December 9, 2010, McDonnell announced a revised transportation funding plan which includes both $1.8 billion in bonds that had been approved in 2007, as well as an additional $1.1 billion of s which McDonnell proposes to pay back from future federal transportation funds. He also proposed to spend $150 million from the 2009-2010 budget surplus and $250 million from reducing the reserves that ongoing projects carry to protect against gasoline tax revenue shortfalls. On January 9, 2011, McDonnell proposed funding projects to address traffic congestion in Northern Virginia and Hampton roads by diverting 0.25% of the sales tax collected in those areas from the General Fund into the transportation fund. Legislation is required to implement McDonnell's proposal, and Democrats responded that the revenues were needed in the General Fund for schools and public safety and that the projected revenues were insufficient to make a difference on highway needs.

On May 10, 2010, McDonnell filed an application with the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) seeking permission to collect tolls on Interstate 95 near the North Carolina border. The highway had been constructed with taxpayer funds, 90% from the federal government and 10% from Virginia gasoline taxes. However, Virginia claims that they do not have sufficient revenues to maintain I-95 at a safe level and proposes a toll booth to raise a projected $30 to $60 million annually. McDonnell is asking FHA to authorize the toll under its "Interstate System Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Pilot Program."

In 2008, the Federal government and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) reached an agreement for federal funding of $1.5 billion in capital improvements contingent on Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia pledging to develop dedicated funding for the Metro system. WMATA is an interstate compact founded in 1967 with a board of directors whose members are appointed by each local jurisdiction in its service area, including four from Virginia appointed by the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC). In June 2010, McDonnell threatened to withhold Virginia's WMATA funding unless the composition of WMATA's board is modified to allow Virginia's Governor to appoint two of the four Virginia seats. Currently, the interstate compact establishing WMATA specifies that its Virginia members are selected by the NVTC. In turn, Virginia law specifies that local jurisdictions appoint that Commission's members. Rather than proposing to amend either law, McDonnell merely threatened to withhold Virginia's "dedicated" matching funds if the NVTC did not appoint two people that he selected instead of appointing representatives from local jurisdictions. On June 17, 2010, Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff required a formal commitment from Virginia to match its share of the federal funds if the federal funding is to continue. On June 24, 2010, McDonnell withdrew his request to appoint two members of the Metro Board as a precondition for making the scheduled "dedicated" payment under the 2008 agreement. On July 1, 2010, the WMATA Board of Directors approved an agreement with Virginia to provide its share of matching funds without regard to McDonnell's request for Board seats. Based on this agreement, the federal funds were reconfirmed, and WMATA was able to activate a $886 million contract for 428 new metrorail cars.

Health care

In April 2010, McDonnell signed a bill seeking to nullify the insurance purchase requirement in the then proposed federal health care legislation. On March 10, 2010, before Congress finished its final consideration of the package, a bipartisan Virginia Healthcare Freedom Act passed the General Assembly by a 80-17 majority, which McDonnell signed on March 24, 2010. McDonnell supports Virginia's legal challenge to the Constitutionality of the final Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Although abortion funding was not debated during the regular session of the General Assembly, McDonnell raised the issue through the use of his amendatory veto power. During the April 21, 2010 veto session, the Virginia legislature passed restrictions on state public funding for elective abortion except in the instances of rape, incest, life of the mother, or life threatening fetal anomaly.

Education

In Virginia, public schools are funded from both local real estate taxes as well as state general funds under a formula that attempts to assure minimum state-wide standards called "The Standards of Quality." Virginia also earmarks revenues from its state lottery for education. Outgoing Governor Tim Kaine proposed $11.4 billion for K-12 education in the 2010-2012 budget. On February 17, 2010, McDonnell proposed $268.8 million in additional cuts. McDonnell's cuts included 1) changing the formula for measuring the ability of localities to pay for education, 2) reducing funding for technology expenditures, and 3) reducing funding under the Standards of Quality.

The House adopted $620 million in education cuts, and the Senate adopted a budget with $133 million in education cuts. The final, signed budget cut over $646 million for public schools.

Because K-12 education comprises 37% of the general fund budget, critics note that McDonnell's proposal to fund transportation bonds from the general fund would result in further education cuts in future years. McDonnell disagrees, saying he’ll lean heavily on growth in revenues rather than pulling from existing money.

Although McDonnell supported the Race to the Top federal education funding program during McDonnell's campaign for governor, on May 26, 2010, McDonnell withdrew Virginia from the second round of "Race to the Top". Virginia had finished 31st out of 41 states in the first round; McDonnell decided that Virginia should not file its application for the second round because he erroneously believed the competition required the use of multi-state education performance standards instead of Virginia's current standards. However, the use of common performance standards were not required and counted for 40 points out of a possible 500 total points in evaluating state proposals. McDonnell later stated on MSNBC that the Race to the Top rules precluded participating states from adopting more rigorous standards in addition to whatever multi-state standards they join. However, the "Race to the Top" regulations award the points even if states adopt standards more rigorous than the optional, common standards.

Offshore drilling

Previously, the General Assembly passed a bill in 2006 that would allow exploratory gas drilling 50 miles off the coast. On March 11, 2010, McDonnell signed into law bipartisan offshore drilling legislation that would allow the drilling for oil and gas in federal waters 50 miles or more off the coast of Virginia if also permitted by the Federal government. (see ''Offshore drilling on the US Atlantic coast''). The plan has been criticized by some environmentalists and Democrats who argue that tourism and wildlife would be threatened and that oil drilling would not make a difference in achieving long-term energy independence. Congressman Moran, among others, argued further that most of the proposed drilling area was located in an area reserved for naval operations.

McDonnell advocated drilling off the Virginia coast of the Atlantic Ocean as a possible revenue source for the state. However, under current law, Virginia will not receive any revenues from drilling in federal waters, which includes all drilling sites more than 3 miles off the coast. On May 6, 2010, the Department of Interior suspended the proposed auction of offshore Virginia leasing rights. Congressman James P. Moran (D-Va), chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Interior Department, issued a statement commending the decision. On May 18, Moran forwarded to McDonnell a Department of Defense report finding that the proposed lease site would interfere with naval operations. On May 25, McDonnell reaffirmed his interest in having oil drilling off the Virginia coast notwithstanding the BP oil spill and the inability of Virginia to get any of the royalty income from such drilling under current law. On May 27, President Obama announced that the offshore Virginia lease sale was cancelled. Subsequently, McDonnell has proposed continuing a federal environmental study of drilling off the Virginia coast or drilling for just gas and not oil. However, experts have said that liquids are almost always produced with gas offshore.

Budget

On December 18, 2009, outgoing Governor Tim Kaine proposed a two-year $76.8 billion spending plan for adoption by the incoming state legislature. Kaine's budget proposed to rationalize state revenues by increasing the income tax while lowering property taxes and other fees. As incoming Governor, McDonnell refused to publicly recommend any modifications to Kaine's budget and instead worked with the House of Delegates to bring Kaine's plan up for a quick vote and defeat. Privately, McDonnell advocated cutting $300 million from health programs, $730 million from K-12 education, changing the state retirement system, and requiring 10 days of furloughs for state employees, all to offset a $2.2 billion budget shortfall over 2010-2012. On February 17, 2010, after political pressure, the Governor publicly released his proposed cuts. The Democratic-controlled Senate adopted a budget which restored a number of budget cuts to education, health and human services, and a House-Senate conference managed to work out a compromise on March 14 containing about $250 million in cuts before the expiration of the legislative session. However, a number of interest groups lobbied the Governor to use his amendatory veto power to alter the adopted budget.

On April 14, 2010, McDonnell proposed 96 budget amendments to the two-year 2010-2012 budget resulting in $42.1 million in spending increases and $51 million in additional budget cuts, tax increases, and court fees for criminals. He proposed to increase spending by $15 million to give incentives for SRI and Bank of America to keep offices in Virginia. To boost revenue, McDonnell proposed raising $7.2 million by increasing the fines on motorists who exceed the speed limit. He proposes to cut an additional $9.9 million from state funded programs for at-risk and troubled children and proposed cutting $600,000 from state grants to public radio and television stations. McDonnell also issued amendatory vetoes on non-budget legislation. For example, although Virginia has provided free electronic filing of tax returns for years, his veto would outsource electronic filing to firms that would charge a fee for that service. McDonnell also amended a bill that would authorize Planned Parenthood car license plates to prohibit Planned Parenthood from spending the funds raised from those "affinity" license plates on abortions. The Legislature met to vote on the Governor's amendments on April 21. A bipartisan majority accepted some of McDonnell's proposed cuts while rejecting others including those to public broadcasting, the funding for at-risk and troubled children and the shifting of Virginia Medicaid mental health program to a managed-care plan.

Results from 2010 Fiscal Year

The first budget enacted under the McDonnell administration took effect on July 1, 2010. Two of McDonnell's legislative initiatives did increase the surplus for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. First, the budget bill accelerated the payment of state sales taxes resulting in a one-time shift of revenues that would otherwise have been collected in July 2010 into the old fiscal year. Second, the budget bill deferred a $620 million payment to the Virginia Retirement System to future years. The end of year surplus will trigger the payment of a 3% bonus to state employees in December 2010. Both Republicans and Democrats responded by asking McDonnell to use the surplus to reverse the Virginia Retirement System deferral.

Liquor sales

In August 2010, McDonnell embarked on a promotional tour advocating legislation to sell Virginia's liquor stores to private owners. McDonnell held eight town hall meetings around the state to discuss the plan. McDonnell argued that retail alcohol sales is not an appropriate state activity and proposes that any sales proceeds could be used to finance transportation needs. Opponents noted that the liquor stores generate $248 million per year for Virginia's general fund.

On September 8, 2010, McDonnell presented his plan for auctioning liquor licenses to his government reform commission. Under the plan, the number of stores selling liquor would triple to 1,000, with the licenses to operate these new stores being auctioned. According to the ''Richmond Times-Dispatch'', "Of the 1,000 licenses, 600 would be available to big retailers, whose lawyers and lobbyists helped craft the governor's proposal. An additional 150 licenses would be reserved for package stories, with 250 for small retailers, such as convenience-store operators." McDonnell estimates that winning bidders would pay $265 million for the licenses, and that the state could receive $33 million from selling existing state-owned liquor store properties. In addition $160 million would be collected in wholesale license fees. To make up from the annual loss of general fund revenues from the current state-owned stores, McDonnell proposes a $17.50 per gallon excise tax (which is above the national average and above that charged in neighboring states). He would also charge an annual fee of $500 to $2,000 to each store license holder, and would impose a new 1% gross receipts tax on wholesalers of liquor. Restaurants and bars that chose to purchase alcohol from wholesalers instead of retail outlets would pay a 2.5% tax. Just before the presentation, McDonnell dropped his proposed 1.5% fee on all restaurants and retail establishments that was in earlier drafts of his plan. McDonnell proposed to call a special session of the Virginia legislature in November 2010 to consider the proposal.

The plan drew immediate opposition from conservative lawmakers as a "tax increase". It was also opposed by the 3,000-member Virginia Retail Federation, the Virginia Beer Wholesalers Association, and the Virginia Wine Wholesalers Association. The Baptist General Association of Virginia and the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy oppose the plan out of concerns that it will increase alcohol consumption. The plan is endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, the Virginia Transportation Construction Industry, and the Virginia Retail Merchants Association and the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce (which said the plan should be a part of a larger effort to increase transportation funding.)

On the eve of McDonnell taking the plan to the restructuring commission for their endorsement, the ''Washington Post'' reported that he modified the plan by dropping the restaurant tax and certain other proposed fees. McDonnell is proposing to set aside over 100 licenses for companies that employ less than 50 people in order to help small, family owned stores. He also wants to give small businesses several years to pay off their auction bids. The ''Post'' suggests that "he might call off plans for a November special session" of the General Assembly. On October 4, the Malek commission voted 22 to 3 to endorse McDonnell's modified plan. The Commission proposed a number of cost savings in government operations which would offset the projected $47 million annual revenue loss from selling the ABC liquor stores.

In October 2010, McDonnell's modified plan drew criticism from Republican members of the House of Delegates, including Del. Thomas D. Gear who chairs the House subcommittee that will consider the proposal and Del. Timothy D. Hugo, chair of the House Republican caucus. Concerns heightened when Phil Cox, who heads McDonnell's political action committee, threatened to withhold campaign funds from Republican delegates who fail to support the modified plan. According to the ''Washington Post,'' "Delegates have privately complained that the plan was developed with too little input from legislators and too much from lobbyists for retail and alcohol interests." McDonnell is reportedly dropping plans to call a special session in November 2010 to consider the modified plan. On October 22, 2010, McDonnell decided not call a special session, but to instead appoint a "working group" to further refine the plan so that implementing legislation could be on the first day of the 2011 legislative session. McDonnell's working group of Republican legislators, wholesalers, distillers, and retailers seek to develop a compromise that could win adoption by the legislature.

On November 23, 2010, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee released a report which found that the McDonnell proposal had overstated the expected proceeds of liquor store sales and licenses. In response, McDonnell's spokesman said that he is committed to privatization and is considering alternative plans. McDonnell has hired a consultant to formulate a new privatization plan at a cost of $75,000 prior to the new legislative session in January 2011. The Auditors found that McDonnell's proposal would rise the retail price of distilled spirits 11 to 26 percent, which in turn would lead to a drop in liquor sales that could result in a loss of as much as $15.4 million in sales tax revenues.

In what the ''Washington Post'' described as "the biggest legislative defeat of his tenure," both houses of the Virginia General Assembly refused to hold hearings on McDonell's plan during the 2011 legislative session. Both the Republican-controlled House and the Democratic-controlled Senate killed the bill implementing McDonnell's proposal without a vote. McDonnell's director of policy, Eric Finkbeiner told the ''Post'', "Whether we do it this year, next year or the year after, it's going to get done in this administration."

Job creation

McDonnell amended the budget to increase the incentives that a governor can provide employers to relocate to Virginia or to remain in Virginia. He campaigned to have Northrop Grumman relocate its 300-job headquarters to Virginia, but stated that the renewal of Virginia's computer outsourcing contract was not linked to the relocation decision. When Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the closing of the 6,000-job Joint Military Command in August, 2010, McDonnell sought private meetings to seek to preserve the jobs. However, McDonnell was disappointed that Secretary Gates would not meet with him to discuss the issue. McDonnell was later included in a meeting between Gates and Virginia's congressional delegation on November 23, 2010.

Reapportionment

McDonnell has played a significant role in the reapportionment conducted in response to the 2010 census. McDonnell appointed his own bipartisan advisory commission on redistricting. In a special session of the General Assembly, the redistricting of both the House of Delegates and the State Senate were passed in single bill that was approved by the House with a 86 to 8 vote and the Senate with a 22 to 18 vote. The bill was developed without regard to the advisory commission's recommendations. On April 15, 2011, McDonnell vetoed the reapportionment bill on the grounds that "the Senate plan is the kind of political gerrymandering that Virginians have ask that we leave in the past." Although McDonnell had the power to amend the bill with his veto, he simply sent it back for the General Assembly to either over-ride the veto or adopt a different bill. Because the Democrats lack the 2/3 majority necessary to over-ride the veto, the State Senate must adopt a new plan. At first, Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw promised to merely readopt the vetoed redistricting map, but has now begun negotiations with the Governor's office regarding a new plan. Republican members of the House and Senate have criticized the Governor for overturning the timetable for approval of new districts prior to the 2011 elections. After lengthy negotiations, on April 28, both houses passed a revised set of district maps and Governor McDonnell announced that he would sign the revised bill.

Electoral history

References

Further reading

External links

Governor Bob McDonnell ''official state site''

Bob McDonnell for Governor ''official campaign site''

Interview with Governor-Elect Bob McDonnell, Cal Thomas, ''Townhall.com'', December 4, 2009

New Face for the GOP, Cal Thomas, ''Townhall.com'', December 4, 2009

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Category:1954 births Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Boston University alumni Category:Governors of Virginia Category:Living people Category:Members of the Virginia House of Delegates Category:People from Fairfax County, Virginia Category:People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:Regent University alumni Category:Republican Party state governors of the United States Category:United States Army officers Category:Virginia Attorneys General Category:Virginia Republicans Category:University of Notre Dame alumni

ar:بوب ماكدونيل de:Bob McDonnell fr:Bob McDonnell it:Robert Francis McDonnell la:Robertus Franciscus McDonnell nl:Bob McDonnell ja:ボブ・マクドネル ru:Макдоннелл, Роберт sh:Bob McDonnell fi:Bob McDonnell sv:Bob McDonnell

Name	Eric Schmidt
Birth date	April 27, 1955
Birth place	Washington, D.C., United States
Residence	Atherton, California, U.S.
Occupation	Executive Chairman of Google
Alma mater	Princeton University (B.S. 1976)University of California, Berkeley (M.S. in 1979 and PhD in 1982)
Salary	$557,466 compensation in 2006
Networth	US$7 billion (2011)
Website	Google Inc. Profile }}

Eric Emerson Schmidt (born April 27, 1955) is an American engineer, executive chairman of Google and former member of the board of directors of Apple Inc. From 2001–2011, he served as chief executive of Google. He is a co-author of the lex lexical analyzer software for Unix. He has also sat on the boards of trustees for Carnegie Mellon University and Princeton University.

Biography

Schmidt was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Blacksburg, Virginia. After graduating from Yorktown High School, Schmidt attended Princeton University where he earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1976. At the University of California, Berkeley, he earned an MS in 1979 for designing and implementing a network linking the campus computer center, the CS and the EECS departments, and a PhD in 1982 in EECS with a dissertation about the problems of managing distributed software development and tools for solving these problems. He was joint author of ''lex'' (a lexical analyzer and an important tool for compiler construction). He taught at Stanford Business School as a part time professor.

Schmidt lives in Atherton, California, with his wife Wendy.

He is also on the list of ARTnews 200 top art collectors.

He is also a member of the Bilderberg Group and attended the Swiss 2011 Bilderberg conference in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

The Eric Schmidt Family Foundation

The Eric Schmidt Family Foundation addresses issues of sustainability and the responsible use of natural resources. Wendy and Eric Schmidt, working with Heart Howerton, a San Francisco architectural firm that specializes in large-scale land use, have inaugurated several projects on the island of Nantucket that seek to sustain the unique character of the island, and to minimize the impact of seasonal visitation on the island's core community. Wendy Schmidt offered the prize purse of the Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE, a challenge award for efficient capturing of crude oil from seawater motivated by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Career

Early career

Early in his career, Schmidt held a series of technical positions with IT companies, including Bell Labs, Zilog and Xerox’s famed Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).

From Sun to Google

Schmidt joined Sun Microsystems in 1983 as its first software manager. He rose to become director of software engineering, vice president and general manager of the software products division, vice president of the general systems group, and president of Sun Technology Enterprises. In April 1997, he became CEO and chairman of the board of Novell.

Schmidt left Novell after the acquisition of Cambridge Technology Partners. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin interviewed Schmidt. Impressed by him, they recruited Schmidt to run their company in 2001 under the guidance of venture capitalists John Doerr and Michael Moritz.

Google

Schmidt joined Google's board of directors as chairman in March 2001 and became the company's CEO in August 2001. At Google, Schmidt shared responsibility for Google's daily operations with founders Page and Brin. As indicated by page 29 of Google's 2004 S-1 Filing Schmidt, Page, and Brin ran Google as a triumvirate. Schmidt had legal responsibilities typically assigned to the CEO of a public company and focused on management of the vice presidents and the sales organization.

According to Google's website, Schmidt also focuses on "building the corporate infrastructure needed to maintain Google's rapid growth as a company and on ensuring that quality remains high while product development cycle times are kept to a minimum."

In 2007, ''PC World'' ranked Schmidt as the first on the list of the 50 most important people on the web, along with Google co-Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

In 2009, Schmidt was considered one of the "TopGun CEOs" by Brendan Wood International, an advisory agency.

On January 20, 2011, Google announced that Schmidt would step down as CEO of Google, but continue as the executive chairman of the company, and act as an adviser to co-founders Page and Brin. Page replaced Schmidt as CEO on April 4, 2011.

The 2011 book ''In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives'' by Steven Levy claims that in 2001, Schmidt requested that a political donation he made be removed from Google search results. The request was not fulfilled. Schmidt has denied this ever occurred.

Apple

Schmidt was elected to Apple's board of directors on August 28, 2006. On August 3, 2009, it was announced that Schmidt would resign from the board of directors at Apple due to conflict of interests amid the growing competition between Google and Apple.

President Barack Obama

Schmidt "was a campaign advisor and major donor to Barack Obama, and when he announced he was leaving that perch, he planned to remain 'at the forefront of Google’s government relations team.' And Obama even has considered him for Commerce Secretary." Schmidt was an informal advisor to the Obama presidential campaign and began campaigning the week of October 19, 2008, on behalf of the candidate. He had been mentioned as a possible candidate for the chief technology officer position which Obama created in his administration. After Obama won, Schmidt was a member of President Obama's transition advisory board. He proposed that the easiest way to solve all of the problems of the United States at once, at least in the domestic policy, is by a stimulus program that rewards renewable energy and, over time, attempts to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy. He has since become a new member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology PCAST.

New America Foundation

The New America Foundation is a non-profit public policy institute and think tank, founded in 1999. Schmidt is the current chairman of the board of directors. He succeeded founding chairman James Fallows in 2008.

Compensation

Upon being hired, Eric Schmidt was paid a salary of $250,000, and an annual performance bonus. He was granted 14,331,703 shares of class B common stock at 30 cents per share, and 426,892 shares of Series C preferred stock at purchase price of $2.34.

Schmidt and the Google founders agreed to a base salary of $1 in 2004 (which continued through 2010), with other compensation of $557,465 in 2006, $508,763 in 2008 and $243,661 in 2009. He did not receive any additional stock, or options in 2009 or 2010. Most of his compensation was for "personal security" and charters of private aircraft. Schmidt is one of the few people who became billionaires (in United States dollars) based on stock options received as an employee in a corporation of which he was neither the founder nor a relative of the founder. In its 2011 'World's Billionaires' list, Forbes ranked Schmidt as the 136th richest person in the world, with an estimated wealth of $7 billion. Google gave him $100 million in 2011 as a parting gift.

Views

During an interview, aired on December 3, 2009 on the CNBC documentary "Inside the Mind of Google", Schmidt was asked, "People are treating Google like their most trusted friend. Should they be?" His reply was: "I think judgment matters. If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place, but if you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines including Google do retain this information for some time, and it’s important to remember, for example, that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act. It is possible that that information could be made available to the authorities." At the Techonomy conference on August 4, 2010, Schmidt expressed that technology is good, but he said that the only way to manage the challenges is "much greater transparency and no anonymity." Schmidt also stated that in an era of asymmetric threats, "true anonymity is too dangerous."

In August 2010, Schmidt clarified his company's views on network neutrality: "I want to be clear what we mean by Net neutrality: What we mean is if you have one data type like video, you don't discriminate against one person's video in favor of another. But it's okay to discriminate across different types, so you could prioritize voice over video, and there is general agreement with Verizon and Google on that issue."

Proposition 8

In 2008, Schmidt was part of a group of Silicon Valley leaders who supported the defeat of Proposition 8 in California.

See also

List of billionaires

70/20/10 Model — business model advocated by Schmidt

RechargeIT

References

External links

;Speeches

Eric Schmidt and Larry Page speaking at Stanford (May 1, 2002)

Eric Schmidt talks about innovation on Executive Talks, November 2006

Schmidt-ceo-of-google.html Eric Schmidt interview by iinnovate, March 2007

YouTube: Eric Schmidt at the Seoul Digital Forum. (2007.06.05)

Eric Schmidt speaks as part of NASA 50 years Lecture Series, January 17, 2008

Mobile World Congress 2010 Keynote: Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google(Feb 2010)

iTunes: Google making of a modern company.

;Articles

CNET: Google balances privacy, reach (July 14, 2005), which uses Eric Schmidt as an example of the personal information held by Google.

Princeton University Board of Trustees

Category:1955 births Category:American art collectors Category:American billionaires Category:American chief executives Category:American electrical engineers Category:Apple Inc. employees Category:Businesspeople from Washington, D.C. Category:Google employees Category:Living people Category:People from Washington, D.C. Category:Princeton University alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni

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Name	Earl Ray Tomblin
Office	Acting as Governor of West Virginia
Term start	November 15, 2010
Predecessor	Joe Manchin
Office2	President of the Senate of West Virginia
Term start2	January 3, 1995
Predecessor2	Keith Burdette
Birth date	March 15, 1952
Birth place	Logan County, West Virginia, United States
Party	Democratic Party
Spouse	Joanne Jaeger Tomblin
Children	One
Residence	Governor's Mansion
Alma mater	West Virginia UniversityMarshall University
Profession	Small businesspersonTeacher
Religion	Presbyterianism }}

Earl Ray Tomblin (born March 15, 1952) is President of the West Virginia Senate, and due to the resignation of Joe Manchin as Governor, currently acts as the 35th Governor of West Virginia. Tomblin is a member of the Democratic Party.

Early life and education

Tomblin is the son of Freda M. (née Jarrell) and Earl Tomblin, a former Logan County sheriff. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from West Virginia University where he was a member of Kappa Alpha Order and then went along to receive a Master of Business Administration degree from Marshall University.

House of Delegates and Senate President

Tomblin was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1974, and reelected in 1976 and 1978. He won election to the Senate in 1980 and has been subsequently re-elected every four years thereafter.

Tomblin was elected on January 11, 1995, as the 48th President of the West Virginia Senate. Having been reelected every new term since, he is the longest serving Senate President in West Virginia's history. Tomblin became the first Lieutenant Governor of West Virginia upon creation of that designation in 2000.

As a senator, he represents the 7th Senate District encompassing Boone, Lincoln, Logan, and Wayne counties.

Governor

Tomblin began exercising the duties of governor when Manchin resigned to become the state's United States Senator, filling the seat vacated by the late Senator Robert C. Byrd. Tomblin is the first person to act as governor under West Virginia's current constitution.

While acting as governor, Tomblin will retain the title of Senate President as required by the West Virginia Constitution. He has said he will not participate in legislative business or accept his legislative salary while governor. Tomblin has also stated he will not preside over the Senate while acting as governor.

Gubernatorial campaign

In 2011, Tomblin stated his desire to run for the office of Governor. Following a ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeals on January 18, 2011, the next gubernatorial election is to be held on October 4, 2011. Tomblin was successful in the Democratic Primary, beating a field of six contenders, while Morgantown businessman Bill Maloney emerged as the Republican nominee in the May 14 primary.

Personal life

Tomblin was married on September 8, 1979 to Joanne Jaeger, who serves as the current president of Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College. They reside in Chapmanville and have one son, Brent. Tomblin attends the First Presbyterian Church of Logan.

References

External links

Campaign website

Office of the Governor of West Virginia

West Virginia Legislature - Senator Earl Ray Tomblin, Senate President ''official West Virginia Senate website''

Project Vote Smart - Senator Earl Ray Tomblin (WV) profile

''Follow the Money'' - Earl Ray Tomblin

*2008 Secretary of State campaign contributions

*2006 2004 2000 Senate campaign contributions

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Category:1952 births Category:Governors of West Virginia Category:Living people Category:People from Logan County, West Virginia Category:West Virginia Democrats Category:West Virginia State Senators Category:West Virginia University alumni Category:Educators from West Virginia Category:Marshall University alumni Category:Members of the West Virginia House of Delegates Category:Businesspeople from West Virginia Category:American Presbyterians Category:American schoolteachers Category:Presidents of the West Virginia State Senate Category:Democratic Party state governors of the United States

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