The Family Foundation press conference to rebut Governor Tim Kaine’s elimination of $275,000 in federal matching funds for abstinence education just ended. Among those speaking: Lt. Governor Bill Bolling, who detailed to the public his opposition to the governor’s action; Attorney General Bob McDonnell; June Sullivan, CEO of Horizons Unlimited, Inc., a Hampton non-profit that works to rebuild and restore the community by promoting healthy behavior in youth; Bob FitzSimmonds, executive director of Keep It Simple Say No, a Northern Virginia non-profit that provides schools abstinence education curriculum; and Prince William County School Board Chairman-elect Milt Johns. (Prince William now is Virginia’s second largest school system.)
Among the media attending in the packed House Briefing Room in the General Assembly Building were The Richmond Times-Dispatch, Washington Post, The Fredericksburg Freelance-Star, Richmond television stations WTVR and WRIC, Roanoke station WDBJ, and Charlottesville’s WVIR.
More to come, but the line of the day came from Lt. Governor Bolling, who separately wrote a letter to Governor Kaine last week detailing his flawed rationale for cutting the program. The attorney general followed him, but advised the media that he had a short statement and couldn’t take questions because of a tight schedule. Bolling, who cracked up the room, said, ”If I had known that, I would have talked longer.” McDonnell replied, “Well, you gave my speech.”
Good to see the two top Republican contenders for the Governor’s nomination sniping at each other.
You may want to fix your broken link to Bill Bolling’s letter that obfuscates (purposefully?) the issue by using the term “abstinence based education”. which is different from abstinence-only education. Funding for “abstinence based education programs” was not affected.
Lt. Governor Bill Bolling owes Governor Kaine an apology.
The Washington Post quoted Bob McDonnell: “He is a Catholic, and I am a Catholic, and I know our church teaches abstinence,” McDonnell said of Kaine. “I am puzzled by his decision.”
I am puzzled by McDonnell’s belief that Catholic doctrine belongs in the classroom.
Good observation David2. This fact needs to be repeated over and over again and over again until the voters understand the nature of the Virginia Family Foundation agenda.