Bill Bolling for Lieutenant Governor

Recently Patrick McSweeney made the headlines by sending out an e-mail urging delegates to support Patrick Muldoon for Lieutenant Governor at the RPV State Convention. So far the entire "case" for Patrick Muldoon has been comprised of nothing but criticisms of Bill Bolling. I have repeatedly asked Muldoon supporters to tell me the reason I should vote FOR Muldoon as opposed to just why I should just vote against Bolling. The only response I have heard is a deafening silence.

There are two things I like to find in an ideal candidate: a commitment to conservative principles, and an ability to get elected. No case can be made that Muldoon has a better chance of being elected than Bill Bolling. Bolling has already shown he can win the Lieutenant Governorship, and has posted solid fundraising numbers (especially when compared to Muldoon). Muldoon has yet to win a single election. He lost bis bid for VA's 9th Congressional seat, lost in a race for Commonwealth Attorney, and his highest elected office is alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention.

Since Muldoon can not try to win on electability all he can try to win on is ideological purity. I am definitely an conservative who believes people should be true conservatives not just suddenly conservative during election season. That is why I have worked hard for Cuccinelli, Jeff Frederick, and Mike Huckabee among others. However Muldoon is just as ideologically impure as he claims Bolling is and does not have the long record of accomplishments that Bolling has. Earlier his connections to Barr Labs and the gambling industry were brought to light. Now Bearing Drift is reporting that Muldoon received over $10,000 from a group that has Barr Labs as a client, and has made donations to Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and others pro-choice Democrats. If Patrick Muldoon wants to have the audacity to criticize Bill Bolling for not being ideologically pure, he needs to make sure his own house is in order first.

Bolling has a record of voting pro-life. He opposed the Warner tax increase when most Republican senators supported it. He actively opposed Tim Kaine's tax hikes and has actively supported Republicans across the commonwealth. He also had the wisdom to not step into the Jeff Frederick fight. Bolling has a proven record on the issues. He has proven his conservative credentials time and again and as a result I am proud to support him. If you are a conservative then please support one of your own, over a political unknown with huge question marks. This is our opportunity to create a strong ticket, sweep the executive offices, and increase our majority in the House of Delegates along the way.

The Case for Patrick Muldoon

When I saw this article on Bearing Drift, I couldn't help but republish it.

Patrick Muldoon = hypocrite

By Brian Kirwin

Published December 16th, 2008

Who is Patrick Muldoon? I don’t know a lot about him, other than his strategic brilliance to make telemarketing phone calls over the Thanksgiving holiday. So off to the internet to research! According to his website, he is running for the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor because we need “strong leaders in Virginia who want to promote our traditional values by being committed to fight for us, 100% of the time.”

Apparently Mr. Muldoon believes gambling is a traditional value. Mr.Muldoon is an attorney at Duane Morris, a DC law firm, whose lobbying arm, according to their website, represents casinos and gambling interests such as Hilton Gaming, Keystone Gaming Alliance and Oberthur Gaming Technologies.

Is gambling a traditional conservative value? I doubt professional associations with gaming interests is hardly representative of the 100% pure conservative he claims to be.

But, wait there’s more. Muldoon and his supporters have been critical of politicians that have received donations from Barr Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company that employs hundreds of Virginians and has engineered affordable generic drugs to fight cancer, diabetes and other diseases.

Barr also created a contraceptive pill. Haven’t Muldoon and his supporters claimed that anyone who accepts money from Barr is pro-choice? On Duane Morris Consulting’s website, you’ll see Barr Labs listed a client.

From Muldoon’s definition of associations with Barr, shouldn’t we hold Muldoon to the same standard? Is that an association of a pro-lifer?

Now, I’m not making any judgments about gambling or Barr Labs. This is about campaign honesty. Before Patrick Muldoon starts attacking Republicans with his 100% litmus test, he should be ready to meet the same test, shouldn’t he?

He has lost every election he has entered and is now the Democrats’ best friend as he forces us to spend money that could be spent beating a well-funded Democrat.

If he’s going to run on the “100% conservative” banner, he better meet his own test. On first glance, Patrick Muldoon is a hypocrite.