Protecting The 2nd Amendment
Jim Gilmore believes gun ownership is based on the American tradition of personal responsibility and he is committed to protecting the rights of hunters, sportsmen and gun owners.
Jim Gilmore is a member of the National Rifle Association’s Board of Directors and has spent much of his life working to protect our 2nd Amendment rights. Jim Gilmore believes the right to keep and bear arms is entitled to the same protection as every other amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
As Governor, Gilmore created Virginia Exile to get guns out of the hands of criminals. His efforts as Attorney General and Governor, including the abolition of parole and truth in the sentencing of criminals, reduced Virginia crime rates to a 25-year low.
Illegal Immigration
“I am a descendant of immigrants who came to this country legally to seek the American dream. I believe that dream should remain attainable for those who obey the law. However, illegal immigration is costing Virginia taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars each year. As someone with experience dealing with homeland security, I know we must secure America’s borders and crackdown on employers who hire illegal immigrants if we’re going to stop the illegal immigration that is threatening our nation’s future.”
Energy Independence
“The United States today imports 60 percent of its oil, a situation that places our economy and our national security at risk. We can do better! I believe we must use research and development tax incentives to motivate and stimulate American ingenuity and technology to free our nation from its dependence on foreign oil. We also must push for steady and dramatic increases in domestic energy production and efforts to expand the use of alternative fuels.”
Read Jim Gilmore’s Energy for America Plan.
Protecting the Taxpayers
“As Governor of Virginia, I cut 16 different taxes totaling $1.5 billion, created more than 250,000 new jobs and gave the state its lowest unemployment in 40 years. I helped lead the national fight to block taxation on the internet and to repeal federal communications taxes in place since 1898. I believe high taxes are too great a burden on the nation’s economy and on working families. I will work to close tax loopholes, reduce runaway spending and create jobs and opportunity for our citizens.”
Preserving Traditional Values
As Governor of Virginia, Jim Gilmore stood for the sanctity of life and the preservation of traditional family values time and time again.
Gilmore pushed through successful legislation that created a 24-hour waiting period for women seeking an abortion, required parental notification for minors seeking an abortion and banned partial birth abortion.
Gilmore has hailed the recent Supreme Court decision on banning partial birth abortion which he has called “a barbaric procedure rejected by the vast majority of Americans.” He has also said publicly, many times, that he believes Roe v. Wade was “wrongly decided.”
Governor Gilmore created the Virginia Abstinence Initiative and dramatically increased funding for adoption services. He signed into law legislation banning human cloning and went to court to try to prevent the removal of a feeding tube and save the life of coma victim Hugh Finn.
Jim Gilmore believes marriage is the union of one man and one woman and has voiced support for the federal Marriage Protection Amendment. He also was a supporter of Virginia’s Marriage Amendment.
Solving the Transportation Challenge
“As Governor, I worked to secure funding for the construction of the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge, building the redesigned Springfield Interchange and expanding the Virginia Railway Express – all without raising taxes. I believe we can solve Virginia’s transportation challenge and help protect our overburdened taxpayers by using federal transportation bonds and private/public partnerships to raise the funds to build needed transportation projects across the state.”
Improving Education
“While I was Governor, the General Assembly voted for my efforts to hire 4,000 new teachers so we could get our education resources into the classroom where they could make a difference for our children. Today, as a result of that effort the pupil-teacher ratio in Virginia is the third best in the nation. I also worked to implement the Standards of Learning, mandate that state lottery proceeds be used for education and help Virginia’s college students by cutting the cost of college tuition by 20 percent.”
Safeguarding Against Terrorism
“I served as a member of U.S. Army counter-intelligence unit in Germany during the Vietnam Era. As a veteran, I am strongly committed to supporting America’s troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world. I am the former chairman of a congressionally appointed panel called the Gilmore Commission which warned in 1999 and 2000 that a terrorist attack on America was imminent and that national plan of response was not in place. After 9/11 Congress adopted 146 of our 164 recommendations on national security.”
Health Care
“I believe every American deserves access to affordable, high-quality and reliable health care. In order to achieve this goal, I support a broad range of health care reform measures. We need to implement tax reforms to will help people buy health insurance and encourage them to maintain health savings accounts. We must make it easier for small businesses to provide affordable health care for their employees by allowing them to form Association Health Plans.
“Medical liability reforms also need to be implemented to reduce frivolous lawsuits and bring down health care costs for everyone. And health information technology needs to be improved to decrease medical errors and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of medical treatments and our overall health care system.”