Bob McDonnell

From BobMcDonnell.com:

Bob McDonnell was one year old in 1955 when his father, USAF Lt. Colonel John McDonnell, moved the family to Fairfax County. At age 5 John was assigned to Germany, but the time away from Fairfax would be short. At age 8 Bob and his family were back in Fairfax, this time calling a house on Wagon Wheel Road in the Mount Vernon area home. They would remain there for Bob’s childhood. Bob’s dad retired from the Air Force in 1964 and went on to a second career with the Naval Investigative Service. He still lives in the same house today. Bob’s mom worked for a Democratic Congressman from Texas, Rep. Olin Teague, and later at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. She passed away in 1994.

Bob went to St. Louis Catholic School for third through fifth grades, Woodley Hills Elementary School for 6th grade, and Walt Whitman Junior High School for grades 7 and 8. For high school Bob went to Bishop Ireton in Alexandria. It was while attending Bishop Ireton that Bob has his first, and only, brush with gridiron greatness, scoring a touchdown and a two-point conversion against the famed 1971 T.C. Williams Titans of “Remember the Titans” fame. You can read the Alexandria Gazette article about the game by clicking here.

After high school Bob was off to South Bend, Indiana to live his dream of attending the University of Notre Dame. He could only afford college through a full Army ROTC scholarship. For Bob McDonnell a higher education came with a commitment to serve his country. Like his father before him, Bob would wear the uniform as a military officer. Bob graduated in 1976 with a BBA degree in management.

Bob went on active duty in October 1976, heading to basic training in Texas and then being assigned to Grafenwohr, Germany. He didn’t go alone. Earlier that year Bob married Maureen Gardner, of McLean, Virginia. The two have been married for over 30 years.

In Germany, Bob was a platoon leader with the 2nd Armored Division, and also ran a medical clinic for the post. In December of 1979 Bob left Germany, heading to Fort Eustis in Newport News, Virginia. But he left Germany having gained a helpful tool for his future endeavors: an MSBA earned by taking night classes from Boston University.

At Fort Eustis in Newport News Bob worked at McDonald Army Hospital as the Medical Supply Officer. And in April 1981 he left active duty. But he didn’t leave the service. All told Bob would serve 21 years in the U.S. Army, both active duty and reserves, retiring as a Lt. Colonel in 1997.

Bob took the family, including first daughter Jeanine who had just been born, to Atlanta to put his business degrees and military experience to use with American Hospital Supply Corporation, a Fortune 500 company. It would begin a period of quick promotions and several moves. After a year Bob was promoted to the company’s headquarters in suburban Chicago. A year later the company placed Bob in charge of their multi-million dollar custom products regional division, managing the Minneapolis, St. Louis, and Kansas City offices. Based in Kansas City, Bob was moving rapidly up the corporate ladder. But something was missing.

Bob was still eligible for the Vietnam-era GI Bill, but those benefits would disappear after 1989. Bob realized that he wasn’t done with his education, so he used the GI Bill benefits to get back to Virginia and enrolled at Regent University in Virginia Beach to seek a Masters Degree in Public Policy and Communications. A few months after enrolling in 1985 this young university announced the creation of a law school, and Bob applied for admittance. It began, as Bob calls it, “the years without sleep.”

Bob simultaneously attended law school, continued his work for a Master’s Degree in public policy, raised his young family, worked as a sales manager for The Virginian-Pilot newspaper, and served in the active reserves of the Army with the 18th Field Hospital. Good preparation for a gubernatorial campaign!

It was during those law school years that Bob did an internship on Capitol Hill with the House Republican Policy Committee. Serving the committee, spending some time with its Chair, Congressman Jerry Lewis of California, and others, Bob realized that he wanted to be more involved in public policy, and the way to do it was through elected office. He wouldn’t wait long to pursue that direction.

McDonnell graduated from Regent in 1989 and took a job as a prosecutor in the Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. Serving on the front lines of the criminal justice system Bob worked cases that brought home to him the need for greater victims’ rights and policies that put criminals behind bars longer, and kept citizens safer in their homes. He now sought a greater role in making Virginia a safer and stronger place.

Bob had plenty of experience with public service, as a soldier and a prosecutor. But running for public office is like nothing he had ever tried before. Deciding to run for the House of Delegates meant taking

on an entrenched twenty-year incumbent. It was a race many thought he was crazy to take on. But Bob hit the streets and he talked to thousands of voters at their doors, ruining countless pairs of shoes in the process, and when the votes were counted that November evening in 1991 Bob was elected to the House of Delegates. He won his first election, and he’s never lost one since.

Bob went to Richmond to represent the 84th District in Virginia Beach. In the House of Delegates, he rose to the position of Assistant Majority Leader and Chairman of the House Courts of Justice Committee. He was Chief Patron of numerous bills during his career, including Governor Allen’s Juvenile Justice Reform Initiative, Virginia’s historic Welfare Reform legislation, the reform of Virginia’s drunk driving laws and a crack down on sex predators and gangs, legislation to abolish the death tax, and legislation to rewrite and improve Virginia’s Public Private Partnership Transportation Act. He also authored legislation and secured funding for the creation of Virginia’s Judicial Performance Evaluation Program to guide the General Assembly in reappointing judges.

His performance stood out. He was named the Network of Victims of Crime Legislator of the Year in 1996, The National Child Support Enforcement Association National Legislator of the Year in 1998, The Family Foundation of Virginia’s Legislator of the Year in 1998 and 2001 and the Virginia Sheriff’s Association Legislator of the Year in 2005.

An article in The Virginian-Pilot noted, “His fingerprints are all over major pieces of legislation from welfare reform, to judicial performance evaluations, to juvenile justice and parole reform, to tort revisions. Few legislators can duplicate his track record of involvement and success.” (Virginian-Pilot article, “Beach delegate stakes claim to state’s No. 3 slot,” Warren Fiske, October 19, 2005)

In 2005 Bob took his biggest step yet. He threw his hat into the ring for Attorney General of Virginia. The boy who grew up on Wagon Wheel Road in Fairfax County, on land that used to be part of George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate, was now running to be Virginia’s top lawyer. And what a race it was. Bob took his optimistic plan for a stronger and safer Virginia from Chincoteague to Cumberland Gap. And he won. On January 14, 2006 Bob took the oath of office on a chilly, wet day in Colonial Williamsburg.

As Attorney General, Bob has focused on policies that keep Virginia safe, strong, and prosperous. He kept his promises from the campaign trail, and fulfilled all 7 of his campaign pledges. He enacted a 25-year mandatory minimum sentence for violent child sex predators, increased penalties for drug dealers, protected Virginians from terrorist threats, safeguarded private property rights, reduced frivolous lawsuits and made Virginia a national leader in combating internet crimes and identity theft. You can read more about Bob’s “Promises Made, Promises Kept” by clicking here.

Since taking office in 2006, McDonnell has seen 83 of his 94 legislative proposals become law, most with overwhelming bipartisan support. He has been commended for his work to strengthen Virginia’s mental health laws, crack down on animal fighting, establish a “Senior Alert” to assist in locating missing seniors with mental deficiencies, create a state of the art Sex Offender Registry, and provide new tools for law enforcement involved in online investigations of identity theft, sexual predators, and other 21st Century criminals. Bob created and led Virginia’s Youth Internet Safety Task Force, which received widespread attention for its significant recommendations to improve online safety, and established the ongoing Attorney General’s Task Force on Regulatory and Government Reform. The task force has already made over 250 individual recommendations to streamline Virginia’s Administrative Code, and reduce burdensome government regulation.

The Virginian-Pilot, the largest-circulation newspaper in the state of Virginia, recently remarked about Bob that his “conservative credentials paired with his streak of practicality have served him well over a long and productive public life.” (Virginian-Pilot editorial, March 26, 2008)

As Attorney General, McDonnell has partnered with organizations such as the Federation of Virginia Food Banks, the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, The Healing Place and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to help people in need. He has stood by his fervent belief that in America everyone deserves an opportunity to succeed.

It has been a long road leading to this point. But Bob has never been alone. For 32 years he and Maureen have been married. They now have 5 children, ages 17-27. Their oldest daughter, Jeanine, answered the same call to service as her Dad and both her Grandfathers. She recently completed service in the U.S. Army, including a tour of duty in Baghdad, Iraq in 2005-2006.

Service, honor, hard work. Those are the values that have gotten Bob to this