Jim Gilmore

Background

James S. Gilmore III (born October 6, 1949), commonly known as Jim Gilmore, is a United States Republican Party politician. Prior to being governor of Virginia, he served as Virginia's Attorney General from 1994 until 1997, and as Commonwealth's Attorney for Henrico County. He served as governor of Virginia from 1998 until 2002. He had defeated his Democratic opponent, Don Beyer, in the 1997 election, 56%-42%.

Governor of Virginia

Gilmore's victory was partly due to his promise to revoke Virginia's car tax. The car tax was cut by 70 percent during the Gilmore Administration. The car tax cut enabled Virginians to save billions of dollars and helped many Virginians buy better cars which reduced emissions. The car tax cut was not fully implemented due to a downturn in the economy in 2001. Gilmore also began to implement the Standards of Learning that were first adopted by previous Governor George Allen. Gilmore also was the first governor to ensure that all lottery dollars were directed to public education and funneled much of the huge budget surpluses of the 1990s to education and transportation. When the lottery was adopted in 1988 many Virginians were told by the General Assembly politicians that those profits would go directly to education. The reality was this: for ten years all lottery profits were directed to the general fund and could be spent on anything in the state. Gilmore was the first Governor to ensure the promise of all lottery profits were directly distributed to education in his first year at the helm - 1998. Gilmore left office in January 2002, as Virginia governors are limited to a single four-year term, and was replaced by Governor Mark Warner, who won by campaigning that he would not raise taxes, but later raised taxes. Virginia Governors must balance the budget every year because it is a state constitutional requirement. Since leaving office in January 2002 state revenue has increased sharply from $40 billion (biennium FY 1998 - 2000) to the current $66 billion (biennium FY 2005-06).

Current Developments

Gilmore has been very influential in developing the homeland security strategy for the nation. From 1999 - 2003 he chaired the Congressional Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction. This congressionally mandated commission is more commonly known as the "Gilmore Commission." All five reports were presented to Presidents Clinton and Bush and the entire Congress each December 15th from 1999 - 2003. Of the Gilmore Commission's 144 recommendations, 125 have been adopted in whole or in part by the Congress and the federal government. The reports can be found at www.rand.org (http://www.rand.org/nsrd/terrpanel). Gilmore also served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from January 2001 until January 2002. He currently works as Chairman of the National Council on Readiness & Preparedness (www.NCORP.org) to build partnerships for first responders, small businesses, local government officials and their entire communities to enhance homeland security while keeping civil freedoms the highest priority for all policymakers. He is also a Partner in Washington, DC at the law firm of Kelley, Drye & Warren [1] (http://www.kelleydrye.com) and is president of USA Secure [2] (http://www.usasecure.org) a non-profit homeland security think tank based in Washington, DC. Mr. Gilmore plans on running for public office again. He and his wife Roxane Gatling Gilmore reside in Richmond and Alexandria, Virginia. They have two sons.

Preceded by: George F. Allen

Governor of Virginia 1998–2002

Succeeded by: Mark Warner