McDonnell proposes tougher drug dealer sentencing, sex predator monitoring
By: William C. Flook
Examiner Staff Writer
August 13, 2009
The Republican nominees for Virginia governor and attorney general proposed on Wednesday to implement harsher minimum sentences for drug dealers, lifetime monitoring for sexual predators and greater funding for drug treatment courts.
Bob McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli, both conservative lawyers, rolled out a broad public safety package they argued would protect children from sex offenders and abusive parents, aid addiction recovery, and make Virginia “one of the most hostile environments in America” for drug dealers.
The proposal would create a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for a second drug-dealing conviction and would double the sentence for a third conviction to 10 years.
The proposal to boost funding for drug treatment courts puts McDonnell at odds with the House of Delegates. It comes only month after the Republican-controlled House threatened to cut funding for all 14 of the programs, which are designed to reduce recidivism and criminal court workloads.
“We must do all we can to lock up the drug dealers peddling these poisons on our streets, while also helping our fellow Virginians who may have made a mistake, and simply need a hand up to turn things around,” McDonnell said.
The package would mandate lifetime monitoring for sexually violent predators who do not qualify for civil commitment but are still dangerous.
The Republicans also proposed to speed the process of taking children away from abusive or neglectful parents by sending their appeals directly to the Court of Appeals instead of the Circuit Court.
McDonnell and his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Creigh Deeds, are both former prosecutors. McDonnell narrowly bested Deeds in a 2005 race for Virginia attorney general that also focused on cracking down on drug dealers and sexual predators.
In response to McDonnell, the Deeds campaign released a statement from Arlington County Sheriff Beth Arthur praising the Democrat for authoring both “Megan’s law,” which put the state sex offender registry online, and for writing the legislation to create the Amber Alert System.
Cuccinelli is running against Democrat Steve Shannon to replace McDonnell, who stepped down as the state’s top lawyer to run full time for governor.
Shannon on Wednesday rolled out a package of anti-drunken-driving initiatives that would expand police sobriety checkpoints and seize vehicles on a second offense.
