The National Republican Senatorial Committee is launching a new line of inquiry into U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine’s time in the governor’s mansion in Richmond, seeking records related to convicted double murderer Jens Soering. Kaine approved an application for Soering’s transfer from Virginia to Germany near the end of his term as governor.
Soering, the son of a German diplomat, is serving two life terms for the 1985 slayings of his girlfriend’s parents.
Under the transfer agreement, Soering could have been eligible for release after two years, but Gov. Bob McDonnell revoked the consent to his transfer soon after his inauguration in 2010.
Kaine said that he had turned down an extradition request from the German government about eight or nine months before his term ended because there was no guarantee Soering would be imprisoned in Germany. Authorities later assured him that they would imprison Soering for a number of years before the possibility of release.
“Once the German government had met that condition and I knew that Jens Soering would be imprisoned in Germany, I basically decided, ‘look, Virginia taxpayers have borne the cost of this German citizen’s incarceration for 20-plus years,’” said Kaine. “I thought it was time for German citizens to bear the cost of his incarceration.”
“I did not believe it would be popular, but I thought it would be the right thing to do,” he said.
But the controvesial request could very well turn into a campaign issue for Kaine, who’s on a potential collision course with former Gov. George Allen. Allen famously led the push to abolished parole in the state during the 1990s.
The NRSC has filed Freedom of Information Act requests with the State Department, Brunswick Correction Center, Buckingham Correctional Center, the Virgina governor’s office, and the Justice Department seeking communications regarding Soering in 2009 and 2010.
“There are over 30,000 inmates currently incarcerated by the Virginia Department of Corrections,” said NRSC Communications Director Brian Walsh. “Considering that huge number, it seems fair to ask why this particular double-murderer, who also has German diplomatic connections, received not only Tim Kaine’s attention, but his time and effort as well.”
