ATTORNEY GENERAL CANDIDATES DIVERGE ON CRIME FOCUS

RICHMOND -- The two Republicans who want to be the state's next attorney
general agree that Virginia is already pretty tough on crime.

That hasn't stopped the candidates from promising to make it even tougher.

Del. Robert F. McDonnell of Virginia Beach is calling for increased prison
time for sex crimes, while Richmond lawyer Steve Baril wants to make sure
repeat drug offenders spend time behind bars.

The state's top lawyer can influence policy on public safety by sponsoring
legislation, but the primary function is more mundane. The winner in this
year's election will oversee an office with more than 100 lawyers who
handle criminal appeals and represent state agencies and the legislature in
court.

Voters, however, are more interested in law enforcement, so candidates
emphasize their crime-busting credentials.

Both men have impressive legal resumes, but they've taken different career
paths. Baril is a private lawyer specializing in civil law and is president
of Richmond's bar association. McDonnell is a former assistant
commonwealth's attorney and chairman of the legislative panel that reviews
legal matters for the House of Delegates.

Baril has derided McDonnell as a "career politician " and argued that Jerry
W. Kilgore and Jim Gilmore were strong attorneys general even though they
never served in the state legislature.

Kilgore and Gilmore were former prosecutors, however. Gilmore endorsed
McDonnell this month, saying his experience as a prosecutor gives him the edge.

The winner of the June 14 primary will face Democrat R. Creigh Deeds, 47, a
state senator and former prosecutor from rural Bath County. Deeds has no
challengers in the primary.

McDonnell, 50, has assembled a well-organized staff and gathered
endorsements from more than 100 congressional, state and local officials.
His approach to campaigning reflects his military ties. His father was a
World War II veteran, and McDonnell joined the U.S. Army after his college
graduation, serving 21 years in active duty and the reserves.

Although he has never held elected office, Baril, 50, has impressed
political observers by edging out McDonnell in fundraising. Baril, whose
stepfather was a police officer in Chesterfield County, has spent much of
his campaign criticizing the voluntary guidelines used by judges to mete
out punishments. The standards were created to ensure that similar crimes
are treated consistently across the state, but Baril said there has been a
"steady dumbing down" of the guidelines over recent years. As a result, he
said, defendants convicted of theft and drug possession rarely receive jail
time.

Baril wants more nonviolent criminals with multiple convictions to spend
time behind bars. He said he doesn't know how much it would cost the state
to construct more jails and prisons to house the additional inmates.

"In the real world, politicians have to consider cost, but there's a cost
associated when people are not safe," he said. "If it is the right thing to
do, the public will agree to it because they want to be safe."

McDonnell said Baril's criticisms are "flat wrong" because judges have the
ability to impose stiffer sentences than those recommended by the
guidelines. About 10 percent of all sentences in Virginia exceed the
guidelines, McDonnell said.

McDonnell also said Baril would politicize the courts by requiring that
changes in sentencing guidelines be approved by the legislature rather than
an independent commission of judges and lawyers.

The two men who led the panel that oversaw the sentencing changes and the
abolition of parole in Virginia in the mid-1990s have sided with McDonnell
in the dispute. Former U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr and former
Virginia Attorney General Richard Cullen released a letter this month
rebuking Baril for trying to "score political points by proposing longer
sentences for virtually every crime."

The two men in their letter said prison sentences for non violent offenders
in Virginia already are among the stiffest in the nation and warned that
increased incarceration rates could cost "hundreds of millions in tax dollars."

Baril said he isn't arguing that all criminal offenders should be locked
up. He said he wants to expand the use of drug courts, which offer
treatment, training and supervision to addicted defendants. Sixteen court
systems in Virginia offer the specialized programs, and another 10 are in
the planning stages. Baril said he would support state funding to help
start the programs, but he did not specify an amount.

McDonnell said he will support expanding drug courts only if an ongoing
study by the Virginia Supreme Court concludes that they are effective in
reducing recidivism. He said it will cost $7 million annually to operate
drug courts statewide.

McDonnell said he would be an advocate as attorney general for tougher
penalties for violent sex offenders. He wants to increase minimum sentences
for anyone convicted of raping minors. He also wants to pay for new types
of electronic monitoring in Virginia that would allow probation officers to
monitor sex offenders' movements round-the-clock . Existing technology used
by the state simply notifies authorities when offenders fail to return home
from work by a given time.

Although McDonnell claims his lengthy career in public service as an asset,
Baril has mined his opponent's record and found fault with his handling of
some issues.

Baril said McDonnell must take much of the blame for allowing judges to be
inappropriately questioned during legislative interviews.

McDonnell leads one of the two General Assembly committees that determine
whether judges should be re appointed.

In 2003, a Newport News judge was removed from the bench amid accusations
that she sexually harassed another woman. Legislators also demanded that
two other judges, both women, explain their rulings in child custody cases
involving lesbians.

Baril said such political displays discourage qualified candidates from
seeking judgeships.

"It has never been accepted that a judge would be grilled about specific
decisions in a specific case," he said.

Baril also said McDonnell was out of line when he stated publicly that
lawmakers have the right in performance reviews to consider whether a judge
had committed sodomy. Baril said that inappropriate comment was exacerbated
when a reporter asked McDonnell whether he had ever committed sodomy and
the delegate flippantly replied, "Not that I recall."

"That led to him personally injecting his own sexual preferences into the
discussion," Baril said. "You talk about a guy just getting hoisted on his
own petard. It does bring his judg ment into question."

McDonnell said he regrets the personal comment.

"That's what I get for talking to a reporter at 8 o'clock at night when I'm
tired," he said.

He also acknowledged that he should have notified the judges of which cases
would be discussed during their performance reviews. However, he defends
his handling of the interviews.

McDonnell said legislators may ask a judge about a specific legal case as
long as they do not attempt to tell the judge how he or she should have
ruled. He said he did not allow members of his committee to cross that line.