Gov. Terry McAuliffe broke the record for most vetoes by a Virginia governor Thursday by striking two Republican-backed bills aimed at protecting religious groups that oppose same-sex marriage.
McAuliffe, a Democrat in the last year of his four-year term, vetoed the bills during a live radio appearance on Washington’s WTOP, calling them “another attempt to stigmatize” LGBT Virginians.
“You already have religious protection. Why would you push this bill out that does absolutely nothing?” McAuliffe said. “All you’re doing is trying to divide people. And I’m just not going to tolerate it.”
The vetoes of House Bill 2025 and Senate Bill 1324 are McAuliffe’s 90th and 91st, pushing McAuliffe past the previous 90-veto record set by former Republican Gov. Jim Gilmore, who was in office from 1998 to 2002. Later in the day, McAuliffe’s veto tally rose to 97.
The milestone reflects Virginia’s divided state government, with Democrats holding all executive offices and Republicans holding the General Assembly with majorities in both the House of Delegates and the Senate. McAuliffe has attributed his high veto count to Republicans’ insistence on passing controversial bills knowing full well that they wouldn’t get past the governor’s desk.
“No one should be surprised,” McAuliffe said.
Republican leaders have said the vetoes show McAuliffe’s disinterest in working with the legislature and have argued some of the bills aren’t as divisive as the governor makes them out to be.
McAuliffe had already vetoed bills this year to legalize switchblades for some purposes, defund Planned Parenthood, allow home-schooled students to play on public school sports teams, let military members younger than 21 apply for concealed handgun permits, and add photo ID requirements for absentee ballots.
Republicans pitched the religious freedom bills, which LGBT advocates denounced as discriminatory, as necessary protection for churches and other religious-affiliated groups that receive government funding and contracts. To justify the need for the bill, Republicans pointed specifically to an executive order McAuliffe signed early this year that bans companies that discriminate against LGBT people from receiving state contracts. Some claimed the order could jeopardize state assistance for religious groups that help resettle refugees.
“It’s no surprise the governor once again acted out of religious bigotry and vetoed this modest protection for religious charities,” said Victoria Cobb, president of the conservative Family Foundation of Virginia. “Where there is disagreement over cultural issues, protecting the religious freedom right to dissent — to speak that dissent and to act on that dissent — is essential.”
McAuliffe has repeatedly vowed to oppose bills on social issues such as abortion and gay rights that he says could hurt Virginia’s economy by causing businesses to steer clear when searching for new locations.
Legislators will reconvene April 5 in Richmond to take up the governor’s vetoes and potentially override them if two-thirds of both chambers vote to do so. However, the governor has never had a veto overridden because Republicans lack veto-proof majorities, giving McAuliffe a perfect 71-0 veto record.
Keeping his pristine score may have partly motivated McAuliffe to sign some legislation he may not be enthusiastic about. McAuliffe vetoed a GOP-sponsored bill last year to allow retired law enforcement officers to carry guns in schools for security purposes, but he signed the legislation this year after tighter vetting measures were added.
McAuliffe’s veto record is expected to be a recurring talking point in this year’s governor’s race as Democrats seek to highlight what could happen if Republicans gain control of both the legislature and the executive branch.
“If you have a Republican governor sitting in the governor’s chair, these 91 pieces of legislation will be signed,” McAuliffe said. “And what you will have done is say businesses are not wanted in Virginia.”
McAuliffe kept the vetoes coming after his radio appearance. By late Thursday afternoon, the total grew to 97 after McAuliffe announced he had vetoed six education-related bills, including hotly debated legislation that would require schools to notify parents of assignments that may involve sexually explicit material. In his veto message for the bill, McAuliffe noted that the Board of Education had already considered the issue and decided that existing policies suffice.
Policymakers had struggled with how to define “sexually explicit,” but legislators attempted to solve that problem this year by specifying that it means any act covered by the state’s “crimes against nature” statute, which covers incest and bestiality. The legislation, which McAuliffe also vetoed in 2016, was inspired by a Fairfax County parent who said her son reacted negatively to scenes in Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Beloved” depicting bestiality and gang rape.
McAuliffe also nixed education bills that would allow the state board to create regional charter schools with or without permission from local school boards, create a freestanding agency offering online education programs for Virginia students, and direct public funds to education savings accounts that parents could use to enroll their children in private schools.
McAuliffe said the bills collectively have the effect of “undermining” the state’s public schools.
Ed Gillespie, the Republican front-runner in the Virginia governor’s race, released a statement criticizing McAuliffe’s education vetoes. Gillespie said he would sign the bills that would “expand opportunities in education,” but did not mention the bill on sexually explicit content.
“Earlier today, Governor McAuliffe was on the radio bragging about setting a gubernatorial record for vetoes,” Gillespie said. “I’ve never seen a governor so proud of everything he didn’t get done for the commonwealth.”
