RICHMOND, VA – In Salem today, on the fifth stop of his “InformED Decisions” tour, 2017 Republican gubernatorial nominee Ed Gillespie heard from Virginians about the many challenges they are facing, and shared with them his vision for a safer, stronger Commonwealth.
In addition to other issues, Gillespie discussed his detailed plan to improve public safety in Virginia and expressed his disappointment with the decision the McAuliffe-Northam administration made Friday to to cancel its annual meeting with the Virginia Sheriffs’ Association.
In order for undecided voters to make informed decisions about their choices in this critically important election, they deserve every opportunity to hear directly from their candidates about the challenges the Commonwealth is facing and the solutions they are putting forward to solve them. Gillespie will hold two more “InformED Decisions” stops, as Democratic nominee Ralph Northam has refused to participate in debates and forums that offer Virginians opportunities to learn more about the clear differences in the candidates.
WATCH: “I Will Have Your Back Regardless of Politics”
Transcript
SHERIFF ERIC ORANGE: “There has been a lot of discussion about illegal amnesty and sanctuary cities, and more importantly, focused on the acts of criminal perpetrators such as MS-13, more specifically in Northern Virginia, but we have seen that most recently here with the events that occurred in Bedford County. So what are your plans moving forward as far as working law enforcement throughout the state to address these types of issues?”
ED GILLESPIE: “Well first of all Sheriff, thank you again, Sheriff Leonard for being on the front lines of keeping your fellow Virginians safe. We truly appreciate it. A governor’s principle responsibility, the responsibility of any executive in any government anywhere is the safety and security of the people you are serving. And it will be a priority for me, and things are not good in that regard, and we’ve seen the increase in gang activity in the Commonwealth of Virginia and MS-13 in particular. And it’s not just Northern Virginia, as you mentioned, we are seeing it in the Shenandoah Valley and other parts of the Commonwealth. And in fact, in Northern Virginia we’ve had eight MS-13 related murders since November alone and that’s what’s been publicly reported. And this is a growing concern here in the Commonwealth and gang activity as a whole is a growing concern.
So two answers to your question – Number one is I’ve put forward a plan to combat gang violence in the Commonwealth of Virginia and it includes a number of things. One is it includes reinstituting Project Exile here in the Commonwealth, where we elevate gun crimes to federal offenses, as was done in the nineties and started in Richmond and it did have a very beneficial impact in terms of reducing gun crime.
The second thing is is to have our Commonwealth have policies to allow for people to get easier witness protection for coming forward to identify gang members and gangs in their communities and protect them for helping you find those gangs and get them arrested.
The third thing is we do have to cooperate, MS-13 in particular, many of the MS-13 gang members are not in our country legally, and when someone commits a crime who is our country illegally, our cities and counties need to cooperate with federal authorities and turn them over so that they are deported. And we cannot allow for the establishment of sanctuary cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Now, my opponent, when a bill came to the floor of the State Senate, the Lieutenant Governor voted to allow for cities and counties to establish themselves as sanctuary cities and then when it did pass the current governor vetoed it. And let me just be clear about something, allowing sanctuary cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia will not make our communities safer and I will sign a ban on sanctuary cities in a heartbeat. We cannot have them here and my opponent was wrong to vote in favor of allowing it. Now he says, well, we don’t have any here. And we don’t have any cities or counties that have declared themselves sanctuary cities. But you know what, leadership is not always just responding to a problem, leadership is anticipating a problem and saying we’re not going to have them and we are not going to have to try to unwind them should somebody later on decide that they are going to be one. Because we’ve seen what’s happened in other states where they have allowed their cities and counties and municipalities to declare themselves sanctuary cities, and we don’t want to be in that situation where we are trying to fix a problem. We can stop this from becoming a problem now by enacting that policy and that’s what I support and I would work with you in that regard.
And I am thrilled to have your support, and the support of Sheriff Leonard, and the support of a majority of sheriffs all across the Commonwealth. And I was infuriated by what I learned yesterday that the regular, annual meeting of the Sheriffs’ Association, which does not endorse, as you both know, does not endorse politically but represents the interests of our sheriffs who represent the interests of ourselves and our safety, the annual, regular meeting with the sheriffs to talk about the budget needs and in particular the crunch you are facing with your deputies and the need to correct that, that that was cancelled because a majority of sheriffs in the Commonwealth support me. I don’t know if anyone saw this news account, but it is infuriating and it is incredibly irresponsible on the part of the McAuliffe-Northam administration to cancel a meeting to talk about a critically important public safety issue in the Commonwealth over politics. And I just want you to know Sheriff and Sheriff, and any other sheriff who is watching on Facebook, whether they support me or not, I will have your back. I don’t care you endorse. I don’t care who you endorse. You are fighting for us everyday and I will fight for you as our governor and I will have your back regardless of politics.”
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