I’m Ed Gillespie.
I’m running for Governor of Virginia.
Thanks for being here.
Thanks for having me.
So big picture here you're an establishment figure running in the Trump era.
How's that working for you?
You know everywhere I go in Virginia and I go everywhere in Virginia people are responsive
to my message about you know reorienting our approach to economic development and putting
a greater focus on startups and scale ups making it easier to open a new business in
Virginia to expand an existing one.
And so you know people are interested in ideas and policies and how are we going to improve
life for all Virginians.
And I have a plan that will make our future better for all Virginians.
And I find everywhere I go people are very responsive and appreciative of that approach.
It is you're in a little bit of a tricky situation in that Trump clearly did not win in November
but he did win the Republican primary.
That said it doesn't seem like the most Trump style opponent in the in the in the primaries
is gaining much traction traction.
But how do you how do you interpret the Trump win nationally and what it says about both
parties really?
I think it revealed a concern about our future and I see that here in Virginia.
You know we've had three straight years now where more people have moved out of Virginia
than into Virginia.
It had never happened at all since we started collecting that data in 1978 and now we've
had three straight years of it.
For 10 years now we've been swapping out high paying jobs for low paying jobs and our economic
growth is anemic.
You know the most recent year we have was was a 2 percent growth rate which is pathetic
but that was the first time in five years we've got above 1 percent and I feel the economic
anxiety with my fellow Virginians as I travel the Commonwealth and it's more pronounced
in certain parts of Virginia than other parts.
But everywhere you know I was just meeting with a large group of women here in Northern
Virginia talking about economic opportunity and I told a story about a young woman I was
talking to a couple of weeks ago 26 years old grew up here in Northern Virginia moved
in her teen years to Richmond went to high school in Richmond went to JMU and got a nursing
degree.
And she's living in Houston, Texas right now and she'd rather be living in Virginia.
But the opportunities aren't here.
Now the man you liked to replace would say we'd create all these health care jobs and
employ that nurse bring her back.
If we just expanded Medicaid under Obamacare.
What's your thought about that?
Well if you look at the states that have expanded Medicaid they've put their taxpayers on the
hook long term for a significant hit and you're already seeing it now even before there is
more of a cost shift to the States.
And so I've got policies and I'm going to put them forward.
I have nine different policy development working groups.
Health care is one of them.
Each of these policy working groups is co-chaired by a member of our state senate or our house
of delegates so that I can hit the ground running if I'm elected to to get this agenda
introduced in our assembly and we can make healthcare more affordable and more accessible
without expanding the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
And we need to take a different approach.
We do need to make it more affordable more accessible.
But Medicaid expansion is not the right answer for Virginia
And looking at Obamacare more broadly this came up in the debate and also back in 2014
when you ran for Senate there there are people who point to your book here will give a little
plug.
And Corey Stewart was pitching your book in the in the last debate and saying how Page
245 you endorse the individual mandate.
And so you did explore this this issue of having every emancipated adult capable of
providing his or her health care do so possibly through the the tax code.
Is that is that not a version of the individual mandate which I think originally came out
of the Heritage Foundation or of or or or some conservative think tank?
Well a couple of things.
First of all thanks for plugging the book "Winning Rights: Campaign politics and conservative
policies" and I wrote it in 2006 and I always say if you had bet my college roommates 30
years ago that Ed Gillespie would ever read a book let alone write one you wouldn't have
had any takers.
But I'm proud of that book and I did talk about the health care debate that was going
on at the time in 2006 and talked about expanding health savings accounts which I think is you
know a good policy.
I talked about tax credits which is what I was talking about in that in that chapter
of the book and what the debate was at the time.
There is a big difference between a tax credit and a mandate.
You know people who take a tax credit for a home for home buying are not mandated to
buy a home.
People who take a tax credit for health insurance are not mandated to buy health insurance.
We do want to make it more affordable.
And that was one of the options.
There's a lot of different options that have come into play.
Obviously over the past 11 years.
And that's what Congress is looking at now in terms of their debate over repealing and
replacing the Affordable Care Act.
How do you how do you make it more affordable get more people covered.
Without the mandate and I fought the mandate tooth and nail as you know during the course
of the debate of the Affordable Care Act Obamacare as it was moving through Congress and vigorously
opposed the mandates so I oppose a mandate.
So you were looking more carrot than stick on that in terms of you saw the benefit of
inducing more people to provide their own insurance?
Look I think we need to make healthcare more affordable for more Americans and for more
Virginians with our state policy.
But there is a very significant difference from an employer mandate versus a you know
a tax credit.
Right now you've you rolled out an ethics package and you've put in.
You've also accepted the endorsement of Bob McDonnell who is on 60 Minutes the other night.
Was he wrong?
I felt watching that show he was saying he wouldn't do it again.
But he wasn't particularly remorseful about taking taking the gifts.
You know what I saw him say was that he complied with the laws of the Commonwealth at the time.
I think that the Supreme Court seemed to at the end of the day side with him in that regard
we've passed some policies in response to that since but I believe there's much more
we need to do and I've unveiled a 15 point plan.
I call it my faith in government for all Virginians plan and faith stands for fairness accountability
integrity transparency and honesty and the first thing I will do if elected governor
of the Commonwealth we love is sign an executive order that is a zero gift ban.
No gifts at all for me for my immediate family for my appointees.
I will also make sure that our state legislators and I'm proud that they have joined me in
calling for this.
That no personal use of campaign funds and also put an end to the bait and switch practice
that elected officials have been able to use here in the Commonwealth where they raise
money to run for one office and then use it to run for another office that's unfair to
people who don't hold elected office makes it very difficult for them to run for office.
Now when you unveiled that there was some pushback from folks who said oh my gosh Ed
Gillespie he's but he's been in government that he's been a lobbyist back and forth.
He's he's been in the revolving door.
Does that does that mean that you know this is Chutzpah to propose this or is that you've
seen up close and you know what what needs to be done.
You know I think my experience working at the highest levels of government as counselor
to the president of the United States in the White House and the Capitol and helping to
draft the contract with America and implemented helping to get the first balanced federal
budget that we had in 25 years my private sector experience I have started three successful
small businesses.
Kathy I know what it's like to put your house down as the collateral on a loan that you
used to pay rent and meet payroll for the first year you open your doors and I think
all those experiences and insights that I've gained in my professional life help inform
me and would help make me an effective governor.
I think it's important to have a governor in particular given how dependent we remain
on federal policies and federal spending.
Who knows how to get things done in Washington D.C. for our fellow Virginians who can work
with a Republican majority in the House and the Senate and a Republican president and
administration for policies that affect us very directly here in the commonwealth.
I think it's helpful to have someone who has my experience in the private sector on Capitol
Hill and the executive branch be able to make sure that when it comes to those federal policies
that so directly affect us in Virginia that we get them right.
On immigration of Corey Stewart and some others have have tried to suggest that you in advocating
for the Gang of Eight compromise you that you were, while not necessarily saying you
liked every aspect of that deal were saying, "hey I think I think the deal is a good one
and the deal did include a pathway to citizenship even though I think you personally have always
advocated for pathway to legal status or something a little distinction but I think we're in
an era where any kind of compromise is viewed with great suspicion.
So I guess I'm asking two things.
Is that a is that a fair characterization of your of your stance.
And is that is that something that that you have to explain in this era when people don't
necessarily want nuance or giving giving in any giving anything to the other side?
Yeah I've always opposed amnesty for people who have come in here come here illegally.
My father came to this country as a boy from Ireland because my grandfather found work
in America as a janitor and my parents you know my my father and his father they came
here legally through Ellis Island and they play by the rules and we have a lot of Virginians
who have come here legally and played by the rules and you know we need to respect those
rules.
You know even with President Bush in the White House when he was advocating a path to citizenship
as you may know I opposed that wrote an op ed in The Wall Street Journal saying that
that's a bridge too far and we shouldn't you know reward people who have come here illegally
with one of the greatest things that we can confer in the world which is American citizenship.
And so I do oppose you know citizenship because I do consider that to be amnesty.
I do think and I ran in the in my Senate race on what I think were commonsense reforms that
would have been helpful at the federal level you know on a state level we have some policies
although immigration is federal policy but there are some things I think that are important
here we had for example Ralph Northam cast a tie breaking vote and in support of allowing
for sanctuary cities to be established in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
I don't think that's a good idea for us.
I also believe that we should not issue state issued legal identification driver's licenses
to people who are here illegally.
And you know we have a challenge for Virginia's students being able to get into our great
public colleges and universities.
And we need to make sure that people who are playing by the rules are first in line in
that regard.
And I know that you know young people who were brought here by their parents illegally
through no fault of their own.
I appreciate that.
But you know we can't ask our taxpayers to subsidize their tuition and deny it to people
to Virginians who are here legally and are citizens of the commonwealth.
And yet both Tom Perriello and Ralph Northam support subsidized in-state tuition for people
who are here illegally.
We we haven't had too much on social issues social issues so far with the exception of
there's been some talk of abortion but I'm wondering where are you on on gay marriage
these days?
Well you know as governor you enforce the laws and the Supreme Court has made clear
that gay marriage is is the law and I will enforce our laws.
And you know obviously gay marriage is the law.
I don't seek to change it.
And on abortion.
Would you like to roll back some of the things that Governor McAuliffe has done by executive
order
I certainly would want to ensure the safety of women in the Commonwealth to make sure
that that you know clinics are meet health standards to reduce risk to women.
As you know I'm pro-life and I do oppose abortion with exceptions for the life of the mother
being in danger of rape or incest.
In terms of a governorship you know the authority that you have is rather limited to regulations
and things like that.
And I would want to make sure that we have health standards.
By the way I should note I know I have a lot of friends who you know don't agree with all
of my exceptions.
You know in terms of my pro-life positions and I respect that I have a lot of friends
who don't agree with my pro-life position as a whole and I accept that too.
But I do believe there are some you know some areas of consensus that that most Virginians
would agree can be some some common ground and we should look to find that.
What's your guilty pleasure if you're not busy running for governor or whatever.
What do you have some fun?
Well you know anytime I I'm with our family with my family that's that's as fun as it
gets for me.
But my guilty pleasure I guess I would say are ice cream stands and I know the best ice
cream stands all across Virginia and there is some very very good ones and that is that
is kind of my weakness on the trail.
What's your flavor?
Well you my flavors vary.
You know if there's if there's specials I like those.
I was at Clines in Harrisonburg a couple of weeks ago and their special was cherry nut
and my friend Suzanne Obenshain strongly recommended it.
And it was.
It was a good recommendation.
Great.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.