The Daily Gamecock

Spotlight: Presidential candidate Jim Gilmore

Reporters get a sound bite from former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore as he enters the Koger Center at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina, Tuesday, May 15, 2007. Gilmore was on hand for a walkthrough prior to a televised Republican Presidential debate. (Gary O'Brien/Charlotte Observer/MCT)
Reporters get a sound bite from former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore as he enters the Koger Center at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina, Tuesday, May 15, 2007. Gilmore was on hand for a walkthrough prior to a televised Republican Presidential debate. (Gary O'Brien/Charlotte Observer/MCT)

Among the many 2016 Republican presidential hopefuls is Jim Gilmore, former governor of Virginia, a lesser-known candidate with big ideas.

On Nov. 12, the Conservative Leadership Project continued their presidential forum series, this time featuring Jim Gilmore. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson moderated the forum, which was held in the student senate chambers in Russell House. Gilmore and Wilson discussed a myriad of topics, including climate change and the looming possibility of appointing new Supreme Court justices.

Prior to the forum, The Daily Gamecock sat down with candidate Gilmore and asked him why he deserves the support of USC students in the upcoming primary.

A native of Richmond, Virginia, Gilmore attended the University for Virginia both as an undergraduate and a law student. After serving as an intelligence agent for NATO during the Cold War, Gilmore returned to Virginia where he worked as a prosecutor before snagging Virginia's attorney general seat. Gilmore was eventually elected to be the 68th governor of the state from 1998 to 2002.

“The main thing I was doing as governor was building jobs and advancing technology," Gilmore said. "I put in place the first technology secretary in the cabinet during my term. I also did quite a bit on mental health and a lot on education. I added 4,000 teachers into the education system in Virginia to reduce class sizes and get a better connect between students and their teachers."

During his time as governor, Gilmore was elected to be the chairman of the Republican National Committee. He also served as the head of two major commissions for the federal government, the second of which was National Commission on Terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction for the United States.

“That was a big commission, and I chaired that for 3 years," Gilmore said. "We issued three reports, and then the 9/11 attacks happened. I had to deal with that because the first attack that day was New York, but the second attack that day was on the Pentagon in Virginia, and so I had to address that issue and deal with that issue as governor."

In light of the recent tragedies and gross acts of terrorism that plagued Paris over the weekend, the topic of foreign policy, as related to terrorism and ISIS, has become even more significant. Prior to the attacks, Gilmore spoke of his own experience, citing his work as an intelligence agent for NATO during the Cold War.

“For NATO, an intelligence agent, and the experience was that I understand what defense measures are all about, I understand what it is when you are facing a determined adversary and I understand what it is when you're a soldier on the ground with that type of situation and that is an experience, as a veteran, that no one else in the race has," Gilmore said.

Gilmore continued to emphasize his experience with foreign policy when discussing the current state of chaos in the Middle East.

“What we are facing is the dissolution of the Middle East totally, and the problem is it can bare on the interest and the safety of the United States as we saw with 9/11,” Gilmore said. “The United States has to be actively engaged, and I have called for the creation of a new Middle East NATO. I'm the only candidate that has done that and it is for the purpose of assisting american leadership and injecting some stability into the situation before it completely blows to pieces."

In regards to the current economic situation in the United States, Gilmore expressed his belief that our country needs a shift in attitude to correct the issues involving the economy.

“The mission of the country has to change for the growth of the American economy," he said. "In the last ten years there have been laws put into place that make it very hard to start businesses, they have to be changed, altered or repealed. I have an affirmative program of tax reform which will grow the economy, so the first thing I’d do as president is stop the deliberate policy of hurting the economy and I would put in an affirmative program to help the economy and help these colleges kids find work and get them started."

He also discussed student loan debt and the lack of jobs available to recent college graduates in the United States.

“The message to younger Americans is that we have to have a robust economy with more jobs and more growth and more opportunity so that younger people have some good options," Gilmore said. "If you have more jobs and fewer people, then wages go up. And that plan on raising wages works, it's the only thing that works."


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