Kaine Calls Opponent's Ads 'Egregious Misrepresentation'

Kilgore Defends Accuracy of Death Penalty Claims

RICHMOND, Oct. 13 -- Democratic gubernatorial candidate Timothy M. Kaine challenged the accuracy of television ads criticizing his stance on the death penalty Thursday, saying they were designed to mislead Virginians.

In a conference call with reporters, Kaine said one of the ads, unveiled by Republican candidate Jerry W. Kilgore on Tuesday, misstates the details of the work he did in a 1997 death penalty appeal. He said it illustrates that Kilgore "cannot be trusted" with facts regarding his record.

"This whole issue about this ad is about trust," Kaine said. "Time and time again during this campaign Jerry Kilgore has been called out . . . for egregious misrepresentation of facts. This is the most egregious misrepresentation and the most outrageous representation yet. Virginians respect the truth and know who they can trust."

In the ad, Stanley Rosenbluth, whose son and daughter-in-law were slain in 1993 in a drug deal gone awry, according to court documents, says Kaine "voluntarily represented the person who murdered my son." The Kilgore campaign is using the ad to suggest that Kaine's personal opposition to the death penalty places him outside the Virginia mainstream.

"That statement and representation is . . . frankly false," said Kaine, a former civil rights lawyer who is now the state's lieutenant governor.

Kaine said he served only as an assistant on the appeal of convicted murderer Mark Sheppard and spent less than an hour working on the case. "I never met Mark Sheppard. I didn't know Mark Sheppard. I never visited him. I never spoke with him," Kaine said.

Kilgore, in his own conference call, said that Kaine was running from his own record.

"We stand by our ad," Kilgore said. "These comments are disturbing in their cynical stand and their intentional misrepresentation of all the facts about Tim Kaine and his activist stand against the death penalty."

Kaine also took issue with Rosenbluth, who said in the 60-second ad: "Tim Kaine says that Adolf Hitler doesn't qualify for the death penalty."

Rosenbluth is president and co-founder of Virginians United Against Crime, an Arlington-based victims' rights group that has lobbied the General Assembly.

"The claim . . . that I wouldn't carry out a death sentence for Adolf Hitler is the most egregious and prejudicial kind of statement by a desperate candidate," Kaine said. "It's far below the standard that somebody should try to meet if they want to be governor of seven-and-a-half million Virginians."

The tense exchanges between the candidates illustrated the fierce pitch of the campaign since Sunday's third and final debate.