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Families Pressure Kaine on Va. Tech
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Kaine declined to comment, calling it a liability issue.
"That's not my focus," Kaine said. "My obligation is to try to find out what went right and what wrong and what we can do to try to improve it."
But the relatives' request to be represented on the panel has touched off controversy about an appropriate role for them.
Two weeks ago, Kaine was caught by surprise when relatives of 13 victims met in Fairfax County to issue a statement condemning the review work of the panel, which has held three public meetings.
The relatives, who have retained Vienna lawyer Thomas J. Fadoul Jr., said in the strongly worded statement that they felt "ostracized" by the panel.
Kaine had said the panel's objectivity might be compromised by including someone with an emotional connection to the shootings. The relatives, however, have said they don't think the panel will be aggressive enough in uncovering the facts about the rampage. Fadoul has said the panel has "an inherent conflict of interest" because "the state is investigating the state."
Peter Read of Annandale, whose daughter, Mary Karen, was killed, said the families want to guarantee that lessons will be learned from the deaths of their loved ones.
"From the family members' perspective, we are here because our children, our husbands, our wives, our daughters can't be here," Read said. "So we are here for them. Everything we asked for, we asked for them. They deserve the fullest possible accounting of what happened."
The Virginia Tech relatives' efforts to organize are similar to those made by family members who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. They persuaded President Bush and Congress to form a commission to investigate the attacks.
Former New Jersey Gov. Thomas H. Kean (R), who chaired that commission, said the Virginia Tech relatives "need to be brought along at every step" of the Kaine panel investigation.
"It turned out the families became the wind in our sails at the 9-11 commission," Kean said. "Though we had some disagreements, it was so transparent that when the final recommendations were made, they agreed. . . . And they became the best lobbyists we had."
