Tim Kaine, last Tuesday: “Kaine said his schedule is no secret, but that it has not traditionally been the case that the governor’s openly political events are posted on his public schedule. He said that anyone who wants to know what he’s up to for the DNC is free to ask him at any number of public forums that he attends as governor.”
Apparently the rule is that you can ask; he just didn’t clarify that he would answer those questions.
Today, Tim Kaine denied a FOIA request for his DNC travel schedule.
The Republican party of Virginia thought about fighting this in court, but is thinking of the state’s financial resources: “To continue our pursuit of the documents in question would leave us with the only option of taking the issue to litigation,” said Republican party of Virginia chairman Pat Mullins. “That course of action would occupy state resources in the use of the public court system and the governor’s counsel in defending their refusal. In this time of economic difficulty and massive budget shortfalls in Virginia, I cannot in good conscience approve such a proceeding.”
Still, it’s nice to know that King Kaine grants his subjects the right to ask about where he is on any given day. After all, it’s not like there have been any recent controversies about governors not being on the job when they say they are.