Mark Warner

Mark Robert Warner (born December 15, 1954) is an American politician and businessman, currently serving as the junior United States Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Warner was the 69th governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006 and is the honorary chairman of the Forward Together PAC. Warner delivered the keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Apart from politics, Warner is also known for his involvement in telecommunications-related venture capital during the 1980s; he founded the firm Columbia Capital.

In 2006 he was widely expected to pursue the Democratic nomination in the 2008 U.S. presidential elections; however, he announced in October 2006 that he would not run, citing a desire not to disrupt his family life. Warner was considered to be a potential vice presidential candidate, but upon receiving the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate, he announced that he "will not accept any other opportunity." He is expected to become the state's senior senator when Jim Webb retires from the Senate in January 2013.

Early life, education, and business career
Warner was born in Indianapolis, Indiana; he is the son of Marjorie (née Johnston) and Robert F. Warner, and is the older brother of Lisa Warner. He grew up in Illinois, and later in Vernon, Connecticut, where he graduated from Rockville High School. He attributes his interest in politics to his eighth grade social studies teacher, Jim Tyler, who "inspired him to work for social and political change during the tumultuous year of 1968." Warner was class president for three years at Rockville High School and hosted a weekly pick-up basketball game at his house, "a tradition that continues today."

Warner later went on to major in political science at The George Washington University (GW), earning his B.A. in 1977 with a 4.0 GPA. He was valedictorian of his class at GW and the first in his family to graduate from college. At GW he had worked on Capitol Hill to pay for his tuition, riding his bike early mornings to the office of U.S. Senator Abe Ribicoff, Democrat from Connecticut. When his parents visited him at college, he obtained two tickets for them to tour the White House; when his father asked him why he didn't get a ticket for himself, he replied, "I'll see the White House when I'm president." After graduation, Warner attended Harvard Law School, where he coached the school's first intramural women's basketball team and received his Juris Doctor in 1980. Warner has never practiced law.

In the early 1980s, Warner served as a staff member to U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd, also a Democrat from Connecticut. He later used his knowledge of federal telecommunication law and policies as a broker of mobile phone franchise licenses, making a significant fortune. According to one source, this knowledge was gained while working as fundraiser for Democrats. As founder and managing director of Columbia Capital, a venture capital firm, he helped found or was an early investor in a number of technology companies. He was one of the early investors in Nextel, co-founded Capital Cellular Corporation, and built up an estimated net worth of more than $200 million.

State activism
Warner involved himself in public efforts related to health care, telecommunications, information technology and education. He managed Douglas Wilder's successful 1989 gubernatorial campaign and served as chairman of the state Democratic Party from 1993-1995.

1996 U.S. Senate election
He unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1996 against incumbent Republican John Warner (no relation) in a "Warner versus Warner" election. Mark Warner performed strongly in the state's rural areas, making the contest much closer than many pundits expected. He lost to the incumbent, 52%-47%, losing most parts of the state including the North.

2001 election
In 2001 Warner campaigned for governor as a moderate Democrat after years of slowly building up a power base in rural Virginia, particularly Southwest Virginia.

He defeated Republican candidate Mark Earley, the state attorney general, in "Mark versus Mark" election, with 52.16 percent, a margin of 96,943 votes. Warner had a significant funding advantage, spending $20 million compared with Earley's $10 million. Warner also benefited from dissension in Republican ranks after a heated battle for the nomination between Earley, backed by religious conservatives, and then-lieutenant governor John H. Hager, some of whose supporters later openly backed Warner. In the same election, Republican Jerry Kilgore was elected attorney general, and Democrat Tim Kaine was elected lieutenant governor. In his campaign for governor in 2001, Warner said that he would not raise taxes.

Tenure
After he was elected in 2002, Warner drew upon a $900 million "rainy day fund" left by his predecessor, James S. Gilmore, III. Warner also campaigned in favor of two regional sales tax increases (Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads) to fund transportation. Virginians rejected both regional referendums to raise the sales tax in 2002. In 2004, Warner worked with Democratic and moderate Republican legislators and the business community to reform the tax code, lowering food and some income taxes while increasing the sales and cigarette taxes. Warner's tax package effected a net tax increase of approximately $1.5 billion annually. Warner credited the additional revenues with saving the state's AAA bond rating, held at the time by only five other states, and allowing the single largest investment in K-12 education in Virginia history. Warner also entered into an agreement with Democrats and moderate Republicans in the Virginia Senate to cap state car tax reimbursements to local governments, which had the effect of increasing car taxes in many localities.

During his tenure as Governor, Warner also influenced the world of college athletics. "Warner used his power as Virginia’s governor in 2003 to pressure the Atlantic Coast Conference into revoking an invitation it had already extended to Syracuse University. Warner wanted the conference, which already included the University of Virginia, to add Virginia Tech instead — and he got his way."

Warner's popularity may have helped Democrats gain seats in the Virginia House of Delegates in 2003 and again in 2005, reducing the majorities built up by Republicans in the 1990s. Warner chaired the National Governors Association in 2004-05 and led a national high school reform movement. He also chaired the Southern Governors' Association and was a member of the Democratic Governors Association. In January 2005, a two-year study the Government Performance Project, in conjunction with Governing magazine and the Pew Charitable Trust graded each state in four management categories: money, people, infrastructure and information. Virginia and Utah received the highest ratings average with both states receiving an A- rating overall, prompting Warner to dub Virginia "the best managed state in the nation."



Kaine and Kilgore both sought to succeed Warner as governor of Virginia. (The Virginia Constitution forbids any governor from serving consecutive terms; so Warner could not have run for a second term in 2005.) On November 8, 2005, Kaine, the former mayor of Richmond, won with 52% of the vote. Kilgore, who had resigned as attorney general in February 2005 to campaign full time and who had previously served as Virginia secretary of public safety, received 46% of the vote. Russ Potts, a Republican state senator, also ran for governor as an independent, receiving 2% of the vote. Warner had supported and campaigned for Kaine, and many national pundits considered Kaine's victory to be further evidence of Warner's political clout in Virginia, as well as a signal of his viability as a presidential candidate.

On November 29, 2005, Warner commuted the death sentence of Robin Lovitt to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Lovitt was convicted of murdering Clayton Dicks at an Arlington pool hall in 1999. After his trial in 2001, a court clerk illegally destroyed evidence that was used against Lovitt during his trial, but that could have possibly exonerated him upon further DNA testing. Lovitt's death sentence would have been the 1,000th carried out in the United States since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment as permissible under the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution in 1976. In a statement, Warner said, "The actions of an agent of the commonwealth, in a manner contrary to the express direction of the law, comes at the expense of a defendant facing society's most severe and final sanction." Warner denied clemency in 11 other death penalty cases that came before him as governor.

Warner also arranged for DNA tests of evidence left from the case of Roger Keith Coleman, who was put to death by the state in 1992. Coleman was convicted in the 1981 rape and stabbing death of his 19-year-old sister-in-law, Wanda McCoy. Coleman drew national attention, even making the cover of Time, by repeatedly claiming innocence and protesting the unfairness of the death penalty. However, DNA results announced on January 12, 2006, seemed to confirm Coleman's guilt.

In July 2005, his approval ratings were at 74% and in some polls reached 80% range. Warner left office with a 71% approval rating in one poll.

2008 election
While on October 12, 2006, Warner ruled out a 2008 presidential bid, Warner declared on September 13, 2007, that he would run for Senate in 2008, following an announcement nearly two weeks prior by then-current senator John Warner (no relation) that he would not seek reelection.



Warner immediately gained the endorsement of most national Democrats. He held a wide lead over his Republican opponent, fellow former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore, for virtually the entire campaign.

Warner delivered the keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

In a Washington Post/ABC News Poll dated Wednesday, September 24, Warner was up 30 points over Gilmore.

In the November election, Warner defeated Gilmore, taking 65 percent of the vote to Gilmore's 34 percent. Warner carried all but four counties in the state—Rockingham, Augusta, Powhatan and Hanover. In many cases, he ran up huge margins in areas of the state that have traditionally voted Republican. This was the most lopsided margin for a contested Senate race in Virginia since Chuck Robb took 72 percent of the vote in 1988.

As a result of Warner's victory, Virginia had two Democratic U.S. Senators for the first time since Harry Byrd, Jr. left the Democrats to become an independent (while still caucusing with the Democrats) in 1970.

Tenure
Warner has supported cap and trade, saying that he is "someone who believes we need to get to a truly 21st century energy policy and recognizes the challenge of global warming." Warner has also voted against prohibiting a national energy tax and barring the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions.

Warner expressed a willingness to support the extra funding for Cash for Clunkers if some criterion were met, but ultimately voted against the additional spending. In his discussion about Cash for Clunkers, he had cited a desire to "get back to more free-market economics".

Committee assignments

 * Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
 * Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
 * Subcommittee on Security and International Trade and Finance
 * Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment
 * Committee on the Budget
 * Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
 * Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security
 * Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet
 * Subcommittee on Competitiveness, Innovation, and Export Promotion
 * Subcommittee on Science and Space
 * Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security
 * Committee on Rules and Administration
 * Select Committee on Intelligence
 * Joint Economic Committee

Personal life
Warner married Lisa Collis, whom he had met in 1984 at a keg party in Washington, D.C., in 1989. While on their honeymoon in 1989 in Egypt and Greece, Warner became ill; upon returning home, doctors discovered he had suffered a near-fatal burst appendix. Warner spent two months in the hospital recovering from the illness. During her husband's tenure as governor, Collis was the first Virginia first lady to use her maiden name. Warner and Collis have three daughters: Madison, Gillian, and Eliza.

Warner is involved in farming and winemaking at his Rappahannock Bend farm. There, he grows 15 acre of grapes for Ingleside Vineyards; Ingleside bottles a private label that Warner offers at charity auctions.

= Resources =