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Former Va. governor urges DNC chairman's firing

By BOB LEWI, Tuesday, Feb. 09, 2010

RICHMOND, Va. Democratic former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder is urging President Barack Obama to fire Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, another former Virginia governor.

Wilder wrote of Kaine, in a column for the Politico news Web site, that "the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee is the wrong job for him."

In an interview with The Associated Press, Wilder cited Republican victories in last month's Senate election in Massachusetts and in gubernatorial races last fall in New Jersey and Virginia.

"I'm just disappointed in his leadership," Wilder told the AP. "And there are a lot of people - a lot of Democrats - who come to me and are disappointed but are not going to speak out like I'm saying it."

"Don't let yourself believe that Massachusetts and Virginia and New Jersey were some aberration," Wilder said, "and I hope Tim and the president will take it in the constructive way it was intended."

Wilder also noted the $1 billion-a-year income tax increase Kaine proposed before leaving office and his efforts to let a German diplomat's son convicted of two grisly slayings return to Germany from a Virginia prison.

"Is that who this president wants to be arm in arm with as we enter a pivotal election year?" Wilder wrote. "The president has enough to worry about and defend without this detracting sideshow as to feckless party leadership."

Kaine did not immediately respond to a telephone message seeking comment.

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