The Virginia Press Association recently named former Gov. Gerald Baliles, current director of the University’s Miller Center of Public Affairs, the 2009 “Virginian of the Year”.
The VPA awarded Baliles the title because of the “great leadership he has given to the state for each role he has been in,” VPA Executive Director Ginger Stanley said. He cited Baliles’ service in the House of Delegates from 1976 to 1982, Attorney General from 1982 to 1985 and as governor from 1986 to 1990 as examples of his leadership and devotion to the commonwealth.
Baliles was chosen by a committee of journalists that select an award recipient annually based on a candidate’s “most recent accomplishments or an accumulation of accomplishments in which the candidate brought favorability to themselves or the state of Virginia [on a national scale],” Stanley said.
Alan Murray, a founding Board member of the Miller Center and the current deputy managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, added that Baliles has brought national recognition to the Virginia by bridging academics and government through his post at the Miller Center.
“He has done a great job of bringing the Miller Center and Charlottesville closer to Washington, D.C. and engaging in issues of national importance, which is what the Miller Center was set up to do,” Murray said.
Baliles also challenged political norms by “consistently call[ing] for a national dialogue that reaches across both parties,” during a time of “increasing partisan bitterness and strife,” Murray said. Since becoming the Miller Center director in April 2006, Baliles has gathered national leaders to debate critical domestic and international topics with the aim of finding resolutions.
Baliles stands out from other Virginia governors because of his “consistent stance on an open government,” Stanley said, adding that Baliles helped keep government records and meetings open to the public.
As a longtime friend and colleague of the former governor, Virginia Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Lacy said Baliles put “public service at a very high premium.”
While he has always been concerned with all aspects of public life, Baliles significantly improved transportation infrastructure and revenues and increased expectations for elementary and secondary school educators, Lacy said.
Lacy added that Baliles also was “instrumental in expanding diversity” in Virginia government. In addition to appointing Lacy as the first female to the Virginia Supreme Court, Baliles appointed Leroy Hassell as the first black justice to the state Supreme Court, paving the way for Hassell to become the first black Chief Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court.
To honor Baliles as its Virginian of the Year, the VPA will host a joint banquet with the Associated Press March 20 at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott. In a prepared statement, Baliles said he was honored to have been chosen by the VPA for the award.
“The list of accomplished Virginians recognized by the VPA includes leaders who have worked with the Miller Center to further its public service mission, and others whose far-ranging achievements have contributed to our lives,” Baliles said according to the statement. “It is a privilege to join their ranks.”
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