Former Republican Senate primary candidate Jamie Radtke said Thursday that she is endorsing former opponent George Allen in his general-election race against Democrat Tim Kaine.
“Based on George Allen’s newly detailed plans to restore fiscal sanity to Washington, I endorse George Allen,” Radtke wrote in an email to supporters.
The endorsement came after a back-and-forth that began several weeks ago. Radtke met with Allen and asked him for details on his plan to deal with federal budget and debt issues. She said in the email that she offered her endorsement on two conditions.
“First, he had to put on paper substantive plans to curtail spending and reign in the federal debt. Second, I needed to see him publicly herald those plans in his campaign as a demonstration of his commitment to them.
“To his credit, he has done both,” Radtke said.
The Allen plan detailed to Radtke includes a cap on federal spending at 19 percent of GDP, stopping earmark spending, freezing federal hiring, rolling back to 2008 spending levels, blocking Medicaid grants to the states, reforming Medicare to return control to individuals, reforming Social security by raising the age for the younger generation to keep it solvent for them, and supporting the REINS Act to stop the very expensive, freedom-robbing overregulation by federal agencies.
Allen has faced some criticism from the right for the massive deficits and growth in the national debt that came about during his time in the Senate from 2001-2007. Republicans had control of the Senate, House of Representatives and the White House during that era.
Radtke, a former Virginia Tea Party leader, was among his most vocal critics.
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