Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.) once said that former President Bill Clinton should have resigned in the aftermath of his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, the Daily Beast reported Wednesday.
In 2002, Kaine likened the Lewinsky scandal to sexual harassment allegations levied against a senior member of the Virginia House of Delegates
Former Republican House Speaker Vance Wilkins was accused a year earlier of sexually harassing a female employee who once worked at his construction company. Jennifer Thompson privately alleged that Wilkins groped her and pinned her against furniture in the warehouse complex where his legislative office was located, the Washington Post reported in June 2002.
Instead of taking the case to court, Thompson accepted a $100,000 payment from Wilkins in 2001 to settle the case and signed a confidentiality agreement.
Wilkins maintained that he never sexually harassed Thompson, but top Republicans, joined by Kaine, who was Virginia’s lieutenant governor at the time, demanded his resignation.
Kaine compared the Wilkins scandal to Lewinsky’s charges against Bill Clinton, in a June 8, 2002, interview with the Washington Post.
The Post reported:
Lt. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) … likened the matter to the sexual scandal of President Bill Clinton and White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky, saying, "If the allegations are true, he ought to resign."
"Somebody in public life shouldn’t behave that way toward women," Kaine said. "It’s tawdry. It’s not the leadership that Virginia should have."
Kaine echoed this sentiment in an interview with the Richmond Times Dispatch published the same day:
"If the allegations are true, he should definitely resign," Kaine said, adding he held the same view about President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal. "That is an intolerable way to treat women and it’s not something that the state should be dragged through."
Kaine also told the Associated Press on June 8, 2002:
"When I read it this morning, my reaction was the same I had when I read about the Clinton-Lewinsky affair: this is not appropriate conduct. It’s beneath the dignity of the office," he said.
A spokesperson for Kaine told the Daily Beast on Wednesday that the Virginia senator believes the 2016 election should be focused on Hillary Clinton’s economic vision rather than "re-litigating personal issues from the distant past."
"As the Associated Press reported at the time, Kaine characterized President Clinton’s actions as ‘not appropriate’ conduct, but he had previously been on record criticizing the impeachment effort," the spokesperson said.
Despite Kaine’s earlier criticisms, Bill Clinton was reportedly the Virginia senator’s chief supporter last month when his wife Hillary was vetting potential running mates.