Mary Sue Terry (born September 28, 1947) is an American Democratic politician from the Commonwealth of Virginia.[2]
Mary Sue Terry | |
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36th Attorney General of Virginia | |
In office January 11, 1986 – January 28, 1993 | |
Governor | Gerald Baliles Douglas Wilder |
Preceded by | William Broaddus |
Succeeded by | Stephen Rosenthal |
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from the 10th district | |
In office January 12, 1983 – January 11, 1986 | |
Preceded by | Pete Giesen Allie Ray Hull |
Succeeded by | Roscoe Reynolds |
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from the 12th district | |
In office January 13, 1982 – January 12, 1983 Serving with A. L. Philpott | |
Preceded by | Joseph P. Crouch |
Succeeded by | Bob Dobyns |
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from the 13th district | |
In office January 11, 1978 – January 13, 1982 | |
Preceded by | Garry DeBruhl |
Succeeded by | Charles R. Hawkins |
Personal details | |
Born | Martinsville, Virginia, U.S. | September 28, 1947
Political party | Democratic |
Education | University of Richmond (BA) University of Virginia (MA, JD) |
[1] | |
Terry was born the daughter of Nathaniel Chatham Terry and Nannie Ruth Terry in Martinsville, Virginia. She was an active and enthusiastic Democrat as a child.[3]
She was graduated from Hardin-Reynolds Memorial School in Critz, Virginia in 1965. She earned a BA in political science from the University of Richmond's Westhampton College in 1969, master's in government (1970) and law (1973) degrees from the University of Virginia and its law school.[2]
Terry was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates (1978–1986) and assistant Commonwealth's Attorney in Patrick County, Virginia 1973–1977. She successfully argued eight cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. She successfully negotiated a nationwide recall of 13,000 defective Ford ambulances and led a successful investigation and prosecution of individuals and corporations associated with Lyndon LaRouche. From 1990 to 1991 Terry was president of the National Association of Attorneys General and in 1992 she received the Wyman Award, which is the association's highest honor. The Commonwealth of Virginia's courts did not allow prisoners to bring new exculpatory evidence more than three weeks after sentencing. Attorney General Terry once said that "Evidence of innocence is irrelevant."[4]
She was elected attorney general in 1985 and reelected in 1989, becoming the first woman elected to statewide office in Virginia, the second woman to serve as attorney general of any U.S. state, and the first non-federal elected official in Virginia to garner more than one million votes in a single election.[5] In 1989, she considered running for governor, but deferred to her fellow Democrat, then-Lieutenant Governor of Virginia L. Douglas Wilder, who became the first elected African-American Governor of any U.S. state.[6]
She was Attorney General of Virginia from 1986 until 1993, when she resigned to run for Governor of Virginia against Republican George Allen. Allen won the November 1993 election despite Terry's early and significant lead.[7] Her unpopular gun-control stance alienated her rural base voters. Her campaign was "lacklustre", and the religious right was a factor even though Michael Farris lost his bid to be Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. Her opponents also pointed out that she was unmarried, and perhaps less empathetic on family issues.[8][9]
Following her defeat, Terry was a visiting professor at the University of Richmond's Jepson School of Leadership Studies.[10] She served on the Board of Trustees at the University of Richmond from 1983 to 1991.
In 2007, Terry was consulting for Microsoft and nearby Ferrum College[11] while living on her family farm in Patrick County, Virginia.[11] Since 1978, she has been a partner in Terry & Rogers, and a partner in the B.H. Cooper Farm, Inc., both in Stuart.[1]
In 2008, with activist Susan Platt and others, Terry formed "The Farm Team", a PAC to "help Democratic women seek elected office." In the last quarter of 2008 they raised $6696 and contributed $4000, including $1000 to Sharon Bulova's 2009 election campaign for Chairman of the Board of Supervisors in Fairfax County, Virginia. Terry was featured speaker at a breakfast fundraiser planned in Richmond 7 February 2009, in connection with Jefferson-Jackson Day. That event was connected to a reception at the Governor's mansion, later canceled because Virginia law prohibits political fundraising by state officials while the Virginia General Assembly is in session. Democratic party officials argued the event did not violate that ban, because money had been collected before the session.[12][13][14][15]
Historically, prisoners were barred from introducing new evidence more than three weeks after sentencing, and in the 1990s, then-Attorney General Mary Sue Terry (D) famously said, "Evidence of innocence is irrelevant." But when DNA testing resulted in hundreds of exonerations nationwide, it prompted Virginia lawmakers to open the door for courts to reconsider guilt based first on genetic evidence and later on other evidence, such as recanted testimony, fingerprints or ballistics.
Mary Sue Terry - D - 1989 - Attorney General - Yes - 1,096,095
This year Wilder again headed off opposition for the nomination from Attorney General Mary Sue Terry, 41. Like any other Virginia Democrat, she would need very strong black support to win in the fall. Wilder denies that he threatened to play the racial card. Instead, he stressed that a contest with Terry would have been divisive. "Mary Sue is an attractive, bright candidate with a brilliant future," says Wilder. Translation: Terry can wait until 1993 for the governorship. She is doing just that.
As a campaigner, Terry's biggest liability is not her lack of a family but her lack of warmth. "For a woman, warmth is necessary to bridge that chasm of trust that you have to cross," says New York Rep. Susan Molinari. "Otherwise voters wonder why in the world would a woman want...to be in this dirty game." In contrast, Terry's opponent, Allen, has come from 29 points behind largely on his carefully packaged looks and personality. A television ad shows him with his young son, mistily promising that, if elected, he will ask himself only one question: what will be good for Virginia? Sugary spots like these prompt campaign consultant James Carville to quip, "It's not the negative ads, it's the positive ads you have to worry about."
...former Virginia attorney general Mary Sue Terry, then a visiting professor at Jepson.
We are a newly formed all-volunteer Democratic women's organization...(Susan Platt)
The Third Annual Women's Caucus Breakfast, one of the events associated with the JJ Dinner, will be held on Saturday, February 7 [2009] at 8:15am. The featured speaker will be Farm Team Founder and former Attorney General Mary Sue Terry. Tickets start at $50 and may be purchased here. Full details are below the fold.