“Tim is a politician,” said Jack Payden-Travers, who served as the executive director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty when Mr. Kaine was the governor. Shortly after 10 p.m., he became the fifth person put to death while Mr. Kaine was the governor of Virginia. But some death penalty opponents cast his decisions as political survival and ambition. Advertisement Continue reading the main storyFor Mr. Kaine, now a senator and Hillary Clinton’s newly named running mate, no issue has been as fraught politically or personally as the death penalty. “There was no sentiment for expanding the death penalty.

Source: New York Times July 23, 2016 17:00 UTC