Patrick M. McSweeney, Esq.
Restore the Founders’ Vision
Powhatan, VA
Mr. McSweeney practices law in the City of Richmond where he was born in 1943. He received his undergraduate education from the University of Virginia and his law degree in 1968 from T. C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond, where he was editor-in-chief of the University of Richmond Law Review. After serving as a law clerk to The Honorable Albert V. Bryan, Sr., Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, he served in a variety of positions at the United States Department of Justice from 1971 to 1973, including Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Office of Legislative Affairs. He also served as counsel to the Governor’s Management Study from 1970 to 1972 and as staff attorney to the Taxation and Finance Committee of the Virginia Commission on Constitutional Revision in 1968. From 1974 to 1977,
Mr. McSweeney was the executive director of the Virginia Commission on State Governmental Management, which proposed and successfully implemented a sweeping reorganization of state government. From 1980-1981, Mr. McSweeney served as Chairman of the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission. In 1990, he and the late Roy Smith jointly directed a successful campaign to defeat the proposed pledge bond amendments to the Virginia Constitution. He was actively involved in the successful 1998 campaign to defeat two proposed amendments to the Virginia Constitution that would have made it easier for localities to incur debt without voter approval.
In 2002, Mr. McSweeney was active in efforts to defeat the proposed sales tax increases on the referendum ballots in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, representing opponents of the measures in numerous debates and on television and radio. He taught political science courses for several years at Virginia Commonwealth University and has lectured at other universities. He also chaired the Republican Party of Virginia from 1992 to 1996. In 2008, he obtained unanimous Virginia Supreme Court decisions as lead attorney in the challenge to the Kaine Administration’s transfer of the Dulles Toll Road to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority on the issue of sovereign immunity and the challenge to the 2007 transportation legislation on the issue of unconstitutional delegation of taxing power to unelected regional authorities. In January 2009, he convened a meeting of more than 200 Virginians, which led to the formation of Restore the Founders’ Vision, a non-profit civic education initiative. He has four adult children. He resides with his wife, Wendy, in Powhatan County, Virginia.
Letters to the Editor by Pat
written to the Daily Press,
Destroying Embryos is Unacceptable
Thinking Straight about Human Life
Science Strains Ethical Framework
Pro-Lifers Must Agree on Stem Cells
