- Kaine Rubs Elbows with Millionaire Athletes in L.A. While Southside Hurts -RICHMOND – On the same day that Tim Kaine jetted off to Los Angeles to attend the annual ESPY awards with multi-millionaire athletes and celebrities, Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Pat Mullins condemned the governor’s failure to secure a deal with Apple to bring much-needed jobs and investments to Southside Virginia residents struggling with the sagging economy. During April’s reconvened General Assembly session, Kaine made an ill-fated attempt to lure the computer and technology employer to locate a new data center in the Commonwealth. Mullins has been critical of Kaine’s distracting double-duty as governor and Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
“Tim Kaine can hop on a plane and head off to Hollywood to hang around with A-Rod and Chris Berman, and who knows who else, but the people of Southside Virginia still need good jobs,” Mullins said. “Maybe if he spent less time doing the bidding of national Democrats and their millionaire donors, he might have some more time to make sure the work of the people of Virginia was getting done.”
Kaine constructed a faulty amendment to legislation from Creigh Deeds that resulted in North Carolina winning a pitch for an Apple data center that would have meant $1 billion in investment and as many as 3,000 jobs for Southside Virginia. Kaine amended the Deeds bill in an effort to lure Apple, but the governor’s own Department of Taxation ruled that the language did not encompass all the necessary components, thus allowing North Carolina to swoop in and rapidly seal the deal with the employer.
Mullins made his remarks during a telephone conference call with reporters along with members of the General Assembly: Del. Scott Lingamfelter (31st), Del. Tommy Wright (61st) and Sen. Frank Ruff (15th).
“This is a rotten apple of a deal for Southside Virginia. It’s a travesty, particularly for a part of the Commonwealth that is seeing unemployment rates of above 20-percent in some areas,” Mullins said. “One has to wonder: is Tim Kaine spending too much of his time working for his national political party and taking his eye off the ball here at home?”
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