Mark Warner Looks Down on his Constituents

So this broke recently. The richest man in the U.S. Senate, who also happens to work and live in a DC adjacent state, spent over 30 grand of taxpayer money flying to Southwest Virginia.

"I spent about THIS much, to fly about THIS far,"

I would be remiss not to point out the irony of a wealthy, EPA-loving businessman from Northern Virginia flying a chartered jet to a hard hit, coal dependent area where unemployment hovers around 9% with the audacity to tell them that he is on their side.

The hard campaigning months of September and October are fast approaching. Will the gentleman from Virginia be jetsetting?

Be careful, your expectations for responsibility and common sense may have shifted during flight. 

VA GOP Caucus

vagopcaucus.blogspot.com

Terry's Lack of Backbone is Jeopardizing Billions

In 2009, Hampton Roads, Virginia was the point of embarkation for the majority of America's total coal exports. That means that more than half of what ODU estimates at around 97 million metric tons of coal passed through there.

Over 800 ships came just for coal, and took it to ports worldwide. Over 4,200 jobs (all over 400 miles from a Virginia coal mine) are filled to make that feat possible. Combined goods, services, and earnings from coal accounted for more than 1 Billion dollars in 2011. Every cent, second, and ounce of coal had to pass Virginian hands, at Virginian companies, manned by Virginians.

Those numbers are staggering. Coal mines in Southwest Virginia are not the only places that are affected by the EPA's new regulations; regulations that T-Mac must either not understand or the consequences of which he must be ignoring.

Terry wants to "expand exports to China", the same place that he went to buy his monstrosity of a car company. Might he owe a favor over there, perhaps? Terry, himself is no stranger to all of the lucrative gifts that a Governor can offer to his patrons. He goes over it thoroughly in his book. This is strange since China doesn't even fit in the top 12 of Virginia's already full bill of destination ports for coal. Terry's penchant for selling patronage and his love of the almighty dollar should be making Virginians nervous.

It's definitely a love/hate relationship if we are talking about any of his "businesses". Terry's forte is collecting money, like some enforcer from the Sopranos. He is far less comfortable in the business world; and for most of this election he has been trying to shoehorn himself into that identity but it just doesn't work.

Now, with his protection money, T-Mac has been paid to push coal out of Virginia; he doesn't understand that it affects more than coal miners. Thousands of workers will face unemployment, but that's just quid pro quo to Fast Terry.

VA GOP Caucus

vagopcaucus.blogspot.com

Terry McCalifornia Sells Out Southwest VA

"Which side do I support this week, again? Uhhhhhh"

Terry McAuliffe has officially come out in full support of the new EPA regulations on coal fired
power plants that were released two weeks ago.

It's a vain attempt to drive the far left, and Obama voters out for him(they're about as excited for a McAuliffe Administration as we are). As usual, it also has to do with money. These regulations endanger tens of thousands of Southwest Virginia blue collar jobs.

They also shore up support from billionaire environmentalist, and McAuliffe Donor, Tom Steyer. Steyer's NextGen Committee has spent upwards of a million and a half dollars trying to push this steaming pile of Washington insider into the Governor's Mansion.

How many Virginian livelihoods stack up against the far-left dinero you're getting out of Steyer, Terry? How many jobs in southwest Virginia will just be collateral damage? 

Good News: Now he can't dodge the question
Bad News: It is open season on everything he has said in and about Virginia's coal country.

 From Bristol, in May, Terry McAuliffe:

I was over at Alpha Natural Resources talking about what they need done to make sure we have a healthy work force of coal, that coal can continue," McAuliffe told reporters. "We need to make sure we do what we need to, to make sure this vital industry here in Virginia continues to grow."

I guess the unemployed can just munch on some quinoa and go surfing, then, huh? Just more of the integrity we have come to expect out of Fast Terry. I wonder if his wife calls him that?

VA GOP Caucus

vagopcaucus.blogspot.com

For McAuliffe, "Creating Jobs" Highly Resembles Doing Nothing

A recent Washington Post article exhorts Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe for his “wasting no time” in getting jobs down to Southside Virginia. That part of the state has been particularly hard hit in the economic crisis, and McAuliffe touted a plan to build a wood-fired power plant there, on the site of a closed International Paper mill. 

What a great idea! When did this idea come to light? When can we expect the results?

Terry made this claim after he lost his last race for Virginia Governor, in…2009. This smells a lot like his inflated claims of business expertise at his disaster of a green car company that has yet to post any semblance of a record of success. Terry is trying to pass off what amounts to a speech, a letter of intent, and a lease on a depot as job creation. Since 2009.

Photo courtesy of Reuters. 

Do not let this smiling generic suit of inexperienced anonymity try to use Southside Virginia as some kind of sick bargaining chip to prove talent that he does not have and progress that he has not made. Terry’s got Virginia businesses and jobs at heart? That’s a good one.

McAuliffe’s Greentech, debacle that it is, does in fact employ some people. Even bringing that business to Virginia would be better than holding out a letter of intent. But Terry didn’t even do that much forVirginians; he sent those few jobs down to Mississippi despite an offer from the Commonwealth. This kind of greasy smoke and mirrors trick to make Virginians believe that Terry has a record of business success, or has our job market at heart are a transparent lie evident to even the most cursory reader.

Send McAuliffe packing back to some Democratic Committee to make these grand statements with no results. It’d be a far more appropriate stage than giving this dunce a key to the Governor’s Mansion.

VA GOP Caucus

vagopcaucus.blogspot.com