McDonnell and Bolling announce job initiatives

Bob McDonnell, Republican gubernatorial nominee and former Attorney General of Virginia, and Bill Bolling, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, recently announced broad initiatives to help create new jobs in the Commonwealth in the years ahead.

The ticket mates unveiled their proposals as Virginians continue to suffer through the highest unemployment rate in over 25 years.

To spur job creation in Virginia, McDonnell and Bolling called for:

Expanding use of the Governor's Opportunity Fund by roughly doubling the funding available and broadening Fund rules to allow companies that generate additional state and local tax revenue to qualify

Appointing Lieutenant Governor Bolling to serve as "Virginia's Chief Job Creation Officer" in the McDonnell/Bolling Administration

Designating one Deputy Secretary of Commerce to Focus Solely on Rural Economic Development

Providing a $1,000 tax credit per job to businesses that create 50 new jobs, or 25 new jobs in economically distressed areas

Speaking about the job-creation proposals McDonnell remarked, "Headlines noting the latest job cuts at local employers are an all-too-common part of the landscape in Virginia right now. Bill Bolling and I are committed to bring new jobs and more opportunities to every region of Virginia. This is a jobs campaign; we will be a jobs administration. Each one of the proposals we are announcing today will help ensure that our state government is taking every step possible to incentivize, facilitate and assist private companies seeking to create new jobs for Virginians."

McDonnell continued, "The Governor's Opportunity Fund can be a powerful weapon in the fight to attract new employers to the Commonwealth. And fight is the right word. We are competing against every other state, and increasingly many other nations, for the private companies that bring with them high paying jobs and much needed tax revenue. To better prepare the Commonwealth to win these battles we will double the money in the Governor's Opportunity Fund. And we will broaden the Fund's purpose to encourage Virginia companies to expand their operations in the state."

McDonnell also noted, "In a McDonnell/Bolling Administration job-creation will be job number one. To ensure that we are focused on the goal at hand, and that we do not miss any potential opportunities to help Virginians get the good paying jobs they deserve, I will appoint Bill Bolling to serve as Virginia's Chief Job Creation Officer. In this capacity he will coordinate economic development and job creation initiatives occurring in Virginia government. Bill's background in private business and in the General Assembly makes him uniquely suited to successfully navigate the complicated intersections between private sector opportunities and the state government assistance that can be essential in making sure these opportunities are realized. By having Bill serve as Virginia's "Jobs Chief" we will bring the big picture perspective to job creation that is so crucial during this difficult period for Virginia workers."

Bill Bolling stated, "The most important issue currently facing Virginia is the need to get our economy moving again and create jobs for Virginia's families. In the past four years our unemployment rate has increased by 130%, from 3% to 7.1%. This is the highest prolonged rate of unemployment in 20 years and 165,000 more Virginians are unemployed today than four years ago. We have to do everything we can to get laid off Virginians back to work, and Bob McDonnell and I have a detailed plan to do just that."

Bolling added, "By increasing the size of our economic development incentive fund and expanding access to the Job Creation Tax Credit we can attract more businesses to Virginia. We will also assure greater focus and coordination of job creation efforts by having the Lieutenant Governor serve as the Commonwealth's Chief Job Creation Officer, and we will place a greater emphasis on rural economic development by designating a Deputy Secretary of Commerce and Trade to do nothing but recruit new businesses to rural parts of Virginia, where jobs are desperately needed. These actions, together with our More Energy, More Jobs program, and reforms we have previously announced for small businesses and higher education, will position Virginia now to take full advantage of a future economic resurgence. This is the kind of leadership the people of Virginia are looking for from their next Governor and Lieutenant Governor, and this is the kind of leadership that Bob McDonnell and I will provide."