It has been my privilege to serve in state and local government in Virginia for the past 18 years. During that time I have worked hard to make certain that Virginia remains a great place to do business.
My philosophy of government is simple. I believe that we get the money we need to do the things government must do by growing the economy. That’s why it is so important for us to make certain that Virginia remains a business friendly state.
When we create an environment where existing businesses can prosper, succeed and expand; and new businesses want to make Virginia their home, we grow the economy. That’s good for both the private sector and the public sector.
Growing the economy means more investment and more job creation, and that means that more people are employed and paying taxes. That results in more money for state government, money that can be invested in education, public safety, healthcare, transportation, etc.
So in a sense, nothing that government does is more important than creating a pro-business environment.
When I started out in local government several years ago I had the privilege of serving as Chairman of the Metropolitan Economic Development Council and the Greater Richmond Economic Development Partnership.
The Metropolitan Economic Development Council was a public sector organization that sought to recruit new business and industry to the metropolitan Richmond area. It did a good job, but as a government only group it did not benefit from the involvement of the private sector.
When I was Chairman of the Metropolitan Economic Development Council, I proposed expanding that organization to include the private sector. After some effort we were successful and the Greater Richmond Economic Development Partnership was created.
The Greater Richmond Economic Development Partnership enabled us to involve private sector leaders in recruiting new business and industry to our region, and it enabled us to double the size of our economic development budget.
During my service in state government, I have also worked hard to create a pro-business environment in Virginia. By keeping taxes low, by reducing unnecessary regulations and by supporting investments in economic development programs, Virginia has been recognized as the most pro-business state in the nation.
I am pleased that my efforts to promote a pro-business environment in Virginia have not gone unnoticed.
While there are a lot of things that have enabled Virginia to be successful in our economic development efforts, nothing has been more important than the fact that we are a right-to-work law state and we have faithfully protected the right-to-work.
Virginia’s right-to-work law stands for a simple proposition – everyone who chooses to do so has a right to work, and no one, or no organization, can interfere with the right-to-work.
Businesses like the right-to-work law because it helps create a stable work environment in Virginia. Businesses in Virginia don’t have to worry about the impact of widespread work stoppages or slowdowns like those that frequently occur in other states.
As a result of our tax and regulatory policies, our investments in economic development, and our right-to-work law, Virginia is viewed as a business friendly state and that has been of tremendous benefit over the years.
Unfortunately, the right-to-work is under attack at both the federal and state level and Virginia’s ability to remain an attractive place to do business could be impacted by the success of these attacks.
In Washington, union organizations and their supporters are pushing a terrible proposal called Card Check. If Card Check is approved it could make it much easier for businesses to become unionized and it could take away one of the most important rights that workers currently enjoy – the right to vote in a secret ballot before their workplace can be unionized.
Currently, a two step process must be observed before a business can be unionized.
First, a majority of the workers must express their interest in unionization by signing a card stating that interest. While many workers voluntarily sign such cards, history has shown that other workers sign these cards because they feel pressured by unions or their supporters to do so.
If a majority of the workers express interest in unionization, the question is then decided in a secret ballot where workers have the opportunity to vote on whether or not their workplace is unionized. In a secret ballot workers can vote their conscious without fear of intimidation or retribution.
The secret ballot has always been a very important part of elections in our country. To take that right away from workers would be a terrible mistake and it could result in widespread union activity unlike anything we have seen in the past.
The right-to-work is not only under attack in Washington, it is also under attack in Virginia.
During this year’s session of the General Assembly, Democrat legislators have introduced numerous proposals that would expand union activity, and they have rejected common sense proposals to protect Virginia’s right-to-work law.
For example, this year we proposed legislation to give Virginia’s right-to-work law constitutional protection. While that legislation passed the House of Delegates, it was rejected by Democrats in the State Senate.
In addition, recent news accounts reported that all three Democrat candidates for governor recently walked a picket line in support of strikers at a Hilton Hotel in Northern Virginia. They were joined by Jody Wagner, a Democrat candidate for Lieutenant Governor.
This is the first time we know of when a candidate for statewide office in Virginia has walked a picket line in support of a strike against a Virginia business, and it sends a terrible message to existing businesses as well as businesses that may be considering making Virginia their home.
The editorial writers at the Richmond Times Dispatch took note of the Democrats willingness to walk the picket line at Hilton. An editorial in the RTD on February 9th made the following observations:
….. “we will note with some irony that the march on the Hilton came just a couple of weeks before Gov. Tim Kaine announced Hilton Hotels Corp. was moving its headquarters from Beverly Hills to Fairfax. Perhaps the company decided to ignore the earlier assault on its good name.
“In the long run, though, businesses will not ignore any decline in Virginia's reputation as a state that respects workers' rights by protecting their right-to-work. Across the river in Washington, Democrats are preparing an assault on secret ballots and American job creation. The times they may be changing in the Old Dominion, but we suspect Democrats are sorely mistaken if they believe Virginians are prepared to let our next governor turn their state into a Southern version of Michigan.” (emphasis added)
“Supporters of the GOP's candidate for governor, Bob McDonnell, are no doubt delighted to see his opponents lining up for the unions. It might be the first strike in reversing Virginia's blue streak.”
It is terribly ironic that all of this is occurring at the same time that one Democrat candidate for Governor, Terry McAuliffe, is running TV ads touting his support for efforts to create jobs and get Virginia’s economy moving again.
If Mr. McAuliffe is serious about getting Virginia’s economy moving again, he needs to stop walking union picket lines, publicly state his opposition to Card Check and support giving Virginia’s right-to-work law constitutional protection.
Are these attacks on the right-to-work in Washington and Richmond a coincidence or do they signal that Democrat lawmakers and union activists have decided that now is the time to launch a coordinated effort to promote widespread union activity and take away the right-to-work?
Time will tell what their intentions are and what success they have, but let’s hope that the Times Dispatch editorial writers are correct and Virginia voters will remember which party has truly worked to maintain a pro-business environment in Virginia and which party merely talks the talk.
bill.bolling@billbolling.com
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