Tim Kaine's Rotten Apple: Jobs Lost in Southside
- Governor's Change to Deeds Bill Loses 3,000 Apple Jobs to NC -
- 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?"
Apple representatives personally approached Governor Kaine in late February, informing him that the computer and technology company was interested in locating a new data center near the East Coast. Kaine then instructed the Virginia Economic Development Partnership to begin identifying potential sites in Southside Virginia, where unemployment is inflicting some of its harshest effects on the citizens.
During the April 2009 General Assembly reconvened session, Governor Kaine amended Deeds' SB 944, a bill that dealt with sales and use taxes on food manufacturing. The purpose of Kaine's amendment was to exempt computer equipment from those same taxes if purchased related to a data center similar to what Apple was proposing. The amendment was accepted and approved unanimously by the General Assembly, which agreed that the data center appeared to be an important economic development project for Southside Virginia.
"Unfortunately, that's where it became clear that Governor Kaine had sent down a bad apple of an amendment," Mullins said. "His own tax department found that it did not cover everything it was supposed to."
Indeed, Kaine's own tax department concluded that the exemption, which included "other enabling hardware," did not cover chillers for Apple's servers and related back-up generators. Inexplicably, Kaine did not ask the department to re-evaluate its appraisal. By this point, the reconvened session had ended.
Perhaps sensing blood in the water, North Carolina's legislature struck quickly and approved legislation that better addressed the tax issues. As a result, North Carolina was awarded the data center, along with the creation of 50 jobs directly attributable to Apple, 200 contractor jobs and as many as 3,000 total jobs when full effects of the investment are realized.
"We welcome Apple to North Carolina and look forward to working with the company as it begins providing a significant economic boost to local communities and the state," celebrated North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue in a press release. "During these tough economic times, it's important to make the investments that create jobs in areas that need them the most."
"Tim Kaine was calling the play here," said Del. Lingamfelter. "He was approached by Apple and he set things in motion. He amended Deeds' bill. He got bipartisan support for that. He supposedly was on top of the situation, but he let North Carolina out-maneuver us when his own tax department made a ruling that, frankly, the governor should have challenged. And to make matters worse, when the North Carolina legislature acted, the Governor did nothing to keep us competitive. Good-bye jobs for Virginia."
Meanwhile, Tim Kaine has been under increasing scrutiny following repeated denials of requests for information related to his travel schedule and expenses when he is working in his other job as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Kaine took the post in January, three months before the reconvened session. The Washington Post has estimated that Kaine spends about 30-percent of each work week doing national party business.
Mullins directed a member of the Republican Party of Virginia staff to call the governor's scheduling office to inquire about the governor's whereabouts on the day of July 15, 2009. The respondent initially claimed not to have a copy of Kaine's schedule handy, but then admitted that he could not confirm that the governor was within the confines of the Commonwealth. The Washington Post reported that Kaine would be attending the ESPY awards - the annual sports awards show sponsored by ESPN - in Los Angeles on that date (Washington Post, Virginia Politics Blog, July 9, 2009).
"In 2008, Senator Frank Ruff and I passed legislation that allowed us to bring jobs and a multi-million dollar investment to Mecklenburg County by attracting EDS Corporation," said Del. Tommy Wright. "It worked then, and it helped out the people of Southside a great deal. With the way the economy is going, and the way unemployment keeps climbing in my part of the state, people are worried and are wondering if they'll be able to pay their bills this month or next month. What's the difference between now and last year? Well, now Tim Kaine is the Chairman of the DNC."
"Having met with Apple executives twice following the veto session, I have no doubt that the Virginia site was the preferred location for Apple's east coast operation," said Sen. Frank Ruff. "The loss of this investment and these well-paying jobs was a severe blow to all of Southern Virginia. Understanding that North Carolina might pass legislation favorable to Apple and unable to reach Gov. Kaine, I spoke with Mark Reuben in the governor's office about a one-day special session to address the tax issue and was told that it was not an option. The governor has all of the economic tools at his disposal. His job is to take the lead and make things happen. We're very disappointed."
"The governor of North Carolina is correct about getting good jobs for areas that need them," Chairman Mullins said. "When times are tough, you have to fight with everything you've got to land good, steady 21st century jobs when they are available. Unfortunately for Southside Virginians, Tim Kaine's plan for Apple had a big, nasty worm in it. Maybe he at least got the DNC's work done that day."
"This is like a quarterback who gets distracted and throws an interception smack into the hands of the other team," said Del. Lingamfelter. "I think some people have to wonder: is all this traveling around raising bucks for national Democrats distracting Tim Kaine from his job here?"
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