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Richard Cranwell, chairman of the state Democratic Party, stumped for Democratic gubernational candidate Creigh Deeds on Tuesday at Red Birch Energy in Bassett Forks. (Bulletin photo by Mike Wray) |
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
By DEBBIE HALL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Surrogates for gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds brought his “Hope and Opportunity Tour” to Henry County and other areas of Southside on Tuesday.
By voting for Deeds, “the future you save may be your own,” Richard Cranwell, former delegate and current chairman of the state Democratic Party, said during the stop at Red Birch Energy in Bassett Forks.
State Sen. Roscoe Reynolds, Martinsville Vice Mayor Kimble Reynolds Jr. and Dean Price, co-owner of Red Birch Energy, also addressed the group of about 25 supporters. Red Birch makes biodiesel fuel out of canola grown locally, a process Price said is the first “closed loop delivery system of biodiesel fuel in the country.”
“I cannot think of a better place to promote Creigh Deeds than here,” Kimble Reynolds said. “We need a visionary leader like Creigh Deeds to look out for people in rural Virginia.”
He and others cited Deeds’ plans to help students and rural communities. His Virginia Forward program offers financial assistance to high school students with B averages who commit to work in public service in Virginia for two years after graduation.
According to his Web site, Deeds also proposes creating a rural business fund to help small businesses in economically distressed communities and would finish the last mile of broadband by 2013, among other things.
“It is truly ironic that the Republican candidate for governor is calling himself the jobs” candidate, Sen. Reynolds said. “We couldn’t count on him (former delegate and attorney general Bob McDonnell) for help” because McDonnell voted against things such as funding the Governor’s Opportunity Fund (GOF). But Deeds “has been with us in every fight” on issues relating to economic development, Sen. Reynolds said.
Cranwell also noted the irony of McDonnell’s ads that now tout him as supporting the GOF and job creation. McDonnell now says times have changed and the funds should be increased.
“That dog don’t hunt,” Cranwell quipped. “When it comes to the GOF, who is on your side? Creigh Deeds.”
Deeds was “the chief sponsor” of legislation to create the Governor’s Opportunity Fund (GOF), which provides incentives to companies creating jobs, Cranwell said.
Statewide, GOF incentives have helped create or save 79,000 jobs, including 670 jobs in Henry County and Martinsville that have been created or saved through nearly $400,000 in incentives, according to Cranwell and a release distributed at the event.
Citing McDonnell’s job plan, which promises tax credits to small businesses creating 25 new jobs, Cranwell said 80 percent of small companies have 20 or fewer employees.
In comparison, Cranwell said, Deeds has pledged that “if you create one single, solitary job, you will get a tax credit.”
Deeds also has a record of job creation, having served as chairman of the Blue Ridge Economic Development Commission, Cranwell said.
The last Republican governor, Jim Gilmore, “ran our economy in the ditch,” Cranwell said. After Democrat Mark Warner was elected governor, he came up with a bipartisan solution to put the state back on track, Cranwell said. Cranwell said McDonnell led the Republicans who resisted.
“Nineteen enlightened Republicans” voted for the bipartisan plan, Cranwell said. “Where was Bob McDonnell? You got it ... Dr. No.”
McDonnell’s transportation plan “is not a plan. It’s full of nothing,” Sen. Reynolds said. Deeds is the only candidate with a plan to address transportation woes, complete work on U.S 58 and build Interstate 73 rather than “create roadblocks ... Frankly, that’s what Bob McDonnell has been doing for years,” Reynolds added.
McDonnell’s plan to use the general fund to pay for transportation “is smoke and mirrors,” Cranwell said. The fund to pay for transportation was set up separately to keep transportation and education from competing for money, he said.
Currently, 75 percent of the general fund is spent on education, Cranwell said, and asked if anyone thought McDonnell could tap the remaining 25 percent to pay $4 billion for transportation costs.
Deeds also has played a role in making Virginia the best state for business and “played a key role in saving” the state’s AAA bond rating in 2004, according to Cranwell and a release. Deeds also has a record of investing in, supporting and protecting education, which is the “stock and trade that greases the wheels of commerce.”
In contrast, McDonnell has said he supports “educating everybody to the minimum level of self-sufficiency,” Cranwell said. McDonnell “voted against $1.5 billion for education (proposed by Warner), yet he’s suggesting he’s for quality education ... Actions speak louder than words.”
“Do you want a leader ... or to go back to the Jim Gilmore days,” he asked, and urged supporters to tell their friends and neighbors to vote for Deeds on Nov. 3.
As he encouraged voters to educate their friends and urge them to vote, Cranwell said, “elections are about choices. In this particular race, the choices are very clear.” |
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