Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said today that drilling for oil and gas off the coast of Virginia could bring huge returns for education and transportation in the state.
Virginia has the potential to be a major energy supplier on the East Coast, Gingrich said at a news conference. He is in Richmond this evening to promote the candidacy of Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, a Republican who is seeking re-election to that post.
"Newt Gingrich is an ideas guy and I'm an ideas guy," said Bolling, who expected to raise more than $100,000 from a reception and dinner at the Downtown Richmond Marriott Hotel at which Gingrich is the main attraction.
Bolling and his running-mate, gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell, have been promoting off-shore drilling as a way to make America more energy independent and to generate tax royalties. The three Democrats seeking the gubernatorial nomination are either opposed to drilling, or want to limit it.
Gingrich, a potential Republican candidate for president in 2012, defended the recent move by General Assembly Republicans to reject $125 million in federal stimulus money to make unemployment insurance available to part-time workers and to laid off people studying for other jobs.
"It was bait and switch," said Gingrich of the unemployment proposal. "You get one amount of money and then the rest of your life you have to pay higher taxes. That kills jobs, slows down economic growth, discourages companies from coming into Virginia."
Gingrich said spending proposals in the Obama administration are going to saddle future generations with $9 trillion in debt, but said the administration of former President George W. Bush shares in the blame.
"I think the last year of the Bush administration and the first year of the Obama administration are a continuum," he said. . . . "I personally believe having a smaller government with lower taxes and lower spending is a lot healthier approach to get the economy growing again."
Also yesterday, McDonnell joined in a conference call with Rep. J. Randy Forbes, R-4th, to denounce any plans that would relocate detainees from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to prisons in Virginia.
President Barack Obama is proposing to shut down the facility in Cuba, where about 240 terror suspects are detained, but hasn't decided where they will go.
Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or twhitley@timesdispatch.com.
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