McDonnell campaigns with Barbour, defers on VITA

By: Tyler Whitley | Times-Dispatch
Published: June 22, 2009

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell talked jobs and energy today at a news conference with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.

McDonnell also ducked on two issues that have been in the limelight recently.

McDonnell said he would defer judgment on whether to allow uranium mining in the state and what to do about Virginia's troubled information agency, VITA, until studies have been completed.

McDonnell said he supports public-private partnerships and wants the state to use them more, particularly in roadbuilding. Some have blamed the cost overruns and management problems at the Virginia Information Technology Agency on the public-private partnership with Northrop Grumman.

Asked about VITA, McDonnell said the agency "needs further review and some stewardship and accountability."

He said he wanted to see what a study of the agency by the Virginia Senate turns up.

"I don't necessarily think the fact there is a public-private partnership with Northrop Grumman is the problem," he said.

McDonnell spoke at a news conference with Barbour, who traveled to Virginia to help McDonnell raise money and perhaps help his own presidential ambitions.

A spokesman for McDonnell said the Barbour visit helped the McDonnell campaign raise $250,000 at three events, including a luncheon at the Richmond Marriott Hotel, today.

Barbour made a recent trip to Iowa and is said to be eyeing a presidential run. Barbour said he is not and urged Republicans to concentrate on winning the gubernatorial races here and in New Jersey this year and congressional races nationwide next year before focusing on the 2012 presidential election.

While he favors more nuclear power plants, McDonnell said he wanted to await the results of a study of the environmental and safety risks of uranium mining before endorsing. A rich vein of uranium worth an estimated $10 billion has been discovered in Pittsylvania County.

"Nuclear energy is the ultimate clean energy," he said. "Before that uranium is touched, we must be sure that uranium is extracted in a way that is friendly to the environment and friendly to the health and welfare of the citizens."

He said he would reserve judgment on mining until a proposed study is completed, which would be well after the gubernatorial election.

McDonnell said Barbour is the type of governor he would like to emulate, noting that Barbour has promoted job growth and energy development in Mississippi, without raising taxes.

He said Virginia "spends too little on transportation and too little on the operations of our higher education system . . . but we might spend too much on some other areas. Which is why we need an audit of many of our major state agencies."