McDonnell, Bolling push jobs plan

The two men topping the Republican ticket this fall pitched their jobs plan today, paying attention to state's rural areas.

Bob McDonnell, the party's gubernatorial nominee, and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who is running to keep his post, proposed appointing Bolling to serve as "Virginia's Chief Job Creation Officer" if they are elected, as well as designating one Deputy Secretary of Commerce to focus solely on rural economic development.

"This is a jobs campaign; we will be a jobs administration," McDonnell said.

As "job creation officer," Bolling would coordinate economic development and job creation initiatives across state, according to the plan. He would act at the direction of the governor.

"In the past four years our unemployment rate has increased by 130 percent, from 3 percent to 7.1 percent Bolling said. "This is the highest prolonged rate of unemployment in 20 years and 165,000 more Virginians are unemployed today than four years ago."

McDonnell's opponent, Democratic gubernatorial nominee R. Creigh Deeds, released a statement today that said he would bring jobs to Virginia by "rebuilding our transportation system and investing in our educational institutions."

"My opponent has a long record of supporting Jim Gilmore's fiscal gimmicks and opposing Mark Warner's bipartisan economic recovery plan," he said. "So, it's no wonder my opponent wants to appoint somebody else to be in charge of job creation."

Last week, Deeds was joined by Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., to announce "Business Leaders for Deeds," a panel that will advise the state senator on issues facing the state's business community.

A spokeswoman for Jody Wagner, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor and a former state finance secretary, said today that Wagner has a plan "to position Virginia as a leader in the industries of the future like renewable energy production and biotechnology."

McDonnell's plan would double the money in, and broaden the purpose of the Governor's Opportunity Fund, which governors can tap to lure a company to the state. He would pump an additional $20 million over two years into the fund.

He also wants to expand the use of the fund, which carries an available balance of about $11.2 million, according to the campaign. It would include not just job creation and capital investment as criteria to qualify, but also allow companies that generate "significant additional state and local tax revenue" to participate.

In addition, McDonnell would expand a tax credit program to give a $1,000 tax credit per job to businesses that create 50 new jobs, or 25 in economically distressed areas. That's an estimated $14 million investment over the course of two years, according to the campaign.