Jeff Schapiro column: McDonnell nearly silent about VITA

Absent from the Bob McDonnell-for-governor narrative: Republicans can do a better job than Democrats -- on the budget, revenue, government nuts and bolts.

Could this missing piece expose a vulnerability on what would seem a gimme as a talking point?: the state's problem-plagued hiring of Northrop Grumman for computer services.

Promising a look-see, Creigh Deeds struggles to finesse an issue that speaks to the supposed competence of the fellow D's he hopes to succeed, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner. But McDonnell is nearly silent.

The explanation may lie in his record as attorney general, the company he keeps, his political roots, the cash he harvests as a candidate, and the lengths he goes to adhere to the no-new-taxes pledge that is an article of faith within the GOP:

• McDonnell was the lawyer for the department that signed Northrop Grumman. E-mails show the attorney general's office was routinely flagged on issues at the heart of the dispute with Northrop Grumman, including service and payments.

In advising the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, could the AG have contributed, even unintentionally, to the impasse? McDonnell likely knows more -- good and bad -- than he lets on.

• The 10-year, $2.3 billion contract with Northrop Grumman, the state's richest-ever outsourcing deal, was written by a Chicago law firm, Gordon and Glickson, that's now part of GOP-dominated McGuireWoods. Top members of the Richmond firm, which supplied lobbyists to Northrop Grumman, sit in the McDonnell campaign high-command.

Concerns about the contract, its weaknesses and ambiguities ultimately redound to those high-powered fixers at the James Center.

• As a former delegate from Virginia Beach, McDonnell appreciates the economic impact of Northrop Grumman as one of Hampton Roads' biggest employers. Why should he risk alienating voters in his home base -- the region could decide this race -- by appearing to bite the hand that feeds them?

Northrop Grumman owns the 123-year-old shipyard at Newport News. It employs nearly 20,000, roughly two-thirds of the company's total Virginia payroll of 35,000.

That makes Northrop Grumman the state's second-largest private employer. It pumps more than $10 billion annually into our economy.

• Northrop Grumman's generosity -- it cut a check to McDonnell's campaign for $25,000 in mid-May, three weeks before the IT story hit the fan -- could be viewed by the conspiratorially minded as evidence he happily accommodates the rich, the powerful.

That makes Northrop Grumman among McDonnell's bigger donors this cycle. But reviewing his fundraising, it's a pittance compared to the ka-ching he's collected from big bidness since his unofficial launch in 2006.

Still, McDonnell is comfortable with an enduring tradition that transcends party: gettin' cozy with the corpocracy.

• McDonnell long ago bought into surrendering to private enterprise, for a few shekels, services supplied by the public sector. As a legislator, he backed in 1994 and 2002 bills to turn state government into a grab-bag for business. So did Deeds.

Selling the family silver sure beats higher taxes. Besides, most candidates probably don't know how to use a finger bowl.

Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 6496814 or . Watch his video column Thursdays on TimesDispatch.com. Follow him on Twitter @RTDSchapiro. Listen to his analysis Fridays at 8:33 a.m. on WCVE (88.9 FM).