McDonnell announces transition committee
JOE MAHONEY/TIMES-DISPATCH
Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell, sounding confident but looking weary, recovers from a verbal gaffe during a news conference at the state Capitol.
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Published: November 5, 2009
Updated: November 6, 2009
In his first day as governor-elect, Bob McDonnell yesterday announced his transition committee leaders, including Tom Farrell, chairman and CEO of the state's largest utility, Dominion Resources.
During a news conference at the state Capitol, the Republican said the transition committee also will include Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling; Attorney General Bill Mims; Bobbie Kilberg, president of the Northern Virginia Technology Council; and Kay Coles James, a Cabinet official under Gov. George Allen.
"It was a short night and an early morning," McDonnell said hours after he led a Republican sweep of the three statewide offices.
McDonnell, who fielded congratulatory phone calls from President Barack Obama and top Virginia Democrats, said that in the coming weeks, his team will "outline in excruciating detail everything that I said that I will do" during his four-year term.
"I intend to hold myself accountable for everything I said I was going to do," he added.
McDonnell, who looked weary but sounded confident, said the naming of Farrell, a friend since they attended high school together, and Kilberg reflects his emphasis on job creation.
Farrell contributed more than $60,000 to McDonnell's campaign.
James, who served as director for the Office of Personnel Management under President George W. Bush, also is a former dean of the Robertson School of Government at Regent University in Virginia Beach, where McDonnell received his law degree.
McDonnell tapped two staff members for the transition team: Phil Cox, who served as his campaign manager, and Tucker Martin, his campaign spokesman. Yesterday, the staff members started moving into the Ninth Street Office Building at North Ninth and East Grace streets.
McDonnell plans to take a few days off, starting tomorrow when he heads to Notre Dame, his undergraduate alma mater in South Bend, Ind., with his wife, Maureen, and several of their children.
The news conference came after McDonnell spent the morning taking congratulatory calls. He said the president was "exceptionally gracious and kind."
He said the first thing Obama told him was that he should thank his wife.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Jim Webb, all Democrats, also phoned, while Maureen McDonnell, the governor-elect's wife, received a call from Virginia first lady Anne Holton. The two were scheduled to tour the Executive Mansion yesterday.
McDonnell said that on transportation, his first priority would be to build another U.S. 460, parallel to the current 460, which runs from Suffolk to Petersburg. He acknowledged that finding the money to build it is a problem.
He repeated that he would not raise taxes to pay for new roads and rails.
When a reporter noted that McDonnell, after his victory, is being regarded as a rising star in the Republican Party, McDonnell joked, "there is a lot of Kool-Aid in Washington."
He attributed his victory to his emphasis on creating jobs and on "kitchen-table issues," but he said his attention to federal issues, such as cap-and-trade and card-check legislation, helped win back independents who had been voting for Democrats.
The depth of McDonnell's victory became more apparent yesterday as final polling results were tabulated.
McDonnell won 1,158,871 votes, or 58.66 percent, to Democrat R. Creigh Deeds' 814,582, or 41.23 percent. McDonnell won in Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun counties, areas Democrats have been carrying in recent elections.
He carried every congressional district except the 3rd and 8th. The 3rd District stretches from Norfolk to Richmond, and the 8th District covers Arlington County and Alexandria. As a further sign that Deeds did not generate enthusiasm among African-Americans, a traditional Democratic base, the turnout in the majority-black 3rd District was 34.7 percent, the lowest in the state.
McDonnell, meanwhile, exceeded by 5 or more percentage points the total rung up by the 2005 GOP candidate, Jerry W. Kilgore, in all but seven localities, according to an analysis by the Virginia Public Access Project.
A total of 1,975,684 people voted, just under 40 percent of the registered voters, but the voting rolls swelled last year with new registrants.
This year's turnout was well under the 45 percent figure in the 2005 gubernatorial election and the 74 percent in last year's presidential election. More than 1 million more Democrats voted last year than Tuesday.
The inauguration is scheduled Jan. 16. The state budget includes $353,600 to pay for the governor-elect's transition office. Bolling's transition office will get $67,100, and Attorney General-elect Ken Cuccinelli will get $87,400.
Contact Olympia Meola at (804) 649-6812 or
.
Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or .
Staff writer Jeff E. Schapiro contributed to this report.
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Reader Reactions
mrright—Obama is already in office, that is up in DC, and I am not aware of any crimes committed by those who you list as Obama cronies, other than Ayers where his activities in the ‘70s are well-documented, were discussed throughout the 2008 election cycle, and the voters—Republicans included—knew about that as they cast their ballots.
McDonnell is not yet in office, that office is here in Richmond, McDonnell denied that he would pursue a social agenda, and I predicted a few weeks ago that if a conservative social agenda emerged it would be a distraction and likely lead to embarrassing outcomes.
So you’ll have to excuse me for focusing on current events that are local and where I have made predictions of what would cause issues for McDonnell, rather than past events that are at a national level and where reasonable discourse is near impossible.
Your own responses underscore this near impossibility.
I am not stating that Kay Coles James is a criminal. I am merely pointing out that her online resume highlights here work in organizing Homeland Security, but does not mention anything about the $15 Billion dollars that have been wasted within Homeland Security, nor the failure of Homeland Security to respond to Hurricane Katrina. Nor does her online resume mention how in 2006 Homeland Security had the lowest morale of nearly any federal agency. I am putting that information here so others can review it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Homeland_Security#Criticism
I am also pointing out that her role in shaping hiring practices for the US Dept. of Justice led to Monica Goodling, another Regent U. law graduate, to be placed in the center of personnel management decisions at USDOJ, and that the outcome was a complete breakdown of USDOJ personnel management:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Goodling#Investigation_of_Goodling.27s_hiring_practices
The question I have is why is McDonnell bringing this person in? To reorganize personnel management in Virginia government? To strengthen the hiring pipeline between Regent U. and the AG’s office?
Should we expect a governement re-org with resulting low morale, waste, and illegal and politically motivated hiring practices? If the past is any predictor of the future, that is a possibility, and one that I worry about because it would have a local impact.
Finally, I am not making any criticisms of Kay Coles James based on her religious views. I am not even assuming she is a Christian. I do not understand why you wave the religion card. Can you tell me why you are waving that card?
DandyAndy: Obama’s war in Afganistan is foolish.
wpanak: That war started in 2001. October 7 2001 to be exact. GWB was President.
For one thing, I never said that the war in Afghanistan was “foolish”. Quit making up lies. (But hey, look who I’m talking to!!!!) Now to the point, Obama, who promised us “change”, still allows this war to continue. In fact, during his campaign, he said that Afghanistan was where “the focus” should be. He’s had 11 months to end it but he hasn’t. So this is indeed Obama’s war.
And for the record, I do think the bailout of GM was a bad idea. I thought so when Bush proposed it. Obama took it a step further and bailed out his Union buddies. And GM went bankrupt anyway. That’s where I blame Obama.
Other than that, just what has Obama been doing for the past 11 months, other than making his Union buddies rich on our tax dollar???
But then, I really shouldn’t be too hard on him. After all, he has absolutely no experience in business, leadership, or anything else for that matter. So, I might have to cut him a break and give him another year to do nothing. Nope, changed my mind. I’m still going to point out all of his incompetence and inadequacies to all of his water-carriers (like you).
DandyAndy—I was not blaming Bush. I was simply stating the facts and calling you on another attempt to “pull forward” an event from the GWB administration and fault Obama for the actions of GWB.
Seriously, this is comical, but let me diagram what is going on so that it is perfectly clear:
DandyAndy: Obama’s war in Afganistan is foolish.
wpanak: That war started in 2001. October 7 2001 to be exact. GWB was President.
DandyAndy: There you go again, blaming Bush for every mistake Obama has made.
Don’t you see how ridiculous you are?
I never even said the GM bailout was a bad idea. In my view it was a necessary evil given how inter-twined the Big 3 auto manufacturers are with the rest of the economy, the risk of 2 bankruptcy/liquidation of removing all domestic auto makers from the equation (this assumes that had GM and Chrysler flamed out, Ford would have been crippled because so many parts manufacturers, intermediaries, and shipping agencies that are common to all 3 auto manufacturers would have gone belly up, leaving Ford unable to do business), and the surity that we would then be totally dependent on foreign manufacturers for future automobile supplies. After all, automobiles are a durable good, but they don’t last forever, they wear out and have to be replaced. Toyota and Honda then increase prices, with Kia following suit, and US consumers have no alternatives because GM, Ford, and Chrysler no longer exist.
GWB did the right thing. He could have done nothing and left it to Obama to make a tough call on Jan. 21. But GWB bit the bullet and started the auto manufacturer bailout. Instead of blaming GWB as you assert, this is one area where I give him credit for making a tough call.
When a Republican does something that appears to be against Republican principles and is unpopular, but was the right thing to do at the time, you could simply acknowledge the event, state your viewpoint, and show that you are thinking. Instead, you distort reality and appear to be an imbecile. It is fascinating to watch your mind at work—it is a train wreck that I can revisit daily!
I’ll even take it a step further. I was perplexed as to why the Feds didn’t just buy GM outright when GM’s market cap was south of $20 Billion. Buy the company, pass a few laws giving tax breaks to manufacturers who build cleaner and more fuel-efficient cars, move all federal auto purchases to the GM brand, create an incentive for state and local governments to do likewise, make sure GM is building all the tanks and other military vehicles in the future, and perhaps a few other self-dealing moves to set GM up for success.
Oh no! the Chamber of Commerce cries, that is anti-business, anti-competition, a perversion of the free market.
However, businesses lobby for laws and contracts that are self-dealing all the time, so if any business leaders complains, the Feds could just tell them to hire more lobbyists because the world of lobbying is now a bit more competitive because the US Government is now in the business of buying distressed assets, reorganizing senior management, infusing capital, turning around major industries, and creating shareholder value for taxpayers.
At the same time, tell Bill Ford to up his game, but that GM will not drive Ford out of business so long as Ford aggressively pursues higher fuel mileage and other long-term sustainability strategy (sustainability of their business model as well as the environment). Create a technology-sharing platform that allows Ford and GM to co-invest in R&D and share innovation so that US automakers catch up with Toyota and Honda. As Ford catches up to GM under this new paradigm, loosen the procurement rules so that Ford starts benefitting from federal purchases, thus ensuring end-game competition that will lower prices to consumers.
As for Chrysler, well, they went down the path of partnership with Mercedes and private equity. Ignore Chrysler—if they fail, too bad for the private equity guys, if they thrive then the PE guys make money and it is a testament to their skills in that they compete with the Feds and suceeded.
Five years later, when the new GM is a cash cow, sell it off for a net profit to the taxpayers.
I know why that all did not happen—government ownership of the means of production is seen as socialistic—communistic even! However, the US Government now owns 60% of GM and is set to to an IPO of the new GM next year. So it happened, and time will tell how much of the federal money was a bail-out versus a smart equity investment.
But we don’t have to wait for time to tell us if you will say something foolish in response to my post. It is a certainty.
Anon, nope, you’re wrong. Bush spent most of his time trying to undo all the mistakes of the Clinton error. Unlike Obama who spends all his time playing golf or whining about all the mess he inherited. At least Bush did something constructive. Can you say the same about Obama?
ramgrl - The Republican AG’s office just got a refund from and negotiated lower rates with Dominion VA Power for all customers. Where exactly do you find fault with that?
Ah. Already has the CEO of Virginia’s monopoly in his back pocket. Am guessing Bob won’t be pushing for alternative energy then.
DandyAndy,
Unlike a broken clock, Bush was only right once - when he said “this sucker is going down”. The rest of the time, he was hiding in the residence, praying that the tooth fairy would fix the mess Chairman Greenspan created.
Okay, where to start? How about wpanak:
DandyAndy—The initial GM bailout was enacted by GWB in December 2008. That was a $15.4 Billion loan.
Still blaming Bush, I see, I thought Obama was all about “change”. So now you’re saying that Obama, despite all his whining and crying about the “mess he inherited” failed to overturn something that GWB enacted? Man, what a leader you people elected. You must be so proud.
gqrich
Really like when Bush signed his huge tax cut for the rich using reconciliation and only getting his 51 Republican votes?
Bush signed tax relief for everyone. If you think only “the rich” benefited form his cuts, then you have absolutely no concept of economics. Shall I give you a simple lesson that even you might understand? Here goes: If you pay $10,000 a year in taxes and you get a 10% tax cut, then you will save $1,000 in taxes. However, if you pay $100,000 in taxes, then under that same tax cut, you will save $10,000 dollars. Now, on the surface, and to people like you who are eat up with class envy, it would appear that the person making the most money got a bigger tax cut. But what you are unable (or unwilling) to understand is that the person getting the $10,000 tax cut still pays $90,000 dollars in taxes….far, far more than the person paying $9,000 dollars a year. Understand now? Or do I have to type this more slowly? And while you’re at it, can you define exactly who “the rich” are? Or do you think, as most liberals, “the rich” is anyone who has a dollar more than you?
Will
Gingrich’s entire reputation, such as it is, was made on adamantly refusing to work with Democrats in any way, shape, or form.
Yeah, until he had a meeting with President Clinton and then came out with his tail between his legs, all the while gushing about how they (the Republicans) had to start working more closely with the democrats. Remember that? I guess not. Look who I am talking to!!!
Mr.R: Apparently you didn’t get the note about reconciliation… Republican majorities in Congress set precedent in applying that process to just about anything, even if it adds to the deficit. But, hey, why take my word for it? You can look it up on any source you deem non-left wing, if there is such a thing.
But since when is open source material left-wing? More like the standard cop-out.
Anyway, you just keep doing your job of being a faithful cheerleader for your conservative brothers and bearing that big ol’ cross for all the persecuted Christians in American politics. We’ll keep pointing it out when you make yourself a hypocrite (hint: the definition can be found quite easily… read it sometime).
Anyone here who think that state layoffs are over must be dreaming. Agencies have nothing left to cut. Cutting staff will be he only way to keep the doors open. Unless the new Governor decides to create partnerships for other services.
Which agency will be the first to become private (DMV, VDOT, social services etc)?
Also this could be the same if Mr. Deeds had won. Because Deeds nor Mcdonnell would get rid of NG.
So as previously stated state employees
hang on for the rough 4 year ride.
As I write this post NG appears on my TV. Now I don’t remember seeing NG on TV before the last couple of months. I guess NG feel the need to counter the RTD attention the company has been getting for poor IT service.
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