OPINION:
It will be a sad day for this state if we Virginians decide to put a carpetbagging, crony capitalist in the governor’s mansion come November (“Cuccinelli camp says McAuliffe’s job-creation record is ’biggest joke’ for April Fools’ Day,” Web, April 1).
Terry McAuliffe claims to be a businessman. He claims to have the know-how to create jobs for hardworking people like me. Mr. McAuliffe has never owned a small business. He has never managed payroll. The truth is that he has never had to make tough decisions in the face of an economic downturn. He’s a wealthy investor with unparalleled political connections who invested in a shady ’clean-energy’ firm, Green Tech, just to make it look like he had some private-sector experience when he decided to run for the Virginia governorship a second time.
What’s more, he didn’t even build his factory in Virginia. No, he decided to set up shop in Mississippi, where he used political connections to gain a more favorable startup deal. As if that wasn’t enough, he then misled the people of the state, claiming that Virginia was his first choice when looking for a place to open Green Tech’s doors — but that the Virginia Economic Development Partnership refused to bid on his company. Blatantly untrue. The group is on record as stating that they never received enough information from Mr. McAuliffe to proceed with a bid. In fact, the group had a number of concerns, ranging from no automotive experts having a place on the executive team to the company failing to meet a number of safety and emissions standards (ironically enough for a “green” company).
Mr. McAuliffe has no true business experience. Green Tech seems to be a shell of a company intended to give him some private-sector credentials in the hopes that his second run for the governorship will not be as much of a miserable failure as his first.
VALERIE WOHLLEBEN
Alexandria, Va.
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