McDonnell listens in Culpeper as world watches

Twelve days before Election Day, the Republican candidate for governor made a low-key campaign stop in Culpeper, touting his plan to boost employment and make Virginia the energy capital of the East Coast.

But even away from Richmond, the fierce partisan politics of the race followed.

“I came to listen,” said Bob McDonnell, former Virginia attorney general and Republican delegate, during a sit-down talk with builder Anthony Clatterbuck, owner of Graystone Homes.
McDonnell got an earful.

The world watches
Del. Ed Scott, R-Madison, sat in on their 20-minute discussion inside Clatterbuck’s Orange Road showroom while a dozen community leaders, campaign workers and members of the press stood around listening, including an editor with the Sunday Times of London.

That’s how much attention the Virginia governor’s race has received as the country — and the world — watches to see if the state will swing back Republican after choosing Barack Obama for president in November.

“If you get elected, is that indicative of the mood in the country that people are unhappy with Democrats?” Christina Lamb with the London Times asked McDonnell.

He said he would leave it up to the press to make those conclusions, saying he was focused on Virginia issues and creating jobs. But he didn’t completely dodge the question.

“I will say a lot of my friends in Congress like (Eric) Cantor, (John) Boehner and Sen. (Mitch) McConnell and (former) Speaker (Newt) Gingrich will say, yes, it is very important that Republicans win in Virginia because it will throw some momentum for the big elections in 2010,” McDonnell said. “I’ll let them decide how important that is — I’m just focused on winning in 12 days.”

Republican Culpeper?
Outside Graystone Homes, several dozen McDonnell supporters gathered to greet him as he arrived before 10 a.m.

Four county supervisors showed up — Larry Aylor, Sue Hansohn, Steve Nixon and Tom Underwood — along with Town Councilman Duke duFrane and Chamber of Commerce Director Jim Charapich.

Local GOP leader Barbara Taylor, former Cantor aide, was there as well, and the Republican-heavy group was confident in their candidate.

“Is the governor here already?” asked Hansohn.

“The governor is here,” replied Taylor.

The other party was not officially represented Thursday, though the McDonnell stop in Culpeper was definitely on the Democrats’ radar.

Tit for tat
“Bob McDonnell: not for small business in Culpeper,” the Democratic Party of Virginia wrote in an e-mail sent to the Star-Exponent at 9:24 a.m.

“I don’t understand how Bob McDonnell’s plan would help benefit small businesses,” DPV communications director Allison Jaslow shot back in a follow-up phone call, saying small businesses would have to create 25 jobs to qualify for a tax credit under his plan.

According to the Virginia Employment Commission, 89 percent of Culpeper businesses have 19 or fewer employees, she continued, referring to the VEC’s Community Profile for Culpeper.

“How is this supposed to help small businesses in Culpeper, the backbone of our economy, if they have to create 25 jobs to qualify for an incentive?”

Under Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds’ plan, Jaslow said, every small business in Culpeper would get a tax credit for every job it creates.

McDonnell aide Stacey Johnson, on sabbatical from her regular post in Cantor’s D.C. office, discounted the opposing party’s assertions.

“Every major job-creating organization and group in the state has strongly endorsed Bob McDonnell for governor,” she said. “Voters know that’s what counts, not some partisan press release from the increasingly desperate Democratic Party of Virginia.”

Survival mode
Either way, it’s been desperate times for Clatterbuck and his crew of tradesmen, he told McDonnell during their talk.

At the peak of their business at Graystone Homes, he employed 38. That number is now down to 13.

“Our volume is down about 80 percent,” he said. “Basically we are in survival mode and hope to stay in survival mode until the economy improves.”

Whereas Graystone Homes constructed 42 residences annually at the height of the building boom, Clatterbuck expects he’ll do four or five this year — though that’s actually better than the past two years, he said, when work pretty much “disappeared.”

Asked by McDonnell what state government could do to help, Clatterbuck had a list, literally. Reading from two full pages on a legal pad, the builder, who is also a longtime volunteer firefighter and EMT, told the gubernatorial candidate that Richmond needs to pay attention to how its actions impact small businesses.

“When I look at what is going on, it’s like (state government) is asleep at the wheel,” Clatterbuck said.

He went on to list his concerns with state action related to:

* storm water management regulations
* the proffer system wherein builders pay governments for growth impacts
* increased licensing requirements for contractors
* people inexperienced with the building code serving on state boards that regulate the code and
* the re-appropriation of state fire funds to being dispersed in arrears versus in advance.

“My main gist is, we have this industry that pays a lot of income tax and a lot of sales tax that we need to get going again,” Clatterbuck said. “It’s great to create new jobs, but we need to have measures to retain the businesses that we have.”

Homebuilding is one of the last industries in America that cannot be shipped overseas, he said. “It’s the economic engine of Virginia, and right now we’re running on two cylinders.”

Energy jobs key
McDonnell, listening attentively while Clatterbuck did most of the talking, outlined his plan for job creation as he ended his Culpeper stop by taking a few questions from two reporters.

“Unlike my opponent, I have actually worked in business. I have a master’s degree in business, I worked for a Fortune 500 company for five years and (know) what you need to do to sell your products,” he said.

McDonnell said boosting small businesses — which create 75 percent of the jobs — through tax credits would be among his priorities. He also said he would work to help the tourism industry by re-establishing the state’s tourism grants.

And then there’s the future of energy in America.

“Energy jobs hold enormous potential,” he said. “My goal is to make Virginia the energy capital of the East Coast — coal, natural gas, nuclear, we’ve got the first lease sale (on the East Coast) to drill offshore for oil and natural gas in 2011. I’m for it, my opponent is not.”

McDonnell said he had a better plan for “how we are going to grow our way out of this economic downturn. … I think we need to keep taxes low.”

‘Last bit of hard work’
Leaving Culpeper around 11 a.m., McDonnell addressed the crowd still waiting outside, saying the Republican National Committee “is doing a phenomenal job” with its resources and personnel in supporting the Virginia governor’s race.

“But it really comes down to you all doing that last bit of hard work,” he said.

Terry Dixon, chairman of the Rappahannock County Republican Committee, seemed fired up about doing his part.

“I think he’s right on all the issues,” said the real estate broker from Castleton. “Virginia voters are looking for that, and that’s why he’s ahead in the polls.”
Virginians want jobs, Dixon said, not higher taxes.

“We’re tired,” he added, “of the stimulus and the Democrats.”