Our lieutenant-governor nominee has been hitting Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling below the belt on the Governor’s Opportunity Fund, which Bolling has consistently advocated for. Now our gubernatorial nominee is getting us back on track on the Opportunity Fund issue, properly pointing out that GOP nominee Bob McDonnell is the one with the weakness in his record vis-a-vis the Fund.
McDonnell voted three times in 2002 and 2004 to cut funding from the Opportunity Fund. Deeds was instrumental as a member of the House of Delegates in the 1990s in the effort to establish the Fund, a discretionary fund available to Virginia governors to retain and attract businesses to the Commonwealth.
“The Governor’s Opportunity Fund grant awarded to Snack Alliance brought an announced 95 new jobs to Bristol and saved 85 existing jobs at the plant,” Deeds at a Wednesday campaign stop in Bristol at Snack Alliance Inc., which benefited from $225,000 in economic incentives provided by the Governor’s Opportunity Fund in 2004.
“If Bob McDonnell had his way, GOF grants would have been cut in 2004. Without GOF grants, Snack Alliance could have ended up in South Carolina,” Deeds said.
Deeds is pushing a plan to double the annual appropriation to the Fund to $40 million to enhance the Fund’s effectiveness in the economic-development arena.
“I’ll continue to champion the Governor’s Opportunity Fund and use it to attract a well-trained workforce and businesses like Snack Alliance,” Deeds said. “Doubling the fund is the right thing to do to jumpstart the economy, and it’s the right thing to do for communities like Bristol.”
– Story by Chris Graham
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