The office of Gov. Glenn Youngkin is touting news about a defense contractor expanding its operations in Northern Virginia.
Maybe not the best time, with the Trump/Musk administration changing its mind every other few minutes about gutting government spending, including in the defense sector, which had always been sacred before.
ICYMI
“Aspetto‘s decision to expand its headquarters operation in Stafford County reinforces Virginia’s position as a leader in both defense manufacturing and cybersecurity,” Youngkin said on Thursday, hyping the news that Aspetto, which manufactures tactical gear and provides cybersecurity and IT services to defense agencies, will relocate and expand its corporate headquarters in Stafford County.
The company, according to a news release from the governor’s office, plans to lease a 5,300-square-foot office space and adjacent 3,000-square-foot manufacturing warehouse to consolidate and expand its operations, creating, we’ve been led to believe, 98 new jobs.
Virginia, we learned in the PR from the governor’s office, competed with Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama for the project.
That’s PR talk for, Aspetto played the economic-development folks in the above states for money, and we gave them the best deal.
“Aspetto’s expansion into Stafford County marks an exciting new chapter for our company,” Aspetto President and CEO Abbas Haider said. “We are grateful for the unwavering support from Gov. Youngkin’s office and our partners in Virginia, whose commitment to business growth helped make this possible. This move strengthens our foundation, fuels our mission, and positions us to drive even greater innovation in the defense industry.”
Youngkin’s “unwavering support” for Aspetto comes as the governor has been busy rolling out what I termed the “Virginia Needs Jobs” initiative – the initiative, such as it is, consisting of a few updated webpages giving soon-to-be-displaced federal workers and federal contractor employees tips on how to update their resumes and file for unemployment.
ICYMI
The Trump/Musk federal job cuts threaten the livelihoods of an estimated 300,000 Virginians who work for the federal government, and another 375,000 who work for federal contractors, including, as it turns out, at Aspetto.
We’re supposed to pretend to be unaware of the backdrop of what’s going on in DC, and that this ED news in Stafford County is good news.
Sorry, can’t play that game.
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Chris Graham
