Deeds Tours Downtown Danville, Talks About Job Creation

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By Denice Thibodeau

The Democratic candidate for governor, state Sen. Creigh Deeds, wrapped up the Danville leg of his "Deeds Country" tour by walking through downtown Danville with members of his staff and a handful of supporters Tuesday.

Deeds talked about his economic plan for job creation in Southside, which he said will require a change in thinking to support a "culture of entrepreneurship."

"If you start a business, if you take a chance, you build wealth, you feed your family, you start a foundation to build generational growth," Deeds said. "Change — that's what it's all about."

Deeds said in many small towns — and in rural Virginia — there is a "thick upper class and you have a huge under class — and a razor-thin middle class; that's a real problem."

The national economic slowdown, which Deeds blamed on "the disastrous economic policies" of former President George W. Bush, needs to be the top priority of the next governor, he said.

The economy in Southside needs a jumpstart, and Deeds claims his comprehensive economic plan will create economic growth and jobs in every part of Virginia while preserving the state's "low-tax, business-friendly climate."

"When you come to a place like Danville, you should see help-wanted signs in businesses; you shouldn't see vacant stores," Deeds said.

To create that jumpstart, Deeds proposes doubling the amount of money in the Governor's Opportunity Fund, outlining ways to mentor new, small businesses and instituting a tax cut for every job created.

"That's simple," Deeds said. "Create a job, you get a tax break. That's good for small business and that's good for all businesses, because it's revenue-neutral; it pays for itself."

Deeds said his Republican opponent, Bob McDonnell, claims to support the Governor's Opportunity Fund, but his actions do not support the statement.

"But three times, while Mark Warner was governor, he (McDonnell) voted to decimate that fund," Deeds said. "He voted to slash $16 million from that fund, so it's a little hollow to say, in an election year, that he's for it."

Deeds said funding for his program can be achieved by cutting back other state spending.

"At a time when families are cutting back, businesses are cutting back, government needs to cut back too," Deeds said. "I'll keep government efficient with performance reviews, cutting wasteful spending — a form of zero-based budgeting."

By finding ways to identify savings while still delivering services, Deeds said it will be possible to "build on Virginia's well-deserved reputation as the best-managed state in the country."

Deeds said the state chairman of the Virginia Republican Party was recently quoted in a Bath County newspaper saying Virginians would rather go on welfare than work.

"That shocked me; I haven't met anyone like that in Danville," Deeds said. "In fact, I can tell you that during the primary, we were here and spent some time talking to some unemployed folks. They weren't people that wanted ‘positions;' they weren't people that even wanted ‘jobs;' they wanted work. That sort of ethic is unbelievable and builds communities like this.

"That's what builds strong communities and a strong commonwealth."

Deeds blasted Republicans in both the House of Delegates and the state Senate who voted down an additional $125 million in federal stimulus funding for the unemployed.

"My opponent wasn't in the legislature at the time, of course, but he wrote a letter and suggested to all his friends that they reject the funding — and, of course, they did," Deeds said.

Delegates Danny Marshall and Don Merricks were the only House Republicans to vote for the stimulus funds. At the time, both said Southside needed too much help to turn it down.

Deeds said the state has until August 2011 to accept the funds, and he intends to "start the process on my first day in office," because the funds offer an extra cushion to the unemployed, especially those who enter retraining programs while unemployed.

Jobs and economic development will be his first priority, Deeds said, but called education his "passion," noting that all K-12 schools in the state need to be given the tools to succeed — cutting drop-out rates, improving teacher pay to attract better teachers and encouraging the best students to go into education, especially into the math and science curriculum.

Deeds said America continues to fall further behind other countries in the world on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, and that needs to be improved quickly.

"We're not going to solve the cancers of the future, or our energy needs of the future, if we continue to let this happen," Deeds said. "We're not going to be competitive worldwide."

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