On July 20th, Democrat Sheila Johnson sent shock waves through the establishment by endorsing a Republican: Bob McDonnell for Governor. Yesterday, she wrote a column in the Washington Post explaining her decision – and how she reached it.
At the time of the endorsement, Bearing Drift opined:
This is a post-racial, post-gender, trans-partisanship endorsement.
It actually has little, if anything, to do with race or gender, yet everything to do with it, because Ms. Johnson is looking out for, well, Ms. Johnson.
Ms. Sheila Johnson is America’s first black, female billionaire. She is smart, successful and doesn’t always follow left-wing orthodoxy. As annoying as I’m sure that can be to orthodox leftists, Ms. Johnson is – despite her unique financial status – firmly in the American mainstream: she is primarily interested in her well-being and that of those she cares about. That may be heresy to communists, leftists, and many stripes of socialists, but it is thoroughly American, and quite trans-partisan.
Given her financial status, you might well assume that her foremost liberal heresy is her entrepreunerial ambitions – and you would be right. Ms. Johnson says that, for her, this endorsement came down to just one word: JOBS. But whose job? Not her own. She doesn’t need a job. She could probably do nothing but luxuriate for the rest of her life and be quite comfortable.
In fact, this billionaire capitalist is most concerned about the jobs that are most vulnerable to liberal Democrat policies. She understands that compassionate politics are not primarily about the transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor but the opportunity for every person to use their abilities to better themselves. It is not compassionate to dramatically raise electricity rates in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 0.006% over 100 years, as Cap and Trade does. It is not compassionate to put healthcare in the hands of a dispassionate government bureaucracy, where only the rich will be able to afford to step out of long lines and get the personal care they need. And, as Ms. Johnson has recently found out, it is not compassionate to squash job-creating entrepreuneriship in order to protect the viewshed of some of Virginia’s wealthiest residents.
I’m talking about the last leftist heresy Ms. Johnson committed: Salamander Inn. On the outskirts of lovely Middleburg, Virginia, Ms. Johnson had a plan – bring high-end business travelers to a resort inn just a short drive from Dulles International Airport. Oh the ire. How dare she propose something so crassly commercial for Middleburg. Ms. Johnson was on the outs with her town council and her mostly Democrat, landed estate-holding neighbors. The town council, she won over when she agreed to replace the town’s aging water treatment plant. Most of the upper class in Middleburg still take umbrage to the plan. But Ms. Johnson knows what they don’t: true compassion means for-profit private industry giving a man or a woman the opportunity to do meaningful work and earn a living for their families. That – not government largesse – is what keeps our economy humming.
Of the high-end entertainment and resort industry that has been demonized since AIG’s $440,000 corporate retreat with bailout dollars, Johnson told the Washington Post that luxury is, essentially, “a corporate necessity”:
“I get really upset when people make these blanket statements about what they’re doing. They’re not inside the halls of these corporations. If you put handcuffs on them and say you can’t do this, you can’t do that, you’re going to lose everything. You’re really going to see the economy collapse.”
Because staffers need the boost.
“People that don’t run corporations don’t understand that you have the morale of your staff to keep up.”
And, that is Johnson’s economically compassionate conservatism: without money running freely through the economy – or when government soaks up taxpayer dollars like a wet blanket – jobs evaporate. Without luxury resorts, there are no jobs for groundskeepers and master craftsmen and wait staff and a culinary director and sous chefs and cleaning staff and pool maintenance personnel… At Salamander Inn, economic conditions have delayed plans for opening by at least a year. Along with the inn, these and other jobs are also on hold.
In yesterday’s column, Johnson stated:
Unemployment in Virginia is at a 25-year high. The global economic crisis has hit home. As a businesswoman who employs nearly 100 Virginians, I see it every day. That is why, before this gubernatorial election, I resolved to do my homework. I met with all the candidates and studied their records and proposals for Virginia. Bob McDonnell stood out.
His campaign for governor has been marked by an unwavering focus on advocating policies that will get Virginians back to work and our economy back on track. He is the only candidate for governor with a transportation plan. He will commit Virginia’s colleges and universities to awarding 100,000 more degrees over the next 15 years so that more of our children can gain access to our great schools, where they can get the educations they need to get the jobs they deserve. He is the only candidate calling for more charter schools and performance pay for our teachers, joining President Obama in this bipartisan effort to achieve real education reform. He has set a goal of making Virginia the best state in America in which to open a small business. On every issue, Bob’s focus is jobs: how to create the jobs we need, how to protect the jobs we have and how to help young Virginians get the jobs of tomorrow.
And so, when it comes right down to it, Johnson’s endorsement of Bob McDonnell is about just what she said it is about: JOBS. Not hers, but the jobs that can only exist in a vibrant economy. The jobs of people who would otherwise be on welfare or waiting in unemployment lines. The jobs she wants to create – but won’t be able to if the economy doesn’t improve.
