Bill Bolling creating jobs
By Brian Kirwin | Monday, November 22nd, 2010 | PolicyChief Jobs Creation Officer
Since Bill Bolling’s re-election as Lieutenant Governor, that’s been his job, and its no “unofficial” title. Gov. McDonnell’s Executive Order made it official, and Bill Bolling’s doing the job.
How about turning an almost-sure loss of a Nascar Sprint Cup race into a rock-solid partnership?
International Speedway Corp decided to shift one of their 12 races to Kansas City, according to the Roanoke Times. Virginia was the target to lose from the shift.
Enter Bill Bolling.
“We met with the ISC folks and listened to their situation and made our pitch about how Virginia is NASCAR country, and how these two races are of critical importance to the economy of southern Virginia, and how Martinsville is one of only three short tracks, and you don’t want to lose those short tracks,” said Bolling, recalling the meeting months later. “We made our case and offered to do what we could do to make sure that they kept both races in Martinsville.”
These are the kinds of battles local economic development folks battle constantly. With the LG leading the charge, however, a whole lot of gravitas is added to negotiations.
Five months later, Bolling was at Martinsville Speedway announcing that both annual races would remain at the short track for at least the next five years, thanks to a deal that included a state grant to help upgrade infrastructure, a new access road to improve traffic flow on race weekends, and a plan to add the Sprint Cup races to the state’s national tourism marketing. Observers said Bolling played a key role in putting the package together.
A big win for Virginia.
One of many actually. Bolling has been everywhere throughout the state, and to Florida in this case to make this pitch, working with Economic Development officials to protect the industries we have, attract the ones we don’t, and grow jobs in all parts of the Commonwealth.
It’s a job that goes unnoticed often, since media isn’t exactly in the business of highlighting good work by Republicans.
We are, and a giant congratulations to LG Bill Bolling for doing the hard work that is crucial to an economic recovery in Virginia.
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About the author
The right wants to jeer him. The left wants to censor him. Moderates usually want both. Brian Kirwin is a political consultant and public relations strategist in Virginia Beach with a lightning-rod flair. Brian also serves on the VB Arts & Humanities Commission and frequently appears on Hampton Roads theatrical stages, if only to prove that all actors aren’t liberals. Kirwin’s columns stir up debate and hit the political scene with no punches pulled.
Comments
7 Responses to "Bill Bolling creating jobs"
Indeed. At least we’ve been noticing. Here’s some more on the back story from August 28:
http://www.bearingdrift.com/2010/08/28/taxpayers-spend-millions-on-nascar-and-microsoft-in-southern-virgnia/
The McDonnell team has done a good job with economic development. Hard to say how much credit is due Bolling though.
I am a big fan of the man and his mission. He is a humble and honorable servant and our state is better off since the governor signed the EO to empower jobs creation.
More like this.. in the white house.
Steve, seems like many things are hard for you to say.
Actually, the media did pay attention, there was an article in the Pilot, it got about as much attention as a dying sport deserves, and Bolling committed the taxpayer’s public funds so a private entity could make more money. So what happened to the ideological furvor of this blog?
Brian: That’s because I look at evidence. The fact that more than 56,000 jobs in the state have been created since McDonnell came into office can’t really be disputed. That Bill Bolling deserves a lot of credit for those numbers is easy to assert, but hard to justify. What about the governor and his secretary of commerce and his real secretary of commerce, Sledd? Don’t they probably deserve more credit than the l.g.?
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