Governor praises Lynchburg furniture business expansion

Gov. Bob McDonnell called immigrant businessman Thomas Johnson “a great testament to the triumph of the human spirit” as he helped dedicate an expansion of Johnson’s furniture-making business in Lynchburg on Wednesday.

McDonnell also talked with reporters about budget amendments for the Virginia Retirement System that he will ask legislators to approve next week.

The amendments renew McDonnell’s attempt to give employees a choice between using the state’s existing retirement plan and a defined-benefit plan that would allow them to save even more money for retirement.

The defined-benefit plan is similar to 401(k) plans offered by many private employers.

The state Senate already rejected the plan three times this year.

“I’m giving them a chance to reconsider,” McDonnell said. “You can always admit you were wrong and do the right thing,” he said.

“We are in trouble with our retirement system” because it has a $17.8 billion unfunded liability that is an increasing burden on the system, McDonnell said.

The amendments also would give local governments the option to require teachers, police officers and other employees to contribute up to 5 percent of their pay to their own retirement plans, McDonnell said.

Lawmakers already have approved budget language giving state employees a 5 percent pay raise to offset the mandatory 5 percent contribution to their own retirement plans.

“We give local governments the option to do that,” McDonnell said.

His budget amendments also would put almost $28 million into the VRS by increasing employers’ contributions, and by making employer contributions monthly instead of quarterly starting in the fourth quarter of 2012, McDonnell said.

The governor’s visit to Thomas Johnson’s recently acquired lumber-processing building on Mayflower Drive attracted several local business leaders and government officials.

Lynchburg was McDonnell’s second stop on his two-week “Virginia at Work” tour, which continues today with a factory dedication in Prince George County.

“I find Thomas Johnson to be an incredibly inspiring and compelling figure,” McDonnell said.

Johnson’s life story begins with his birth in Ghana, training as a carpenter, formal education in Italy and a brief stay in Denmark.

Johnson told the audience Wednesday that he arrived in Virginia 15 years ago as “a disgruntled carpenter.” But he saw an opportunity to develop a furniture-making business that used discarded wood in a former tobacco warehouse on the James River in Lynchburg, starting in 2001.

He acquired the Mayflower Drive building two years ago and plans to move his operations into it soon, he said.

Johnson said he wants to train his employees to start their own carpentry-related businesses so they can make items Americans can buy instead of purchasing imported furniture.

McDonnell said, “I wanted to be here today to help kick off the next stage of his vision.”