McDonnell talks up jobs strategy as he defends budget cuts

Gov. Bob McDonnell said Friday in Lynchburg that he had little choice but to propose cutting state money for health care and education while focusing on economic recovery in the state.

He said the state needs to offer more business incentives and build up its energy-sector employment, including nuclear employment in the Lynchburg region. That will result in more tax revenue for services.

“We’ve cut public safety and higher education and some other areas of the budget so badly over the last couple of years that the only places that were really left to make some additional reductions were in health care and in K-12 education,” McDonnell told reporters after meeting with Lynchburg-area business and government leaders for about an hour at Central Virginia Community College.

“In the short run, there’s no question there’s going to be some pain in K-12 and in our health care areas,” he said. “But what I want to do is make the investments now in job creation, economic development, tax and regulatory tools that allow me to go out and tell the Virginia story and bring jobs to Lynchburg, Bedford, Appomattox, and all of the state so next year we can be talking about how many jobs we brought in.”

Schools throughout the area are bracing for unprecedented budget reductions, with divisions in Lynchburg and Bedford and Campbell counties looking at the possibility of closing schools and eliminating dozens of teacher positions to save money, among other difficult measures.

McDonnell believes schools can continue providing quality education while money is short. “I’ve got great faith in the leadership skills of our teachers, our principals, our school board members, … that they’ll find ways to reduce costs in administration, in overhead, … but make sure that we keep our focus on the classrooms, the teachers and technology,” he said.

McDonnell was in Lynchburg to hear a report about the region’s economy and efforts to train workers. He then spoke about his agenda for helping pull the state out of a recession.

The governor has asked for $50 million in new business incentives, including tax credits and doubling his fund that helps employers expand.

“I think we can do better if we get these incentives,” especially as other states and countries provide strong incentives, he said. “We can’t just say, ‘Hey we’re a great place to do business, we have a great climate and we have a Liberty (Univer-sity) ski slope, come here.’ We’ve got to be able to show people a little bit of money.”

On energy, McDonnell said President Barack Obama seems serious about supporting the expansion of nuclear power. “I’m going to look for every way possible to have that focus hit Virginia,” McDonnell said.

Referring to the presence of nuclear energy companies, he said that the Lynchburg area could be “the nuclear capital of America.”

Mike Rencheck, Areva’s president and CEO in Lynchburg, asked about support for offshore wind energy. Areva has expressed interest in manufacturing wind turbines in Virginia if offshore projects move forward.

McDonnell said federal regulators need to speed the permitting process for offshore wind farms, but that wind energy would bring many jobs in the state.