Charlottesville, Virginia Daily Progress: Gillespie has admirable plan for economy

DailyProgress endorses our campaign. My policies will bring a brighter economic future for ALL Virginians. http://ed4va.com/NF7WWg

[I guess the good people of Charlottesville don't consider us racists after all.]

From a majority of candidates interviewed by The Daily Progress for a number of races, we’ve heard that the economy is the state’s top issue during this election.

Virginia’s economy is growing, but slowly: The commonwealth isn’t bouncing back from recession as strongly as it has following previous downturns. As a result, Virginia is losing economic advantage compared to other states.

The unemployment rate looks positive — but underemployment is a strong negative. Many people must make do with stop-gap jobs. Others must work two or three jobs just to make ends meet.

Virginia’s apparently encouraging growth and unemployment figures therefore seem to be veneered over a base of economic uneasiness and dissatisfaction.

Therefore, we take the issue of economic vitality as our No. 1 guidance in making our endorsement for governor. And we believe Ed Gillespie has the best chance of leading Virginia to a brighter economic future.

Why?

In basic political terms, because he is of the same party as the majority of state legislators and will be able to work with them.

He’s already laid the groundwork for that cooperation by involving lawmakers in the creation of his economic development plans and other proposals. That’s a smart strategic move that will give the new governor a jump start on implementing his programs.

But of course implementation itself is of no benefit — quite the opposite — if the programs themselves are injurious.

Mr. Gillespie’s overall philosophy is that a wise government should support the conditions in which businesses can thrive and in which Virginians can to keep more of their hard-earned money — a premise with which we agree.

Mr. Gillespie would promote regional approaches to development, such as GO Virginia; emphasize technology growth, including the tech and bio-tech business accelerator projects in and around Charlottesville; push for “workforce transformation” opportunities to help workers qualify for today’s jobs; collaborate with schools and universities to improve workforce readiness; enact policies to help Virginia businesses capture more venture capital; and advance efforts to create ready-to-build sites throughout Virginia, since many industry prospects are seeking such locations — and competitor states are providing them.

Although Virginia’s several agencies dealing with growth and the economy deserve support, one area that needs restraint — or at least better guidance — is the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. This is the agency that has made so many bad grants in recent years, including losing $1.4 million in state money to a fake Chinese company. Mr. Gillespie plans to ensure that the VEDP receives needed oversight.

There are other issues, certainly — and on these Mr. Gillespie doesn’t always land on the spot that might be expected of a long-time Republican. For instance, he has a detailed proposal to help address sea-level rise, which of course means he acknowledges it as a given.

Democrat Ralph Northam and Libertarian Cliff Hyra are also impressive candidates and are dedicated to the betterment of Virginia.

But we urge voters to look more closely at Ed Gillespie, by visiting his website and studying his 19-point action plan. They might be, as we were, pleasantly surprised.

Ed Gillespie‏Verified account @EdWGillespie Nov 2

Proud to have earned the endorsement of the @RTDNEWS for my focus on economic growth. http://ed4va.com/vfcSuC

Editorial: The Richmond Times-Dispatch endorses Ed Gillespie for governor

Despite the occasional nasty campaign flier or 30-second TV spot, this year’s race for governor of Virginia is a cause for at least modest celebration. The two major-party candidates are both admirable men — able, honest, and well-qualified to execute the high office they seek. Not so long ago, this might have seemed unremarkable. But in the 2013 gubernatorial election, The Times-Dispatch decided that no candidate was worthy of endorsement. And last year, after careful consideration, we endorsed the Libertarian candidate for president, much to the chagrin of many readers.

This year poses no such dilemma. Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, the Democratic nominee for governor, is an honorable man, with a long record of service to country and commonwealth. He is fit for the job of governor. But he is the second-best choice to lead Virginia, not so much because of any defects on his part, but because of the abundant strengths of his opponent. Republican Ed Gillespie has run an energetic, inclusive, moderate-conservative, solutions-oriented campaign. His detailed, in-depth proposals reflect a refreshing respect for the intelligence of the voters.

Gillespie revives the pragmatic, open-minded Republican Party that for so long served Virginia well by emphasizing effective government that focuses on core responsibilities while limiting regulation and keeping taxes as low as possible. In an era of screamers, Gillespie speaks in calm tones about shared goals and specific policies to address both recent declines and longstanding problems. He offers multitudes of incremental progress rather than misleading promises of pure utopias. He is a realistic conservative who understands the gradual changes in Virginia — and is able to appreciate and protect the improvements while recognizing the problems, which are frequently spurred by creeping blue-state calls for bigger and more intrusive government.

His campaign has focused on helping boost economic growth and job creation. Its centerpiece is a highly responsible and straightforward plan to cut every Virginian’s state income tax by 10 percent. Despite hysterical claims to the contrary, Gillespie’s tax reforms will let workers keep more in their wallets, while protecting the commonwealth’s ability to meet its fundamental responsibilities, with a comfortable margin of error. He knows, unlike most Democrats, that more government spending is not the cure for all that ails society.

He has also displayed a desire to reform state laws and institutions that are failing our citizens, especially the most vulnerable among us. He has spoken frequently about the racial disparities in our criminal justice system. Gillespie proposes to raise the dollar amount of the felony larceny threshold, relax some medical marijuana and marijuana possession laws, and improve the process to restore voting rights for felons who have paid their debt to society. He favors treatment and intervention over incarceration as the best response to addiction. These measures demonstrate the candidate’s ability to assess complex challenges and respond with practical solutions rather than poll-tested slogans.

Gillespie backs charter schools as an alternative public-school opportunity for students who need a better education. He has outlined specific plans for expanding cooperation among governments, businesses, and faith communities to address issues such as foster care, adoption, and prisoner re-entry, where Virginia’s performance can certainly improve. He understands the need to act prudently on health care, so that its demands on the budget do not squeeze out funding for education and public safety. He recognizes that reforms to the state’s burdensome certificate of need program will ultimately benefit patient care and costs.

Perhaps most important, Gillespie knows that while Virginia remains a prosperous, dynamic dominion, it also faces strong competition — for jobs, businesses, students — from nearby states, especially those to the south. Virginia’s natural assets, enviable workforce, and outstanding universities have long provided competitive superiority. But those advantages can be forfeited if the commonwealth’s regulatory regime, budget discipline, and entrepreneurial appeal are allowed to decay. Gillespie talks often and persuasively about the unbreakable link between economic growth and social progress. As governor, he will deliver on Virginia’s potential. He has earned our confident endorsement.

National Review: Gillespie for Governor

The party with control of the White House tends to lose the Virginia gubernatorial race. It would serve Virginia well to buck that trend and elect Ed Gillespie in November.

Despite the drag of President Trump’s unpopularity in the state, Gillespie has made the race competitive, and most observers don’t believe the Washington Post poll last week that had Democratic lieutenant governor Ralph Northam up by double digits. Given his shocking near-upset of Senator Mark Warner in 2014, no one should underestimate Gillespie’s capacity to surprise. The closeness of the race is a sign of the weakness of Northam and Gillespie’s sure-footedness as a candidate.

We have disagreed with Gillespie on immigration over the years. In the past, he supported the “comprehensive” reform, although his enthusiasm for it has, we are glad to say, markedly diminished. In the gubernatorial race, he has emphasized enforcement and repeatedly hit Northam for his vote against a measure that would prevent the creation of sanctuary cities in Virginia (Governor Terry McAuliffe vetoed the bill). Gillespie has painted the downside of lax enforcement in the starkest terms by emphasizing the depredations of the MS-13 gang — an extreme example but also a genuine menace.

A rap against Gillespie is that he is a creature of the establishment. It is true that he has worked in and around politics for decades. He emerged as an instrumental aide to congressional Republicans in the 1990s, beginning as a staffer for Dick Armey when the Texan was an insurgent backbencher. Gillespie advised George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign and went on to become chairman of the Republican National Committee. He also started a successful lobbying firm. No one will mistake him for an outsider. But he is a sincere and public-spirited man. In 2007, when George W. Bush was friendless and unpopular, Gillespie went to serve in the White House as a counselor, not for the glory of it (there was none), but out of a sense of duty.

Powered by Gillespie’s long résumé may be a reason that Trump enthusiasts who voted for his outlandish primary opponent, Corey Stewart, aren’t yet rallying around him. They should think again. A Gillespie victory would significantly dent the narrative that the Trump-era GOP is foundering politically.

Then, there are the merits of the case. Gillespie is running on a serious, forward-looking conservative agenda. His signature policy is broad-based tax reform, which Northam — who has yet to release a detailed tax plan of his own — has called a “tax cut for the rich at the expense of the working class.” Actually, Virginia’s top personal-income-tax rate kicks in at $17,000, and Gillespie is proposing to cut income taxes by 10 percent across all of Virginia’s tax brackets. The current governor, Democrat Terry McAuliffe, has presided over a period of falling labor-force participation and relatively weak economic growth. Gillespie’s tax plan would be an economic boost.

Gillespie wants to reform the regulations that he says make it “nearly impossible” to open new charter schools. Flexibility is essential for a state this big, yet Virginia has only nine charter schools, one of the lowest totals in the nation. That’s in no small part because McAuliffe, who vetoed a school-choice bill in March, is a tool of the teachers’ unions. Northam would follow in McAuliffe’s footsteps.

Gillespie has also suggested practical solutions to trickier problems. He wants to divert non-violent drug offenders to addiction centers, and proposes a significant overhaul of the state’s mental-health services. Gillespie is an experienced, practical-minded conservative who is a good fit for the increasingly purple state. We have no doubt he would be a good governor, and this is not even a close call — vote Gillespie

Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star EDITORIAL: Ed Gillespie for governor

GROWING THE Virginia economy will create more jobs and generate more state revenue, which in turn will help solve the biggest problems now facing the commonwealth in the areas of transportation, education and health care. And the gubernatorial candidate most likely to advance economic growth in the state is Republican Ed Gillespie, which is why he has the FREE LANCE-STAR'S endorsement.

Throughout his campaign, Gillespie has emphasized the need for economic growth, pointing out that not so long ago, Virginia was the nation’s top business-friendly state. It’s now in the bottom half at No. 31, according to the Tax Foundation.

And in January, the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center reported that during the last three years, “more people have moved from Virginia to other states than have moved into the commonwealth.”

To improve Virginia’s business-friendly ranking and to end the out-migration of residents with college degrees to neighboring states, Gillespie is proposing a 10 percent reduction in the state income tax that scales back future—not current—spending, with $2 in tax relief for every $3 in increased spending.

Gillespie claims his proposal, which includes revenue triggers to protect core government services and the commonwealth’s AAA bond rating, will create 53,000 new jobs and increase state revenue by $3.4 billion.

That’s exactly what’s needed to keep Virginia competitive with its neighbors and to allow it to invest more money in transportation infrastructure, public education and health care for low-income Virginians.

Gillespie, a lobbyist and former chairman of the Republican National Committee, was a counselor to President George W. Bush and the lead author of the GOP’s historic 1994 “Contract with America” that helped the Republican Party gain control of Congress for the first time in four decades. His proposals are sensible and pragmatic.

On transportation, the Fredericksburg region’s top issue, Gillespie supports a “lock box” for state transportation dollars—meaning that money appropriated for transportation could not be redirected elsewhere. He also told the Free Lance-Star that his friendly relationships with President Trump and U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao will help him secure more federal highway funding, which is the only way the hotspots on Interstate-95 will get fixed in the near future.

Gillespie also favors the expansion of public charter schools in Virginia to give parents more choice in the education of their children, and keeping tuition at the commonwealth’s public universities affordable for state residents.

Unlike his Democratic rival, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, Gillespie is not in favor of expanding Medicaid, because of its future cost increases. But he does favor a state compact that would allow insurance companies in Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia to offer plans in Virginia and vice versa, encouraging innovation and competition.

Attracting and keeping businesses in the commonwealth and growing Virginia’s economy should be the next governor’s top priority. Gillespie not only understands this, he is well-suited to the challenges ahead.

Bannon embraces Ed Gillespie

Bannon: Trump, Stewart Voters Going to Win Virginia Governorship for ‘Bush Guy’ Gillespie

Following headliner Stephen K. Bannon, executive chairman of Breitbart News, populist-nationalist 2018 U.S. Senate candidate Corey Stewart addressed the Remembrance Project National Conference in Washington, DC, Saturday. The event, at the capital’s famous Willard Hotel, featured a “who’s who” of leaders in the fight against illegal immigration, including headliner Bannon, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, and Colorado gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo, in Remembrance Project’s largest annual event to honor Americans killed by illegal alien crime and the “angel families” they left behind.

Stewart, speaking afterwards with Breitbart News, called Bannon “the most powerful political figure in the United States today.” He agreed with Bannon’s assessment of the political winds in the country. “There’s momentum in the country to destroy political correctness, to do something about illegal immigration, to build the wall, and enforce immigration laws,” he said.

Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie made “Mara Salvatrucha,” or MS-13, a focal point of his campaign as Tuesday’s election draws near. Fueled by illegal aliens, the transnational criminal gang has become a gruesome feature of the once placid Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC.

The issue, that has come to define the race in the last month, is no news to Stewart, who extensively raised the alarm on MS-13 and the refusal of Gillespie opponent Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam to endorse banning the “sanctuary city” policies that fuel transnational criminal organizations in other states in his primary campaign.

Just Thursday, the Department of Justice unveiled indictments for murder against four more alleged MS-13 members from Anne Arundel County, Maryland, just over the state line from the Northern Virginia communities, about which both Gillespie and Stewart have raised concerns.

“MS-13 is not just a Northern Virginia problem. It’s not just in Northern Virginia and tidewater,” Stewart told Breitbart News on Saturday. “It is spreading down the [Interstate] 81 corridor and is becoming a statewide issue … It’s an issue that will drive not only conservatives but independent voters who are concerned about it.”

Stewart, who lost to Ed Gillespie by the narrowest of margin’s in June’s GOP primary, thought his one-time opponent has done well for himself by making illegal immigration-fueled crime the central issue of his campaign. “As he’s moved to the right,” Stewart told Breitbart News of Gillespie, “as he’s embraced the issues of protecting historical monuments and cracking down on illegal immigration, I don’t think it’s a coincidence his poll numbers have improved dramatically.”

The left, including the incumbent Democrat, arch-Clinton ally Terry McAuliffe, has tried to shame Gillespie’s populist turn as “racist.” Most prominent is the response of leftist PAC “Latino Victory Fund,” placing in circulation an ad showing a Gillespie supporter with a confederate flag on his pickup trying to run down Muslim and Latino children. The ad, now conclusively linked to the Northam campaign, has been called “vile” and “despicable” by the Washington Post editorial board.

Corey Stewart called the ad “by far the dumbest move by the left in the last year.”

Bannon, in his own address, broadly agreed with Stewart’s understanding of the path of the Virginia governor’s race. When he mentioned Gillespie’s name, cheers of “Corey! Corey!” erupted from the crowed. “For the Senate in ’18,” was Bannon’s reply.

“That’s a horse race now,” Bannon said. “Gillespie, what was he? Eight, ten points down two weeks ago, two and a half weeks ago?”

Gillespie is now running even or ahead in many polls.

“If Gillespie … a Bush guy … wins, and I do believe that Gillespie’s going to pull this thing out,” Bannon continued, “it will be because of the underlying message of Corey Stewart and what he believes in, and the Trump voters in Virginia who are gonna turn out!”

Stewart was similarly optimistic about the effect of the momentum Gillespie has stirred up with his embrace of Virginia’s populist energy. “A Gillespie win or a narrow loss means there will be a lot more national money and resources going into Virginia in 2018,” he told Breitbart News.

Ekstrom: Pro-Trump monument supporters in Virginia must vote Tuesday

I helped found the Conservative Response Team to fight and defeat the growing Cultural Marxist cancer in America today.

The battle started in South Carolina when Gov. Nikki Haley and feckless legislators voted to remove the battle flag from the Confederate Memorial in Columbia.

At that time, we warned that that vote would be the first domino in an effort to tear down monuments, rename streets, schools and parks and even dig up graves.

Sadly, we were right.

One by one, liberal cities began destroying their history, just like ISIS. Memphis even wanted to dig up Confederate Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s grave! Lee Circle in New Orleans was destroyed as was the beautiful sculpture of Confederate Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard and other historical monuments. Then it was the monument to General Lee in Dallas, dedicated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936.

But nowhere has the battle been more heated than in Virginia, where gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart dared speak out against Charlottesville’s attempt to remove a statue to General Lee. The issue went on to dominate the gubernatorial race and Stewart nearly pulled off an upset in the primary over RNC-backed candidate Edward W. Gillespie.

Gillespie’s unwillingness to support legislation backed by every single Republican delegate and state senator was a major factor in the results. Gillespie lost whole sections of the state and was saved only by margins in liberal Fairfax and Arlington counties, and in Alexandria and other liberal cities.

Shortly after the primary, violence broke out at a rally in Charlottesville, and Democrats got caught up in the rhetoric coming forth from their Alt-Left, Antifa and Black Lives Matter supporters. Democratic nominee Ralph S. Northam, a graduate of Virginia Military Academy, endorsed taking down all Confederate statues, including the one of Confederate Lt. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson at VMI, a request the college board immediately rejected.

But soon Northam realized he overreached in response to the frenzy and began trying to back away from his promise, but it was too late and Gillespie wisely attacked Northam over his position.

The decision sparked a jump in Gillespie’s poll numbers, perhaps driven by several positive tweets from President Donald J. Trump highlighting Gillespie’s monuments stand. Today, Gillespie’s now down by a hair in the RCP average, below the margin of error.

At the same time, Conservative Response Team has remained determined to keep holding Gillespie’s feet to the fire, and we did, despite pressure from a lot of Republican Party types who asked us to “lay off Ed.”

Believe me, Ed’s heard the message loud and clear. Very clear. Very very clear.

Now voters must make a choice. It’s a tough one because Gillespie is just uncomfortable with controversy and this is a controversial issue that divides voters. But it’s also clear that Gillespie will have no choice as governor but to sign legislation protecting these monuments from leftist politically correct politicians in liberal cities like Charlottesville and Richmond.

Gillespie will have no choice because virtually every Republican candidate for every other office in the state has taken a strong and bold stand for protecting our history and fighting political correctness.

As voters, there really isn’t any choice either.

Of course, there’s the alternative of casting a third-party protest vote, not voting at all or even voting for Northam. But none of these are real choices.

Northam is a leftist ideologue who has endorsed destroying all Confederate Statues and who knows what other kooky liberal ideas he’ll endorse after election day? Couple this with Northam’s radical views on everything from abortion to guns to taxes and extremist environmental regulations, and it’s obvious Northam is a totally unacceptable choice.

If Northam, Justin Fairfax and Mark Herring are defeated, it’s going to be a shattering psychological blow, not only to the Democratic Party, not only to the radical Alt-Left who makes up their hard-core base, but also to the Cultural Marxist gang trying to airbrush our heroes and our history.

Corey Stewart and his army of 155,000 plus rank-and-file grassroots Republicans shook up the Virginia GOP the way Donald Trump and his team shook up the party nationally. Stewart will be back, stronger than ever, in 2018 as the nominee and eventual victor against the “Senator from Antifa,” Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D.-Va.). Conservatives will continue to get stronger, win more primaries and elect more candidates.

But first, there’s Nov. 7, because that is the day Virginians have the key to stopping Northam, Fairfax, Herring and their radical Alt-Left running mates for House of Delegates.

I do not live in Virginia and cannot vote in your election, but I speak out as a concerned conservative fed up with the left rolling over our history and our heritage through political correctness. Virginia is a treasure trove of American Heritage and both Virginians and non-Virginians should be concerned about it.

It is time to stop historical vandalism in our country and Virginians can start that process on Tuesday with their vote. And once Virginia leads, America will follow.

It is now or never.

Christopher S. Ekstrom is a Dallas investor and chairman of the Conservative Response Team, Inc., a 501(c)4 organization. Contact Christopher S. Ekstrom at (252) 564-4730.

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