Can’t say that I’m surprised but still:
Americans for Prosperity, the group financed by the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, is going on air to attack Virginia Democratic gubernatorial contender Ralph Northam as part of a multi-million dollar campaign.
A commercial set to air Thursday on cable networks statewide blasts Northam, the sitting lieutenant governor, for missing board meetings of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.
The partnership, created by the state legislature in 1995 to boost economic development, has long been criticized for waste and dysfunction. In 2014, while Northam served on its board of directors, the agency approved a $1.4 million state grant to a Chinese firm that promised to open a factory in Appomattox County but never did. The money was never returned to the state.
Levi Russell, a spokesman for Americans for Prosperity, said the ad buy ranges from $1 million to $2 million, and will run for two weeks. He said the commercial is the first round of paid television advertising, but declined to say how much the organization plans to spend through Election Day in November.
Northam faces Republican Ed Gillespie, a longtime GOP party operative who was the keynote speaker at Americans for Prosperity's summit in Richmond in August.
Gillespie's campaign has criticized Northam for missing meetings of various boards and commissions on which the lieutenant governor sits, dubbing him "No Show Northam" and creating a Twitter account and website under that moniker.
The new Americans for Prosperity ad echoes the same strategy.
It claims Northam's absence from board meetings of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership amounted to a failure of supervision that "let a fake Chinese company with a false address and phony website to take $1.4 million of our money."
This grant was cited in a blistering performance review by the legislature's audit arm, and led to an overhaul of the agency's oversight and board.
At the time of the grant award, Northam was one of 24 board members that oversaw the agency. Board members were not directly involved in grant decisions; grants were recommended by staff and approved by the governor.
Northam’s campaign has shot back at this attack:
David Turner, a spokesman for Northam’s campaign, said at the time: “We’ll put the record of the current administration creating jobs up against Ed Gillespie’s record as a D.C. lobbyist for Enron from now until November.”
VEDP is operating under a revamped structure as a result of changes — supported by McAuliffe and GOP legislative leaders — implemented following the JLARC report. Among many changes, the position of lieutenant governor is not listed among ex-officio members of VEDP’s board of directors.
The TV ad buy, AFP’s first in the governor’s race, is part of what AFP says will be a multimillion-dollar effort that will include additional digital ads, door knocking, mailers and door hangers.
Northam says on his campaign website that he has supported the McAuliffe administration’s plan to reform VEDP “by increasing accountability and promoting long term strategic development across state agencies. That means bringing in new leadership, crafting a new vision, and holding VEDP to higher standards of accountability.”
I’m not sure how effective the Kochs attacks will be but it sounds like Gillespie, who is already walking a tight rope with Trump supporters, is now trying to win over Northam’s base by stealing Northam’s own campaign platform:
Republican gubernatorial nominee Ed Gillespie on Wednesday called for criminal justice reform that goes beyond what the GOP-controlled state legislature has so far been willing to embrace, including raising the state’s felony threshhold to $500 from $200 and softening marijuana enforcement.
Speaking at a black-owned barbershop and surrounded by a number of local pastors and social workers who deal with people returning to the community from prison, Gillespie said he wants a system that is “just, fair and redeeming. I believe in redemption.”
Gillespie also cast his proposals in economic terms, pointing out that the state spends more than $1 billion a year on incarceration.
While he said he opposes decriminalizing marijuana because it “sends the wrong signal” to young people, Gillespie said he would favor a three-strikes approach for simple possession: The first two arrests would not carry criminal charges, but a third would.
By then, he said, “you really should know better.”
The Republican-controlled legislature commissioned a study of decriminalization earlier this year, and Gillespie said he would be interested to see its findings. Gillespie also said he supports “limited, tightly regulated” use of marijuana for treatment of some medical conditions.
His opponent in the governor’s race, Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, supports decriminalizing possession of marijuana and legalizing the medical use of marijuana.
Gillespie’s reform plan aligns with Northam’s proposals in other ways: both favor raising the state’s standard for what constitutes felony larceny. The current level of $200 is among the lowest in the nation, making theft of an iPhone, for example, a felony that can deprive someone of the right to vote.
The state Senate this year unanimously approved a bill to raise that threshhold to $500, which is in line with other states, but the measure died - as it has before - in a Republican-controlled House subcommittee.
Gillespie also said he would support finding ways to “functionally end” the practice of suspending driver’s licenses when someone fails to pay court costs and legal fees. Calling it part of a “vicious cycle” that keeps drawing people back into the corrections system, Gillespie said it would make more sense to create payment plans to make it manageable for people to pay off their obligations.
Northam has said he wants to end the practice of seizing a driver’s license for failure to pay such costs.
The Kochs are trying to make this race even more expensive because Northam has the backing of Planned parenthood and the environmental community:
The Virginia League of Conservation Voters is spending $1.8 million to help elect Democratic gubernatorial contender Ralph Northam, another sign that his noncommittal stance on two planned gas pipelines isn’t costing him the financial support of environmentalists.
Michael Town, the group’s executive director, told The Washington Post on Thursday that the political action committee would donate $700,000 to Northam, following the launch of a $1.1 million field operation to support state Democrats.
That’s slightly more than the organization spent in 2013 to elect Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who is barred from seeking consecutive terms.
Town said the league is supporting Northam because of his commitment to advancing state policies to combat climate change and reduce pollution.
Northam, the sitting lieutenant governor, faces Republican Ed Gillespie in November.
“We made a lot of progress on conservation and climate change and protecting the environment over the last four years, and it’s vital that we continue that progress, especially when we have a Trump administration with a radical agenda scrubbing climate change from the public discourse,” Town said.
Tom Steyer’s group is also all in for Northam:
Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer’s organization plans to spend at least $2 million to elect Democrat Ralph Northam as Virginia’s next governor, with a focus on turning out millenial voters.
The former California hedge-fund manager turned climate activist told The Washington Post that Virginia, which is holding the nation’s marquee gubernatorial contest this year, is the most important campaign priority for his group, NextGen America.
“This is the race of the year,” Steyer said. “It seems like there is a struggle for the hearts and minds of Americans right now, and it’s taking place as much in Virginia as anyplace else in the United States of America.”
Steyer has crusaded to put climate change at the forefront of public policy, spending more than $100 million on elections as well as other efforts to combat it.
And Northam’s primary opponent, former Rep. Tom Perriello (D. VA), isn’t going to let big pollutors defeat Northam:
When I ran for governor of Virginia this spring, I announced my opposition to the building of Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines. At the time, I challenged Dominion Power and other stakeholders to present a better strategy to meet our energy needs – one focused on investing in clean technologies that would create sustainable jobs building a renewable infrastructure in Virginia.
I believed then, as I do now, that the billions of dollars being spent on two proposed fracked gas pipelines could be better spent in weatherizing building stock, investing in solar or wind, and decentralizing power production for our farmers and small business owners. This is a nearly $7 billion pro-monopoly bet that creates a 50-year hurdle not just to clean energy but to small business owners who would flourish in Virginia if we allowed distributed energy production. And it furthers a dangerous trend of the government using eminent domain for corporate profits rather than public needs.
I also believe that electing Ralph Northam as Virginia’s next governor is an urgent moral imperative not just for our environment but for the integrity of our democracy in the Commonwealth.
My first question for those fighting these two pipelines is: how would our shared agenda be advanced if Ed Gillespie were elected? I continue to support all legal avenues to block the pipelines, and am working to elect pipeline opponents as lieutenant governor and House of Delegates members, but electing Ed Gillespie will only accelerate these monopolistic boondoggles and skip any state environmental reviews. Gillespie, a career corporate lobbyist and nemesis of both the environment and property rights for the little guy, has gone out of his way to be a full-throated advocate for both pipelines without any additional state reviews. Further, he used the first gubernatorial debate to proactively endorse fracking and offshore drilling, and touts his close relationship with Donald Trump as evidence that he could accelerate projects with the federal government.
Second, Ralph has an excellent environmental record, fighting for clean energy, clean water and a clean Chesapeake Bay. Coming from Hampton Roads, the region second most vulnerable to sea-level rise in America, Ralph is going to continue demanding serious action on climate change. He can build on the new carbon rule announced by Governor McAuliffe and work with progressive Governors to ensure states fill the gaping hole in leadership left by Trump by exiting the Paris climate accord. Ralph fought as a state senator to prepare Virginia’s coastal communities from rising sea levels and devastating storms, and he has long led on restricting offshore drilling. Ralph also cares deeply about cleaning the Chesapeake Bay, an effort that Trump’s proposed budget cuts 93%. Ralph will retain state funding for the cleanup program, ensuring that the Bay remains an ecological treasure and an economic engine for thousands of local jobs. The day after President Trump withdrew from the Paris accord, Ralph said he would have Virginia join the states’ climate alliance.
This is not just any moment. What were once bedrock bipartisan commitments to clean air and clean water protections are under daily assault from the Trump Administration. Led by long-time corporate apologist Scott Pruitt at the Environmental Protection Agency, these rollbacks will only exacerbate the vulnerability of so many Virginians. And it is Governors who will need to stand against these efforts. Ed Gillespie is a mercenary who has carried the polluted water for whichever corporate interest pays him enough, right up to his infamous association with Enron.
We can’t allow the Kochs to buy this race for Gillespie so he can continue to push Trump’s anti-environmental agenda. Let’s make sure we pull off some big wins this year in Virginia. Click below to not only get involved with Northam’s campaign but also with Justin Fairfax’s (D. VA) Lt. Governor campaign, Attorney General Mark Herring’s (D. VA) re-election campaign and the Virginia Democratic Party so we can make big gains in the Virginia House of Delegates:
Ralph Northam
Justin Fairfax
Mark Herring
Virginia Democratic Party