Archives

Cuccinelli has it right

   Written by on October 10, 2013 at 12:22 pm

To: Editor, SOUTHSIDE MESSENGER

Ken Cuccinelli understands the necessity of a strong state educational program that can be built over the next four years. His higher education program includes four steps: economic growth, employability, affordability, and accountability.

Research shows that one dollar invested in higher education can have a return of seventeen dollars in increased GDP.

Encourage state colleges and universities to require business literacy classes for all majors except business and business management majors, who would be expected to take such classes, automatically.

Affordability is essential! Mr. Cuccinelli would encourage grants for students who show dedication, promise, and moral and intellectual stature. He would also encourage work-study programs, which were common in the last century.

Accountability is important, also. His administration would work with the General Assembly and institutions of higher education to focus dollars especially on cybersecurity and biosciences, both of which are poised to explode in Virginia and today’s national/world culture.

In addition, Mr. Cuccinelli, as attorney general, has demonstrated his desire to defend the Virginia citizen against the loss of personal freedoms and the encroachment upon his freedom of decision-making by big government. Mr. Cuccinelli is a dedicated leader who deserves the vote or Virginia’s citizenry.

~Fillmer Hevener

To the editor:

Barrels of ink have been used to tell of the shortcomings of candidates for Governor this year. Some believe that Attorney General Cuccinelli is too conservative on social issues. Some believe that Terry McAuliffe lacks ethics and will misuse the governor’s office accordingly.

I believe the focus should be how will each act in relation to actions in Washington.

Mr. McAuliffe was a key fundraiser for both of President Obama’s presidential races. They are political “peas in a pod”. Does anyone believe that Mr. McAuliffe will do anything thing different than create at the state level exactly the same dilemma that we face in Washington?

Mr. McAuliffe announced in June that if the General Assembly did not expand Medicaid then he would shut down state government just as happened in Washington.

Mr. McAuliffe has endorsed the President’s assault on coal. That action will drive up your electric bill.

When President Obama’s out of control Environmental Protection Agency declared that rainwater was a pollutant in Northern Virginia, Attorney General Cuccinelli at the request of Governor McDonnell challenged that regulation. That regulation would have cost state taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars to make road improvements. At the same time, it would have cost Fairfax County millions of dollars, effectively closing down development in the county and force sprawl into rural areas.

Attorney General Cuccinelli beat the EPA in federal courts. We know that he is willing to fight for us. Does anyone believe that a Gov. McAuliffe would have let the Attorney General fight for Virginians against Washington’s overreach?

It is your responsibility to decide which direction you want Virginia to move in the next four years. It will affect you as a taxpayer. Choose wisely, if not for yourself then for your children and grandchildren.

Frank Ruff, Clarksville, VA

To the editor;

It seems that the media has awarded the Virginia Governor’s race to Terry McAuliffe. No matter that he is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for illegal dealings concerning his Chinese “green” car company. No matter that he promised jobs for Virginia if he is elected, then built the manufacturing plant in Mississippi. He is part of the northern Virginia clique, and that appears to trump any misdeeds he has committed.

Looking at Mr. McAuliffe’s past business dealings is like watching a squirrel gathering nuts. Except, in his case, he was gathering money. In the 1980’s McAuliffe connected with Richard Swann, who had been in charge of fundraising for the second Carter campaign. In the late 1980s, Swann’s finances collapsed, entangling McAuliffe, who then used his political contacts to help Swann. In 1990, federal regulators seized Swann’s American Pioneer Savings Bank, causing Swann to file for bankruptcy and McAuliffe to lose $800,000 he had invested in American Pioneer. The Resolution Trust Corporation took over American Pioneer’s assets and liabilities and sued McAuliffe and a former unit of the bank . Under the guidance of Swann, McAuliffe partnered with a pension fund controlled by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the National Electrical Contractors Association to buy some American Pioneer real estate, valued at $50 million, for $38.7 million from the Resolution Trust Corporation. Of the purchase amount, McAuliffe paid $100, while the pension fund paid $38.7 million; McAuliffe still received a 50% equity stake. The deal was arranged by pension fund trustee Jack Moore, who was an acquaintance of McAuliffe from the Gephardt presidential campaign. McAuliffe used some of the proceeds from the deal to purchase Jefferson National Title Insurance, a Florida company, and sold back some of McAuliffe’s shares to the pension fund. The Department of Labor then filed a lawsuit against McAuliffe and Moore, accusing them of imprudent business practices in the deal and also in a $6 million loan the fund made to a real estate company controlled by McAuliffe, which McAuliffe used to clear up his father-in-law’s debt but soon defaulted on the loan. With the help of a fundraising contact, McAuliffe bought a troubled home-building company that had been buying some of the land formerly held by Swann’s bank and became its chairman. After his bankruptcy, McAuliffe paid Swann to “help with the management” of his companies.

In 1997, McAuliffe invested $100,000 in Global Crossing, a Bermuda-registered telecommunications company providing fiber-optic networking services worldwide. The company went public in 1998, and in 1999 McAuliffe sold 176,017 shares of the company for a profit of $8 million. McAuliffe sold the rest of his shares in January 2002. The company filed for bankruptcy that same month, causing investors to lose over $54 billion and 10,000 employees to lose their jobs in one of the largest bankruptcies in U.S. history. McAuliffe, who lambasted Republicans after the Enron scandal, was criticized as hypocritical in the media, prompting him to set up television interviews to explain himself. On Hannity & Colmes, Sean Hannity pointed out McAuliffe’s large profit, to which McAuliffe responded, “What are you, jealous or something? I mean, you buy stock. It was a great company.” According to McAuliffe’s book, he played no management role in Global Crossing.

At the end of Bill Clinton’s second term, McAuliffe set up Global Crossing CEO Gary Winnick for golf with Clinton, after which Winnick pledged $1 million to Clinton’s presidential library. In 1999, an information technology firm called Telergy put McAuliffe on its board of directors to help forge contacts with national politicians. Shortly afterward, McAuliffe convinced Winnick to invest $40 million in information technology firm Telergy, and Telergy then paid McAuliffe a $1.2 million referral fee.

If you had trouble following the above, you’re not alone. McAuliffe is a master at shell games. His skill may be an asset in the world of high (and low) finance, but it is the last thing Virginia needs. Whoever described McAuliffe as a “soulless political hack” really has a keen eye for phonies. Incidentally, for those who wonder who is behind this fast-talking hustler from New York, in the first quarter of 2013, 78% of McAuliffe’s campaign funds came from outside of Virginia.

John Jamieson, Farmville

Leave a Reply