Thank You

One year ago I stood on the steps of our State Capitol in Richmond on a rare sunny and warm day in the middle of a cold and snowy winter and took the oath of office as Virginia’s 71st Governor. It was the honor and privilege of a lifetime. One year later, that honor and that privilege have only grown greater.

Over the past 12 months, with your strong support, we have taken tremendous steps towards building the “Commonwealth of Opportunity” that I spoke about in my Inaugural Address.

• We passed an aggressive economic development package to grow jobs and provide economic incentives for new investments in Virginia
• Since February, Virginia has added 67,900 new jobs, the 3rd highest number of new jobs created in any state
• Microsoft announced the largest economic investment in the history of Southern Virginia
• Fortune 100 company Northrop Grumman announced they are moving from California to Fairfax
• Virginia was named “the most pro-business state in America” in August by the Pollina Corporation and one of the top two states to in which to do business by CNBC
• We turned a $1.8 billion shortfall in the concluding FY 2010 budget into a $400 million surplus in just 6 months, without raising taxes
• We closed an historic $4.2 billion shortfall in the current budget by reducing state spending to 2006 levels, and not raising taxes
• We defeated an attempt to levy the biggest tax increase in Virginia history on our citizens
• 9 of the last 10 months have featured increased revenue growth over the previous year
• We found $1.4 billion for transportation through our performance audit of VDOT- and that money is getting roads built today
• We implemented significant education reform through our “Opportunity to Learn” legislation which opened Virginia to new, high-quality charter schools
• We’ve conserved 51,000 acres of open space
• 80% of our legislative proposals passed the General Assembly last session and 92% of our budget amendments were approved

People are taking notice of the work that we are doing. States are increasingly looking at Virginia as the national model for how to budget conservatively, recruit job-creating businesses aggressively, and navigate a difficult economic period successfully.

However, we still have a lot of work left to do. Our Freshman year is behind us, and we are moving forward in year two with bold, innovative plans to get billions pumped into our roads without raising taxes, increase our ability to attract more new businesses to the Commonwealth, make college more affordable and accessible for our students, and make state government smaller, smarter and more efficient. We only have 3 years left, and I don’t plan on wasting a single second of our tremendous opportunity to make this a true “Commonwealth of Opportunity” for all Virginians.

Again, on behalf of Maureen and the entire McDonnell family, I want to thank you for the trust you have put in us, your support of our positive agenda, and your continued faith in and commitment to the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Bob McDonnell