It's early but Bolling works on economic record

Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling said Friday it is too early to discuss the 2013 gubernatorial race, but if he succeeds as Virginia’s chief  job creation officer, he will have a strong campaign message.

“I have a unique opportunity in this administration. It’s the first time a lieutenant governor has been a cabinet member and had such responsibility in a gubernatorial administration,’’ Bolling said after the groundbreaking for the expansion of Polymer Group, Inc. in Waynesboro.

The administration of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell says its created a net increase of more than 59,000 jobs since the Virginia Beach Republican took office.

Bolling, an incumbent who brokered a campaign deal with McDonnell to run for the No. 2 job in advance of last fall’s election, said that looking beyond the raw numbers makes the jobs data more impressive. He said 87 percent of the jobs are in the private sector.

Eight percent of the economic development deals finalized by McDonnell have involved incentives.

Incentives were part of the  $65-million PGI expansion. The state provided a $750,000 Governor’s Opportunity Fund investment and a $750,000 Virginia Investment Partnership Program grant. The PGI project provides 41 local jobs in exchange for $1.5 million in state tax money.

The City of Waynesboro kicked in 15 acres of gifted land, a tax rebate program valued at $1.75 million over six years and a $550,000 cash grant for site improvements.

The grants incentives total $3.8 million in state and local taxpayer money, which calculates to more than $92,000 for each of the jobs the PGI expansion creates.

Spending that kind of money was necessary, Bolling said, because Virginia faced intense competition for the PGI expansion from Mooresville, N.C., near the company’s Charlotte headquarters.

“If you don’t compete on the incentive front you won’t be successful,’’ Bolling said.

“It was a statement project. There was a message of  ‘we can be competitive with North Carolina,’ ’’ Bolling said.

The new equipment being installed at PGI Waynesboro will produce enhanced medical and hygiene products. Hagen said the new technologies will secure jobs locally for the long-term.

While economic development officials downplay the chances of big manufacturing or industrial expansions coming in the future, Bolling doesn’t.

He said when the economy does come back, Virginia needs to be positioned to attract a major industry.

Toward that goal, the McDonnell administration has already worked on having at least one industrial megasite of 1,500 acres or more set aside, and officials hope to have at least three over the next three years.

The initial megasite would be in Pittsylvania County in Southside, and the other targeted sites are Greensville County and Southwest Virginia.

“We created a megasite acquisition fund with $5 million,’’ said Bolling.

Land acquisition was one of the stumbling blocks in Augusta County’s megasite controversy four years ago when a firestorm developed over acquiring a potential Toyota plant. The county and the landowner could not agree on a price.

“There is still a place for advanced manufacturing and still a place for megasites,’’ Bolling said.

In past gubernatorial administrations, lieutenant governors have been reduced to special projects and ceremonial duties.

Bolling’s days include visits to prospective Virginia companies, and one-on-one talks with the state’s top 125 employers. He discusses his progress with McDonnell once a month.

The lieutenant governor is harsh in his evaluation of the Obama administration’s economic policies. Obama is a Democrat, and Bolling a Republican.

“The policies are anti-business not pro-business,’’ Bolling said.

Bolling said the shifts needed in policy include making federal tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 permanent, offering strategic tax cuts for businesses who invest, and getting the Environmental Protection Agency off the backs of companies and farmers.

“Coal companies and nuclear plants can’t get permits,’’ Bolling said of the EPA regulators.