Platform

Governors Mark Warner and Tim Kaine have helped Virginia lay the groundwork for a brighter economic future.  But we are in tough times today, with thousands of Virginians suffering from the recession.  It is darkest before the dawn; these economic times can also lead to innovation, rebuilding, and recovery.

The recent federal stimulus package, passed with the support of Virginia’s entire Congressional delegation, can provide resources to create new jobs.   As Lieutenant Governor, Mike Signer will realize the full potential of this office by serving as a public advocate for working Virginians and their families.  He will fight to make sure federal funds go to job growth and economic development; work with other elected officials and government agencies to promote growth; work with labor to make sure new jobs are good jobs for Virginia’s workers and their families; and use the bully pulpit of the office to expose problems we’ve ignored for too long and come up with the best solutions for Virginia’s economic future.  

With this dynamic, creative approach to the office of Lieutenant Governor, Mike will fight to create at least 50,000 new jobs in Virginia by 2011 in the following seven sectors:  

1.    Generate Infrastructure Jobs (20,000 new jobs by 2011)

Infrastructure improvement projects can generate at least 20,000 jobs in the Commonwealth during the next two years.  And in the long run, enhanced infrastructure will also attract businesses to Virginia, increase jobs in many other sectors, and improve our safety, as revealed by the tragic 2007 bridge collapse in Minneapolis.  

As Lieutenant Governor, Mike will create a “Jobs Now” Task Force made up of Virginia’s leading business leaders, labor leaders, economists and legislators.  Under his leadership, this group will use their talents and love of Virginia to help turn the following new Federal stimulus dollars which the Commonwealth is to receive into new Virginia jobs: 

• $694.5 million for highways funds to rebuild and expand roads and bridges;  
• $116.1 million earmarked for improved mass transit; and  
• $102.3 million for water infrastructure rehabilitation, improving drinking water, and protecting rivers, lakes and streams. 

Mike will use the bully pulpit, the visibility of the office of Lieutenant Governor, and the capabilities of the Task Force to work to bring even more federal funds to Virginia, and he will work with federal dispensing agencies to ensure that a substantial portion of the overall federal infrastructure funds which are not yet allocated are directed to Virginia.

2.    Expand Energy Efficiency (5,000 new jobs by 2011)

Increasing energy efficiency has become a national priority.   One study found promoting efficient energy would create at least 2,600 more jobs than building the coal power plant proposed for southwest Virginia—and save the average household $52 to $91 per year.   Virginians can also create more jobs through electricity we already buy.  New efficiency standards in California, for example, created 1.5 million jobs and reduced peak energy use by 5%.
 
As Lieutenant Governor, Mike will work to:

•  Launch a “weatherization wave.”  Work to put $148 million in federal funding for weatherization to work immediately, creating thousands of new jobs, making homes and offices more energy efficient, and ensuring that HVAC systems are safe.   
• Establish a “lead by example” approach.  State and local government should lead by example, building new government facilities to high efficiency standards.  This will stimulate the development of energy efficient businesses, create hundreds of new jobs, and lower energy costs for taxpayers.
• Implement new incentives for efficiency.  Work with state agencies and the legislature to enact financial and tax incentives to encourage utilities, homeowners, and businesses to invest in efficiency.

3.    Grow Smart Grid Jobs (5,000 new jobs by 2011)

Our transmission lines have not been redesigned since the age of Thomas Edison.  In the Internet age, Virginia needs a 21st-century electrical system.  Billions of dollars of federal monies have been marked for a “smart grid.”  Virginia ranks among the worst states in this area, with only 0.2% of homes equipped with “smart meters.”   Our inefficient system prevents smaller sources of energy, such as a solar roof or small wind farm, from plugging into the grid.
    
As Lieutenant Governor, Mike will work to:

• Build the grid.  Lead in pushing federal funds to a “Smart Grid” that will generate thousands of new high-skilled jobs in grid design and labor jobs in building and installation.   
• Promote wind and solar.  Advocate for the development of new energy sources, as called for in the Virginia Energy Plan of 2006, including a new $1 billion wind power project off the shore of Virginia Beach that could create 3,000 new jobs.  

4.    Increase Health IT Jobs (5,000 new jobs by 2011)

Electronic medical records are a national health care priority.  The stimulus bill devotes over $19 billion to electronic records nationwide.  As a national leader in computer-system design, internet services, and telecommunications, Virginia is a natural home for the new “health IT” industry, which could create tens of thousands of jobs in coming years.  

As Lieutenant Governor, Mike will work to:

• Set an ambitious goal:  Establish goal of a fully computerized medical system in Virginia by 2014.   
• Support Virginia’s Health IT companies:  Work to direct Virginia’s health IT stimulus funding, including state Medicaid purchasing, toward Virginia providers of electronic records technology.
• Recruit to Virginia: Work with Washington and private employers to draw new health IT businesses to Virginia, encouraging them to open at sites like the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park that offer access to state academic and industry innovators.

5.    Fight for Rural Jobs (5,000 jobs by 2011)

Rural Virginia boasts a strong work force, good schools, natural beauty, strong communities, and quality of life.  Mike believes we can do a better job supporting economic growth in rural areas.

• Expand the tourism portfolio:  An $18.7 billion-a-year industry that attracts 36 million visitors every year, tourism supports 210,000 jobs and generates $1.2 billion in state and local taxes.   However, the tourism budget was reduced by $1 million in 2008.   Mike will push to promote Virginia’s wedding, corporate retreat, and film project industries, generating hundreds of new jobs.
• Rural broadband:  Work with federal and state agencies and corporations to insure $7.2 billion of federal funds allocated to expand broadband actually puts rural communities and business online.  
• “Come Home” Act:  Work with legislature to pass a program reducing student loan repayments for hundreds of young Virginians coming back to their home communities after graduation, paid for in part through increased tax revenues from these workers.
• Accountability for the Tobacco Commission:  Establish a check and balance system for the Virginia Indemnification and Tobacco Commission to increase accountability and insure that all monies are devoted to economic development, education, and jobs training. 

6.    Increase Military Construction Jobs (5,000 jobs by 2011)

Virginia has a proud history of supporting military programs and welcoming servicemen and women.  With over 123,000 military personnel, Virginia is well-positioned to benefit from accelerated spending on military construction.   

As Lieutenant Governor, Mike will work to:

• Kick start construction jobs:  Billions of dollars are already allocated to long-term reconstruction of military housing and offices.  Mike will work with the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to accelerate this spending across the Commonwealth.  These dollars will not only create jobs, but also improve living and working conditions for the nation’s military personnel and their families.

7.    Create new Environmental Restoration Jobs (5,000 jobs by 2011)

For young adults just out of high school, community college, and undergraduate programs, good stepping-stone jobs in environmental restoration will promote public service and provide valuable career skills.  

As Lieutenant Governor, Mike will work to:

• Promote a new “Virginia “GreenWorks” program.  Working with available federal funds, nonprofits, universities, and private donors, Mike will help create a new environmental cleanup and restoration program along the lines of the Works Progress Administration after the Great Depression.  Under the program, Virginia will create 5,000 low-wage, short-term jobs for recent college graduates in Virginia’s parks, forests, mountains, bodies of water (including the Chesapeake Bay) and shores.  

Download the full plan with citations (PDF).

Virginia has a special relationship with our fighting forces and veterans, and to the crucial issue of homeland security. But we aren't living up to our obligations. As a member of then-Senator Obama's Veterans Policy Development Team in 2008, I believe we must meet the sacred contract we have with our veterans and their families. Too many veterans are coming home with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and other signature injuries of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet finding insufficient rehabilitation programs at the state level. Virginia has one of the highest military populations in the country, yet we're doing too little to serve these brave people and their families. We especially need a strong advocate for the National Guard and Reserves, who are primarily a state force.

Our military installations and our military industry also need our support, both to strengthen the military community and to bolster our economy.

Finally, we have a high exposure to homeland security risks, particularly inside the Beltway and in Hampton Roads. With my strong background in homeland security, I strongly believe we need to be working far harder on measures including citizen preparedness, transportation and transit plans, and port protection.

In the new Dominion, energy and the environment should be seen as so closely linked that we never think of one without also thinking about the other. Green jobs are the wave of the future, but we have to be smart about the kinds of jobs we grow. We can create thousands of new jobs. Some will be connected with new energy technology, like the wind power we should be creating off the coast in Hampton Roads. But we should also be creating jobs in the heartland, through efficiency and weatherization. Attacking Virginia's carbon production problem will both help combat global warming and reduce our dependence on foreign oil and the resulting decrease in our national security.

When energy and the environment are combined in budgeting and programs, we will have cleaner energy, preserve the natural beauty of our hills and shores, decrease environmentally caused diseases, and provide healthier spaces to live, work, and enjoy the outdoors—for sportsmen, for those enjoying or profiting from Virginia's tourism industry, and for the children who will inherit the earth.

Read Mike's 5-point plan for Green Energy and a Clean Environment 

Virginia is blessed with incredible natural resources, an outstanding secondary education system, and a new tradition of excellence in our government and in our ideas under the leadership of Governors Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. We should have one of the most thriving economies in the country. As a member of the Hope Street Group, I believe we should be building a new system based on the idea of “opportunity economics” and fighting for economic fairness. But we unfortunately have a predatory rather than a protective economy. Middle-class, working families, and individuals regularly fall victim to predatory lenders, whether through mortgages, credit cards, payday, or car loans. Legislation to curb these practices is needed but is not enough to truly protect people. We also need increased financial literacy programs in our public schools, colleges, universities, and community colleges, to help people help themselves.

The economy is facing tremendous changes and we have an enormous opportunity to reshape the economic landscape. Labor, on the defense for so long, can become a more important player in building a strong middle class. Our economy needs to be far more innovative. We have a great opportunity in the coming years as billions of dollars of federal stimulus money flow into Virginia to pressure the federal government to allow these dollars to flow toward economic innovation and infrastructure, not just existing programs that won't build the economy in the long-term. Small businesses—a driving sector of Virginia's economy—need to be freed from onerous regulations that prevent innovation.

For nearly, 15 years, I have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with you in the trenches of the fight for the Democratic Party and its values -- social justice and economic fairness.  That is what this campaing is about.

I am running to turn the office of Lieutenant Governor from a placeholder to a public advocate and shine a spotlight on problems we've ignored for too long.  Too often, this office has been a stepping stone or a placeholder.   The problems facing our Commonwealth are so urgent that we need all of our constitutional officers working hard for Virginia.  

I have led in this campaign by having news ideas and the best policies.  I firmly believe in treating voters like adults and having a conversation with them about the most critical issues facing this great Commonwealth -- even the difficult ones.   I was the first candidate with a jobs plan, the first candidate with a specific plan for our environmental and energy future, and the first candidate to speak out against Jim Crow-era laws that disenfranchise 20% of African-American men in Virginia. This is what I have done throughout my campaign and this is what you can expect from me as Lieutenant Governor. 

My campaign has been endorsed by Leslie Byrne, former Congresswoman and the 2005 Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor; over 25 labor unions; every major Democratic political blogger; retired generals and flag officers from all four military services; and dozens and dozens of distrcit chairs, county chairs, and party activistis.  These groups and individuals serve on my Advisory Committee and help me reach voters across the Commonwealth and talk about turning the office of Lieutenant Governor from a placeholder to a public advocate.

Please join our campaign and vote for me on June 9th!