From the Democratic coordinated campaign in Virginia:
Where's Jim? Gilmore "fly around" ignores Southside - again
RICHMOND - U.S. Senate candidate Jim Gilmore launched his "Fly Around for Working Families" Tuesday with stops in Richmond, Norfolk and Manassas.
But one area was conspicuously absent from Gilmore's flight plans: Southside Virginia.
Given Gilmore's sorry history with working families in Southside, it's no surprise that he wouldn't want to bring his so-called "crusade for the working families" here: In 2000, Gilmore gave 3,300 laid-off Tultex workers the cold shoulder."When Tultex closed here in the Martinsville area, Governor Gilmore couldn't even be bothered to come down and talk to his constituents in their hour of need," said Delegate Ward Armstrong, who represents the city of Martinsville and Henry, Patrick and Carroll counties. "It's no wonder he doesn't dare bring his 'working families' message to Southside. He left our working families behind."
Gilmore even took the extreme step of vetoing legislation that would have provided short-term transitional benefits for the displaced Martinsville workers.
Later, Gilmore claimed - falsely -- that he couldn't have done anything to help the workers. "I wouldn't want the people of Southside to feel I was in any way Scrooge like or uncaring or any of those things," Gilmore said after leaving office in 2002. [Roanoke Times, 1/6/02].
Fast-forward to 2003, and the very different approach to governing taken by Mark Warner. In 2003, when more than 1,000 Pillowtex employees were laid off in Fieldale, Mark Warner immediately traveled to Henry County to visit with the displaced workers and offer them "one-stop-shops" to access worker training benefits, help with job searches, and social services that were available to help their struggling families.
"Mark Warner has always been there for the Southside, delivering results and working to bring jobs to rural Virginia," Armstrong said. "During Mark Warner's 4 years as governor, there were 34 announcements of expansions and new jobs coming to Martinsville and Henry County. We know that Mark Warner will never give up on rural Virginia."