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| President & CEO Tony Howard (L), Tim Kaine (C) Chairman of the Board , Kurt Krause (R) |
Tim Kaine and the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce are working together.
Taxpayers of Loudoun, look out!
If Loudoun plays into their scheme by opting into Rail to Loudoun, the shackles will be clamped onto Loudoun forever and we will join Dulles Toll Road commuters on Kaine’s list of biggest losers.
The Loudoun County Chamber is promoting the Rail to Loudoun project to Loudoun’s public and business community while ignoring the obvious fact that it will cost Loudoun vastly more than it will ever recoup. Why? Follow the money to the few Chamber members whose businesses stand to reap windfall profits.
The US Chamber of Commerce is warning us about Tim Kaine.
In contrast, the local Chamber isn't giving us very good advice
by asking us to play along with Tim's Rail scheme.
by asking us to play along with Tim's Rail scheme.
Tim Kaine’s bad ideas have cost Virginia billions of dollars and many, many jobs. Now,Tim Kaine and the Loudoun Chamber are teaming up to promote more bad ideas like Rail to Loudoun.
So far Kaine has gotten away with his Toll Road Giveaway Katastrophe. Let’s not hand Kaine and the Loudoun Chamber their next big win by opting in to Rail.
Before the special interests got to Tony Howard, he
was outspoken in his stand against Rail to Loudoun being driven by union-favoring terms. Is Tony a special interests pawn or guided by principle? You decide. Maybe its time for Tony, Kurt and the Crony Club to move on?
Read what Tony Howard, President & CEO Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce said in July. In his July 5 Letter to the Editor: flip flop that makes the Chamber look pretty silly.
"Given that 90 percent of Phase 2 of the Dulles Rail Project is funded by Virginia's taxpayers, commuters and businesses, I can not fathom why a Loudoun Supervisor would support this type of discriminatory treatment against Virginia's contractors and construction workers.
Consistently voted the top state in the nation to do business, Virginia enjoys this reputation in part because of our "Right to Work" laws that prohibit forcing an individual to join a labor union just to keep their job.
A mandated PLA on Phase 2 is completely contrary to these and other policies that have given Loudoun County an unemployment rate that is now below 4 percent, compared with double-digit unemployment that reigns in much of the country. There should be no confusion about that."
Thanks Tony, you put it so well.
David LaRock
Is the Loudoun Chamber aware that only union contractors will be hired to build phase 2? That means no Virginia contractors and no Virginia workers will be working on the metro IN VIRGINIA! Tis true. Union contractors get a thumb on the scale from WMAA which means no contractors or workers from Virginia. Why would Loudoun Chamber of Commerce support THAT????
ReplyDeleteShort answer: Leadership is selling out. For personal gain?
ReplyDeleteThe PLA is a way of giving unions (who add significant cost to the project), an advantage over non-unions. If used it will cost Virginia, especially Dulles Toll Road users, hundreds of millons of dollars and many jobs.
In July, Tony Howard, President & CEO Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce spoke out against the PLA, union fovoring Dulles Rail project, as he and the Chamber should have. Why the flip flp?
It appears that the leadership has caved to the big money special interests. They know that the harm to Loudoun from the PLA is only the tip of the iceberg, but the cronyism driving their endorsement has them promoting rail now anyway.
Very important to note it is the leadership who will profit from rail. Rail will hurt most businesses. So the Chamber is not just selling out Loudoun, they are selling out The Chamber members.
Must read Tony's letter.
http://www.leesburg2day.com/opinionletters/article_1fee447e-a705-11e0-83c2-001cc4c03286.html?cbst=23
In a July 5 Letter to the Editor----Given that 90 percent of Phase 2 of the Dulles Rail Project is funded by Virginia's taxpayers, commuters and businesses, I can not fathom why a Loudoun Supervisor would support this type of discriminatory treatment against Virginia's contractors and construction workers.
Consistently voted the top state in the nation to do business, Virginia enjoys this reputation in part because of our "Right to Work" laws that prohibit forcing an individual to join a labor union just to keep their job.
A mandated PLA on Phase 2 is completely contrary to these and other policies that have given Loudoun County an unemployment rate that is now below 4 percent, compared with double-digit unemployment that reigns in much of the country. There should be no confusion about that.
FYI, if you hear the PLA is gone, don't believe it. The new deal pulls the phrase out and keeps the harmful effects.
"...requiring the prime contractor to hire workers from a union hiring hall, the board (MWAA) substituted a 10-percent scoring bonus for bidders whose proposals contain a PLA. That bonus gives companies using a union workforce a significant advantage in the bidding process expected to take place later this year, and it could be sufficient to even deter many non-union contractors from submitting bids."
http://www.baconsrebellion.com/2012/02/mwaa-plays-chicken-with-mcdonnell-over-plas.html
Hope this helps
PLA is most definitely NOT gone. Dick Black's senate bill 3 lost by one vote and that means MWAA can hire all union workers. That means ALL out of state workers for the biggest construction project in Virginia! The biggest project in Virginia without any Virginia workers. It's disgusting. I cannot fathom how anyone on the Chamber of Commerce, or the Board of Supervisors, could support that. We did elect republicans in Loudoun. Didn't we?
ReplyDelete