“I’ll make it my job to protect your job.”

– Terry McAuliffe, Television Advertisement, Jan 26, 2009


THE FACTS

A Disturbing Pattern. “…McAuliffe has made a fortune investing -- sometimes in companies that went bust, laid off thousands and drained investors' and employees' savings.” [emphasis added] (The Washington Post, McAuliffe’s Background Could Prove a Liability. May 3, 2009) It has become clear that Terry McAuliffe can’t be trusted to protect Virginia jobs and that he has no record of creating jobs in the Commonwealth. On more than one occasion, McAuliffe drained millions from failing firms while hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of people lost their jobs.

600 Jobs Lost at Telergy. McAuliffe makes $1.2 million. As a Board Member at Telergy, McAuliffe oversaw the collapse of the telecom firm and firing of over 600 employees. He was paid $1.2 million by the company and bailed from the Board within days of hundreds of layoffs. (The Post-Standard, Wired: Inside Telergy, December 10, 2000; Associated Press, Tech Bust Hits Telergy, 150 Lose Jobs, August 9, 2001; The Post-Standard, Florida Company Owed $47,000 by Telergy, August 18, 2001; The Post-Standard, Telergy Founders Share $1.5 M; Nothing for Laid Off Workers, December 6, 2001; The Post-Standard, Judge Agrees to Liquidation for Telergy, December 15, 2001)

Five Businesses, No Jobs. “…McAuliffe boasted of launching five businesses in Virginia. It turned out that all five are investment partnerships, with no employees, registered to his home address in McLean.” [emphasis added] (The Washington Post, McAuliffe’s Background Could Prove a Liability, May 3, 2009)

10,000 jobs lost, $18 million made at Global Crossing. McAuliffe was a consultant to the CEO of Global Crossing, working out of their DC office. (New York Times, Friendship Counts; Clinton’s Top Fundraiser Made Lots for Himself, Too, December 12, 1999) McAuliffe made upwards of $18 million, according to the New York Times, while 10,000 people lost their jobs and the company went bankrupt. (CBS News Web Site, Troubled Companies: Global Crossing, Date ) During his time at Global Crossing, he convinced the company to invest $40 million in Telergy, a telecom firm where he was the Board of Directors.

“I am the one guy who said you know what, we need ethics reform, no more gifts from lobbyists to members of the General Assembly. Let’s end that.”
– Terry McAuliffe (Farm Team Debate. April 19, 2009)

“I have called, finally, for a total ethics reform in Richmond.” – Terry McAuliffe (Greenspring Candidates Forum. May 14, 2009)

THE FACTS

In the past, Terry McAuliffe has had no problems receiving money from lobbyists in exchange for access to policymakers. McAuliffe has always been “playing fast and loose on the edges of what’s ethical.” (Orlando Sentinel, A Mix of Business, Politics and Family. February 1, 1998)

McAuliffe was the booking agent of the Lincoln Bedroom. A meeting between McAuliffe and President Clinton initiated the process of bringing large contributors into the White House for coffees and overnight stays in the Lincoln Bedroom. (Time Magazine, How to Become a Top Banana. February 7, 2000; New York Times, Friendship Counts: Clinton’s Top Fundraiser Made Lots for Himself, Too. December 12, 1999)

McAuliffe chaired the DNC’s Business Leadership Forum, which received fundraising pledges from lobbyists in exchange for briefings and access to top administration officials. The AP reported that the practice of providing access and policy briefings was becoming more successful than traditional fundraising methods. According to McAuliffe: “The people we’re bringing in could care less about going to a dinner or lunch, or going into the White House to have their picture taken.” (Associated Press, Lobbyists Swap Campaign Cash for Exclusive, Personal Briefings, June 2, 1993)

McAuliffe’s efforts led the DNC to hosting weekly breakfast briefings for lobbyists at a downtown law firm. The lobbyists, in turn, sold tickets to large fundraisers, including the President’s Dinner. Tickets to the President’s Dinner cost $1,500 each. High-level aides and members of President Clinton’s cabinet attended these briefings. According to the Associated Press, briefers included Matt Gorman, Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen’s director of business liaison; Tom Nides, top aide to Special Trade Representative Mickey Kantor; and White House aide Amy Zisook. (Associated Press, Lobbyists Swap Campaign Cash for Exclusive, Personal Briefings, June 2, 1993)

McAuliffe has never seen an ethical problem with making millions from political connections. He has long admitted that for him, politics is nothing but the exchange of favors for personal gain, saying, “You help me. I help you. That’s politics.” McAuliffe’s one-hand-washes-the-other approach to life has made him millions at the expense of thousands of former employees at the companies he was involved in. “I've met all of my business contacts through politics. It's all interrelated,” he admits. (The New York Times, Friendship Counts: Clinton’s Top Fundraiser Made Lots for Himself, Too. December 12, 2009)

“And understand that I will never say a bad word about a fellow Democrat. I have one opponent already sending out negative things. That’s OK. People can do whatever they want. I don’t care. I’m going to be positive.” – Terry McAuliffe, Nov. 18, 2008. Prince William County Democrats. “I don’t attack people. I am positive energy.” – Terry McAuliffe, Feb. 20, 2009. Mark Plotkin’s Politics Hour. “I’m not saying anything negative about either one them. I won’t do it; I am all positive.”
– Terry McAuliffe, Feb. 20, 2009. Mark Plotkin’s Politics Hour.

“I am the one guy from the beginning of this campaign has said I am running a positive campaign. I have not one bad thing to say about my Democratic opponents. I have never done it in my life; I am clearly not gonna start now. I am running a positive campaign.”
– Terry McAuliffe, April 19, 2009. Farm Team Debate.

“They are tired of the negative campaigns being run, that’s why folks, I am running only a positive campaign.”
– Terry McAuliffe, April 28, 2009. Sorensen Debate.

“Lot of things have come my way, that is fine but I have not said a negative thing. … I have been positive my whole life; I have never attacked a Democrat in my life and I am not gonna start now.”
– Terry McAuliffe, April 29, 2009. Bloggers Debate.

THE FACTS

Yesterday, this false, negative mail piece, which was paid for by Terry McAuliffe’s campaign, arrived in mail boxes across Northern Virginia: http://brianmoran.com/assets/2009/5/27/mackernegative.pdf

The negative attack was covered by the Washington Post here: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2009/05/did_mcauliffe_break_his_pledge.html

On April 19, at the Farm Team Debate, McAuliffe was asked about foreclosures and said, “So as governor my top concern is, which I talk about my business plan, is to provide funds to keep people in their homes.”

THE FACTS

Apparently Mr. McAuliffe had a conversion when it comes to foreclosures.

When asked about foreclosures on February 20, Terry McAuliffe made it clear that foreclosures were a federal problem, not something that he would or could do anything about:

Mark Plotkin: But I want to get specific with you, Terry McAuliffe. In terms of, if you’re governor, what do you do by executive order, or what do you do by legislation to stop the foreclosure rate?

Terry McAuliffe: Well, first all, the federal government has taken this. This is Barack Obama’s biggest thing. So you’re just going to piggy back on what the federal government is doing.

- Mark Plotkin’s Politics Show, February 20, 2009.

In fact, when asked FIVE TIMES, he refused to even admit that the state government had a role in ending the foreclosure crisis.

Mark Plotkin: (1) Home foreclosures: what would you do in addition to what the federal government is doing? How many home foreclosures have there been in the Commonwealth of Virginia? Do you know?

Terry McAuliffe: Well yeah one in six. It’s the same as the national average, basically, 1 in 6. Which is even worse because the foreclosed are done.

Plotkin: (2) What would you do to stop the foreclosures?

McAuliffe: I’ve always said this – we need to keep people in their homes. The worst thing you can do is take away someone’s home away from them. It’s their single biggest asset. And I can tell you when I was in the banking business, you take a home back: it costs the bank $40,000 to go through all the legal and the...

Plotkin: (3) So do you want a moratorium on foreclosures in Virginia?

McAuliffe: Let me finish. …We then own a property that’s going down in value ‘cause no one is living in it. If we keep people in their homes I think we’ve got to put a floor on it. If we’ve got to extend the interest rates out I think, number one, and I have mentioned this to President Obama, number one issue, you have got to keep people in their homes because ultimately it is what is going to bring our economy back. The second thing we have to do is get these credit windows open. Right now, banks aren’t lending. This new gigantic government money’s going in, and they’re trying to build up their capital. That is not the intent of it. Now, we’ve got to make sure it’s credit-worthiness. We got into this mess because of Frannie… Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and all that, and no one’s hands were clean on that. They put too much money out there. They shouldn’t have gone out and put it in the hands of people who shouldn’t have had it.

Plotkin: (4) But I want to get specific with you, Terry McAuliffe. In terms of, if you’re governor, what do you do by executive order, or what do you do by legislation to stop the foreclosure rate?

McAuliffe: Well, first all, the federal government has taken this. This is Barack Obama’s biggest thing. So you’re just going to piggy back on what the federal government is doing.

Plotkin: (5) There’s nothing in terms of the plan that you would do more to protect homeowners than what is in the plan?

McAuliffe: Well if I was fortunate enough to be elected, it’s going to be next January and hopefully what President Obama and they have just done with the stimulus package will stop the high rate of foreclosures going on. I’d have to deal with that. But my overall premise, Mark, will be everything I can do to work together to keep people in their homes – it’s their biggest asset, we want them to have it, taking it away from them, they then go out on food stamps or they then have issues. Society pays for them. You own a piece of property that goes down in value. That’s not smart business.

- Mark Plotkin’s Politics Show, February 20, 2009.

“We have not been successful at going after what I call the big production facilities, BMW, ThyssenKrupp, International Paper, Kia, Toyota.”

- Terry McAuliffe  (Washington Post Debate, May 19, 2009)

Speaking of Tim Kaine’s record, McAuliffe said, “You should be ashamed of yourself, and as governor, I will fight for every deal, and I'll bring in more jobs than 49 other governors in this country."

– Terry McAuliffe (Washington Post, McAuliffe: Virginia Can Do Better on Job Creation, April 22, 2009)

How has Virginia done on investment and job creation? Since 2001, Virginia’s Economic Development Partnership has brought in: Over $26 BILLION in new and expanded business investment and created over 220,000 new jobs. (Virginia Economic Development Partnership)

OK, but what about BIG projects? The ones McAuliffe is always talking about?

$600 million -- Canon. Manufacturing facility in Hampton Roads brings 1,000 jobs, $600 million investment. 2008. (Governor’s Press Release. Governor Kaine Announces over 1000 jobs for Virginia. April 2007)

$501 million, 542 jobs -- Rolls-Royce. Aircraft engine assembly.

$500 million, 300 jobs -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Biomedical research

$450 million -- MAERSK/APM. International shipping firm locates $450 million investment in Hampton Roads. 2004. (Governor’s Press Release. Governor Warner Announces New Deepwater Container Terminal, April 20, 2004)

$300 million, 500 jobs – Philip Morris. Research and Development Center.

$281 million, 740 jobs --  Swedwood North America. IKEA furniture manufacturing.

$227 million, 2,500 jobs -- Corporate Executive Board. Business analysis and research services.

$2.2 million, 949 jobs – ICT Group. Call center.

$363 million -- AREVA/Northrop Grumman. Global defense contractors invest $363 million in Newport News. 2008. (Governor’s Press Release. Governor Kaine Announces 540 New Jobs for Newport News. October 23, 2008)

(Sources: Unless otherwise noted, source is the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s Virginia Announcements Database. http://virginiascan.yesvirginia.org/ResourceCenter/AnnouncementsWeb.aspx)

Virginia has been recognized as one of the most business-friendly states in the nation.

Best State in the Nation for Business three years running by Forbes.com 

Top State for Business by CNBC 

Top Performing State by Governing Magazine 

Best Managed State in the Nation by Governing Magazine 

Top 10 Pro-Business state by Pollina 

(Source: Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Prominent Accolades. http://www.yesvirginia.org/whyvirginia/awards.aspx)

The simple fact is that Terry McAuliffe clearly has no knowledge of Virginia’s efforts at economic development and his campaign must tear down the work of Mark Warner and Tim Kaine to make him look good.

“In Virginia, I’ve given more money by a factor of 100 than anyone has ever given to Virginia.”
– Terry McAuliffe, Prince William County Democrats, November 17, 2008

“Have I been involved in Virginia? You bet.”
-- Terry McAuliffe, The Politics Hour with Mark Plotkin, February 20, 2009

Mr. McAuliffe showed very little interest in Virginia candidates until he first said he was considering a run for Governor. As this chart clearly shows, McAuliffe was a non-entity in Virginia fundraising, with minimal personal donations, until he decided to run for Governor. Donations to Virginia candidates and parties are in BLUE.

During the Democratic National Convention (DNCC, above), McAuliffe first telegraphed his interest in running. (The Washington Post, Democratic Consultant McAuliffe Weighs Run for Governor, August 27, 2008)

    94% of McAuliffe’s donations to Virginia candidates and party committees have come AFTER he telegraphed his intention to run for Governor.

    Between 1980 and August 25, 2008, McAuliffe donated just $7,400 to Virginia candidates and parties.

    Between August 26, 2008 and March 31, 2009 (the most recent date for which data is available), McAuliffe donated $118,955 to Virginia candidates and parties.

(Sources: Virginia Public Access Project; Federal Election Commission. Includes personal donations, only. Until his campaign, Mr. McAuliffe did not control any Virginia committees.)

McAuliffe also consistently exaggerates even this low level of donation history. McAuliffe has said he has given more to Virginia than any other donor by a factor of 100.

    The Virginian Pilot has reported that McAuliffe has exaggerated the donations made to Virginia candidates by the DNC under his tenure. (Virginian Pilot, Questions Raised about McAuliffe’s Ties to Virginia. May 7, 2009)

Did McAuliffe really give 100 times more than anyone else in Virginia? No. Virginia’s largest single individual donor not financing their own campaign has, since 1996, donated $4,201,750 to Virginia PACs and candidates. Multiply by 100 and….

    For his claim to be accurate, Mr. McAuliffe would have to have donated a stunning $420,175,000 to Virginia – that’s nearly half a billion dollars.

(Source: Virginia Public Access Project)

SO… how much had Terry given in Virginia BEFORE running for Governor??

    McAuliffe often takes personal credit for funds provided to Virginia candidates by the DNC under his tenure, including $2.5 million to Tim Kaine and $1.5 million to Mark Warner. We’ll spot him the $4 million just for the sake of argument.

    Terry McAuliffe personally donated $7,400 to Virginia candidates for state and federal office. (VPAP, link; FEC, http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/qind)

    The facts show that Terry’s actions fall about $416 million short of his claims.

“I am the only candidate for Governor who has not and will not take a check from Dominion Power or their PAC.”

– Terry McAuliffe, Kathy Lewis’ Heresay, WHRO, May 19, 2009

THE FACTS

Yesterday, McAuliffe again claimed he is uninfluenced by the demands of Dominion. Mr. McAuliffe may not have taken a check from Dominion directly, but he has no problem holding a fundraiser at the home of the former CEO and president!

McAuliffe’s deceptive hypocrisy was noted by the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

“For a guy who won't take money from Dominion Resources Inc., Terry McAuliffe spends a lot of time with some of the energy company's biggest names.

McAuliffe, one of three candidates for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, schmoozed Tuesday night with prospective backers at a meet-and-greet at the home of Thomas E. Capps, Dominion's retired president and chief executive officer.”

-- Richmond Times-Dispatch, McAuliffe won’t take Dominion cash, but donations from executives OK. April 17, 2009

And who is McAuliffe getting policy advice from?

“McAuliffe's closest advisers include another former Dominion executive, Eva Teig Hardy.

Hardy, who ran the company's lobbying-public-relations-and-charitable department and who knows the candidate through Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, has given McAuliffe $7,750.”

-- Richmond Times-Dispatch, McAuliffe won’t take Dominion cash, but donations from executives OK. April 17, 2009

If Terry McAuliffe is going to invent false distinctions between himself and his opponents, maybe he should make them less transparent.

“We use to build several, you know, thousand homes a year.”

– Terry McAuliffe, The Politics Hour with Mark Plotkin, Feb. 20, 2009

THE FACTS

From the start of his campaign, Terry McAuliffe has repeated the claim that he “built” well over a thousand homes a year as an investor in American Heritage Homes. The specific number of homes has ranged from “several thousand a year” to “over 1300.”

But then, on May 3, 2009, the Washington Post directly contradicted that claim, highlighting McAuliffe’s tendency to invent numbers in their front page exposé on his business background.

McAuliffe then claimed that his home-building company built 1,300 homes at its peak, but an adviser later clarified that the figure was closer to 800.

-- The Washington Post, McAuliffe’s Background Could Prove a Liability, 5/3/09

That’s right: the source of the corrected number? McAuliffe’s own advisors!

Did that stop Terry from continuing to use the same discredited, false claim? Nope!

“Took over a company that was in receivership, a home-building company there… Built over 1300 homes a year.”

-- Terry McAuliffe, Greenspring Candidates Forum, May 15, 2009

When will Terry McAuliffe decide to tell the truth? To date, the McAuliffe campaign has yet to provide any documentation that supports the claim that even 800 homes had been built by the company.

With a record of exaggerations and dishonesty, when Terry McAuliffe says he’s created thousands of jobs, why should Virginians believe him?

“I traveled all over the Commonwealth campaigning for Mark Warner when he ran in 2001.”

– Terry McAuliffe, The Politics Hour with Mark Plotkin. February 20, 2009

FACTS

It seems that Terry McAuliffe was not, in fact, an active surrogate for Mark Warner’s 2001 campaign.

Mark Warner’s campaign manager, Steve Jarding, said, “While we had a good working relationship with the DNC, and we appreciated the support they gave, and while Terry may have come to an event or two, when he says he campaigned all over Virginia for Warner, I do not recall that happening.”

A Lexis search for stories in 2001 does not return a single Virginia newspaper chronicling any event where McAuliffe was a surrogate for Warner between January 1 and November 7, 2001.

Relevant Details:

Lexis was searched for the words “Warner” within 50 words of the word “McAuliffe” any time between January 1st of 2001 and Election Day 2001.

Search used: Warner w/50 McAuliffe and date(geq (1/1/2001) and leq (11/7/2001))

Steve Jarding was Mark Warner’s campaign manager in the 2001 race for Governor and Jim Webb’s 2006 campaign for US Senate. He is currently General Consultant for Brian Moran’s campaign.

“What I did there is […] built a 178 million name voter file, which I would argue […] that’s the voter file Barack Obama and the Virginia party has used here in Virginia to help Democrats win elections.” –Terry McAuliffe, AP Day, December 2, 2008

“The voter file that they use in Virginia is the voter file that Terry McAuliffe built at the national party, that Virginia has now used for the last four years.” – Terry McAuliffe, The Politics Show with Mark Plotkin, Feb 20, 2009

THE FACTS

Terry McAuliffe claims to have created the DNC voter file that Barack Obama used to win in 2008. However, multiple sources contradict that claim and make it clear that, while McAuliffe may have had a hand in data efforts at the end of his DNC tenure, it is a big stretch to claim he created the voter file that Barack Obama used to win Virginia.

Did Terry’s list ever help Barack Obama? Or did Howard Dean really do the work?

In his final years as DNC chair, [Terry] McAuliffe had developed a list of Democratic donors and fundraisers. When Dean came in, state party chairs, who found McAuliffe’s list ill suited to their needs, asked Dean to build a national voter database. He hired new consultants and spent $10 million expanding the voter file. The move angered McAuliffe, and [Clinton advisor Harold] Ickes launched his own database, which was widely viewed as a buttress to Clinton’s presidential campaign and a challenge to Dean.

– The Nation, The Dean Legacy, February 28, 2008

So the list Barack Obama used in his campaign wasn’t made by Terry, it was made by Howard Dean. Terry’s list was less than useful to the DNC and Howard Dean had to recreate it, spending millions to make it work.

Howard Dean himself made this clear in remarks at the last DNC meeting of his tenure. Dean counted among his accomplishments the creation of a national voter file. He said:

“We picked up 24 seats after winning 34 in 2006. 22 Democratic governors is what we had when you elected me chairman. Today, thanks to the great work of the DGA, Tim Kaine, and many others, we have 29. I am so proud to be back in the majority. Our party now controls 60 of the 98 legislative bodies in America, which is going to have an enormous impact on redistricting. […]More than 1.1 million new donors came in this cycle and we raised 330 million dollars in this cycle -- just the DNC, not to mention the extraordinary success of President Obama and his staff. For the first time in our history, we have a national voter file. Developed by you in every single state, merged into one huge file and augmented by the fierce campaign. […] That voter list is meant to be used by every candidate from the top to the bottom and every candidate after that is going to benefit from it. We are all one team, not a series of individual candidates any more. We can do micro-targeting, now for the first time.”

– Howard Dean, 2009 DNC Winter Meeting at minute 6:00. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u7qu-sNSm8&feature=channel

Furthermore, Marc Ambinder makes it clear, as well, that Howard Dean was responsible for the national voter file, not Terry McAuliffe:

“Howard Dean's DNC brought the party into? the 21st century. Under his direction, the party was able to create what the Republican Party already had -- a single national voter file interface. The DNC struck data-sharing agreements with state parties, got everything uniform (more or less). It spent tens of millions of dollars in 2005 and 2006 building this, much to the consternation of the incoming chief of staff (Rahm Emanuel) of the man who benefited the most from that money (Barack Obama).”

-The Atlantic, How to Tell your Vote Builders from your MyBOs, Your Catalists from your VANs.November 14, 2008

So the question becomes, what did Terry do that he’s claiming credit for? Apparently he succeeded in creating a big fundraising list rather than a voter file:

“In the 2003-2004 election cycle, the DNC began building a national voter file, and it proved highly effective in raising money. Because of many technical problems, however, it was not useful to state and local organizations trying to get out the vote.”

– The Washington Post, Democrats’ Data Mining Stirs an Intraparty Battle, March 8, 2006

Note that 2003/2004 is McAuliffe’s last cycle as DNC Chairman. He left in January of 2005. It seems that the work McAuliffe’s staffers did on the voter file was incomplete and had to be scrapped in favor of a new system.

Even Terry McAuliffe himself agrees that the DNC did a bad job in 2004, under his leadership, of using data to target voters:

“Under the direction of Bush adviser Karl Rove, the RNC and state parties repeatedly tested [their] voter file and different ways to contact voters to determine which were most effective at boosting turnout. ‘They were smart. They came into our neighborhoods. They came into Democratic areas with very specific targeted messages to take Democratic voters away from us,’ then-DNC Chairman Terence R. McAuliffe said after the 2004 contest. ‘They were much more sophisticated in their message delivery.’"

– The Washington Post, Democrats’ Data Mining Stirs an Intraparty Battle, March 8, 2006

And what happened to the people who built Terry’s fundraising list at the DNC? They went on to build a competing voter file at a for-profit company.

“As it stands now, the DNC and Data Warehouse, created by Ickes and Democratic operative Laura Quinn, will separately try to build vast and detailed voter lists -- each effort requiring sophisticated expertise and costing well over $10 million. […] Quinn had worked on the voter file program under McAuliffe, but Dean brought in his own people after he took over in early 2005.”

– The Washington Post, Democrats’ Data Mining Stirs an Intraparty Battle, March 8, 2006

Complete AP Day, December 2, 2008, quote from Terry McAuliffe: “What I did there is bring a business approach, took a failing institution that was bankrupt its entire history. Got them out of debt. Built a new headquarters. Built a 178-million name voter file which, I would argue, which I see the executive director of the Virginia party here, that’s the voter file Barack Obama and the Virginia party has used here in Virginia to help Democrats win elections.”

Complete quote from Howard Dean’s remarks to the DNC 2009 Winter Meeting. (Starting Minute 6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u7qu-sNSm8&feature=channel)

6:00 We picked up 24 seats after winning 34 in 2006. 22 Democratic governors is what we had when you elected me Chairman. Today, thanks to the great work of the DGA, Tim Kaine and many others, we have 29. I am so proud to be back in the majority. Our party now controls 60 of the 98 legislative bodies in America, which is going to have an enormous impact on redistricting. We are not going to settle for 60 because Tim is going to get us higher than that, cause we need to have a fair districting map so the votes of the American people are fairly reflected in what we do in Washington. More than 1.1 million new donors came in this cycle, and we raised 330 million dollars in this cycle -- just the DNC, not to mention the extraordinary success of President Obama and his staff.

6:50 For the first time in our history, we have a national voter file. Developed by you in every single state. Merged into one huge file and augmented by the fierce primary -- I didn’t mean to have a 50-state primary when I got into this. But we did, and we had millions and millions of new voters come in from all over the country. In Pennsylvania alone, I think we added 168,000 people who became Democrats, switched from the Republican Party. We knew where every single one of those was for the general election. That’s how you win elections. That voter list is meant to be used by every candidate from the top to the bottom and every candidate after that is going to benefit from it. We are all one team, not a series of individual candidates any more. We can do micro-targeting, now for the first time. We have 21st century campaign tools.

“[I] created over 100,000 jobs.”

- Terry McAuliffe, (Farm Team debate, April 19, 2009)

THE FACTS

According to the Washington Post, Terry McAuliffe hasn’t created any jobs in Virginia, as they noted in a front page exposé on his troubled business background:

“…McAuliffe boasted of launching five businesses in Virginia. It turned out that all five are investment partnerships, with no employees, registered to his home address in McLean.” –Washington Post, McAuliffe’s Business Background Could Prove a Liability. May 3, 2009

Here are some companies that have definitely created lots of jobs. No exaggerations or distortions.

Microsoft employs 95,029 people, worldwide. Did Terry McAuliffe really create more jobs than Bill Gates? (http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/insidefacts_ms.mspx)

IBM has 115,000 employees in the United States. Has Terry McAuliffe really created as many jobs as the inventors of the personal computer? (ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/annualreport/2008/2008_ibm_annual.pdf, p53)

Google employs 20,164. Has Terry McAuliffe created more jobs than the most successful Internet company of the past five years? (http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Google-Earnings-Beat-Street.html)

If Terry McAuliffe’s companies were so big and so successful, how come no one has ever heard of them?

“I'll bring in more jobs than 49 other governors in this country.”- Terry McAuliffe, April 22, 2009 (Washington Post)

THE FACTS

Let’s take McAuliffe’s promise at face value. What state currently creates more jobs than any other in America? California.

Over the course of four years, California can be expected to produce 834,358 jobs.

So Terry’s target is 843,359 jobs. How does that stack up to Virginia’s past job creation?

During the tenure of the last five Governors of Virginia, the Commonwealth added 793,336 jobs.

That’s right. McAuliffe is promising to create more jobs than the last five Governors of Virginia, combined.

So this is a tall order. How much would Virginia have to improve to catch up to California?

During a four-year period, Virginia will create, on average, 201,456 jobs.

To keep his promise, McAuliffe would have to more than quadruple Virginia’s job creation rate.

Even if McAuliffe managed to quadruple Virginia’s rate of job creation, and California produced jobs at its average rate, he would still be unable to keep his promise.

McAuliffe makes this claim without any basis of support or chance of success – it is an entirely empty and dishonest promise to the people of Virginia.

Sources: All historical job numbers are Virginia employment totals from the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics using the Local Area Unemployment Statistics data source (http://www.bls.gov/data/#unemployment). Data for the past five Governors is the difference in employment between February 2009 and January 1989. Expected job growth numbers are all multiples of the 30-year average of a given state.

~ Bank Cited for Unsafe Practices and Forced to Merge~

ALEXANDRIA – Moran Campaign Manager Andrew Roos sent a letter to the federal Comptroller of the Currency this week requesting all available documents regarding the investigation and citation of the D.C.-based Federal City National Bank. Terry McAuliffe frequently cites chairmanship of this bank as a reason to support his candidacy and an example of his business success. However, during his tenure as Chairman of the bank, it was cited for “unsafe and unsound business practices” by federal regulators, according to the Washington Post. McAuliffe joined the company’s board in 1987 and took over as Chairman in January of 1988.

On October 16, 1991, several years into McAuliffe’s tenure, the Washington Post reported that Federal City signed a consent order, a severe action taken by the office of the Comptroller of the Currency short of seizure of the institution.

According to the Post, the bank was cited for unsafe, unsound banking practices on October 1, 1991. (Washington Post, “Comptroller Cites Two Banks in Area for Unsafe Practices,” October 16, 1991; Washington Business Journal, “Small Banks in District Pushed Against the Wall,” October 7, 1991)

According to the Washington Times, the “ailing Federal City” was taken over by Credit International Bank under pressure and after more than four years of McAuliffe’s leadership. (Washington Times, “Bank Start-Ups Get Bowled Over by Stubborn Real-Estate Recession,” July 23, 1992)

Terry McAuliffe often talks about the “success” of his leadership at Federal City National Bank as a central qualification to be Governor.

“At the age of 30 I’m the youngest bank chairman in our nation’s history. Had to take over a failing institution, get it back to solvency, which I did.” (AP Day Joint Candidates Forum, December 2, 2008, Video Recording)

“The reports from the Post and the Times seem to suggest this bank was cited for unsafe and unsound practices and merged to avoid failure,” Moran Campaign Manager Andrew Roos said. “If that turns out to be the case, I doubt Virginians will consider it a success story for Mr. McAuliffe. With all the concerns about failing banks and banker bailouts, we need to fully investigate what happened with Federal City National Bank since Mr. McAuliffe has made it a central qualification for his candidacy.”

Also of note, in 1987, Federal City provided an unsecured $125,000 loan to the presidential campaign of Richard Gephardt while McAuliffe was the campaign’s national finance chairman and on the Board of Federal City. The bank would also give business loans to House Whip Tony Coelho and Speaker Jim Wright. (The New York Times, “Gephardt Received 2 Unsecured Loans” February 13, 1988; The New York Times, “Friendship Counts; Clinton’s Top Fund-Raiser Made Lots for Himself, Too,” December 12, 1999)

Letter to John C. Dugan, Comptroller of the Currency: http://brianmoran.com/assets/2009/5/6/Letter_to_COC_Dugan.pdf

Brian Moran has a 20-year record of fighting for the people of Virginia. He was Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and a Delegate from Alexandria City and Fairfax County. Prior to that, he served as a prosecutor in Arlington County.

# # #

“I gave Tim Kaine $5 million from the DNC. I had it in the bank. It was the right thing to do. […] So, I gave 5 Million Dollars.”
– Terry McAuliffe, February 20, 2009, Mark Plotkin’s Politics Show

THE FACTS

Terry McAuliffe consistently says that he, as Chairman of the DNC, gave $5 million from the DNC to then-Lt. Governor Tim Kaine’s campaign for Governor. According to news reports today, this seems to be another exaggeration:

“On the campaign trail, Terry McAuliffe often mentions the $5 million he gave in 2005 to help elect Gov. Timothy M. Kaine as an illustration of his support for Virginia Democrats.  Yet records show that while McAuliffe pledged the cash as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, half the money was actually given by his successor, Howard Dean.” (Virginian-Pilot, Questions Raised About McAuliffe’s Ties to Virginia, May 7, 2009)

Today’s full story: http://hamptonroads.com/2009/05/questions-raised-about-mcauliffe%E2%80%99s-ties-virginia

Other examples of Terry McAuliffe claiming to have given $5 million to Tim Kaine:

“[McAuliffe] said he called Kaine after he was named DNC chairman in January and reminded him of the $5 million McAuliffe gave Kaine in 2001 when their roles were flipped. McAuliffe said it was the single largest gift ever given to a governor's campaign in a non-presidential year.” – CNN, VA Candidates Thrilled to be the only game in town.

“When I was chairman of the party, I helped Tim a lot running for Governor. I gave the single biggest check in the history of the Democratic party, $5 million, when [Kaine] ran for Governor.” -- Terry McAuliffe, Nov 17, 2008 (Audio Recording)

Complete quote cited at top: “If you remember I gave the biggest gift in the history of our national party. I gave Tim Kaine 5 million dollars from the DNC. I had it in the bank. It was the right thing to do. I wanted to show we could win, win in southern states and that in Virginia with Mark and Tim had a great model. So, I gave 5 Million Dollars. They’re going to do the same thing this time around because this is, you’re right, this is the biggest race in the country.” (The Politics Show with Mark Plotkin, February 20, 2009. Audio recording transcript.)

 “Never in the history of the Democratic National Committee had they financially supported redistricting. [Until my tenure as Chairman]”
- Terry McAuliffe, April 29, 2009 (Complete quote below)

McAuliffe made the claim that he was the first Chairman of the DNC to provide support for redistricting. Yet, for the 1990/1991 decennial redistricting, the DNC raised and spent millions of dollars for “Project 500,” an arm of the party that lead strategic efforts to control redistricting in states across the country. McAuliffe was Chairman from 2001 to early 2005, a decade after efforts which he says never happened.

• “With all this going for him, Democratic National Committee Chairman Ron Brown already has made two trips to Arizona, and the DNC's strategic redistricting arm, Project 500, is deploying substantial resources in the state.” (Roll Call, Big Shoot-Em-Up in the Wild West, July 26, 1990)
  

• "This is the chairman's number one priority," insists Tim Dickson, coordinator of Project 500, the party's effort to maximize its control over next year's redistricting process. (Campaigns and Elections, DNC Plans Hit Summer Dolldrums, June 1990)

• The DNC's strategic arm for reapportionment, Project 500, has a fundraising goal of $3 million this year. (Roll Call, The Most Important Political Issue of 1990: It’s Redistricting, Of Course, January 22, 1990.)

• … another Democratic redistricting group -- Project 500, affiliated with the Democratic National Committee (DNC) -- issued a press statement that trumpeted its plans to raise $ 2.5 million… (The National Journal, Gearing up for the National Nose Count, January 20, 1990)

Complete quotation from the Bloggers debate: Never in the history of the Democratic National Committee had they financially supported redistricting. Under my tenure as Chairman we gave more money. $10 million to the congressional effort by Martin frost. $5 million to Mike Miller who headed up the DLCC which was responsible. I didn’t give the money to the individual states, I gave money to the committees in charge of disbursement. If you were to call Mike Miller, the Maryland speaker, he would tell you that Terry McAuliffe broke every record. He is the only chairman in the history of our party that put money into DLCC, those races, and congressional.