RICHMOND - Days after an audit criticized Virginia's tobaccocommission for its spending priorities, the state is paying morethan $20,000 to send its executive director and two state lawmakersto France to recruit businesses to Virginia.
Del. Daniel W. Marshall III (R-Danville) and Sen. Frank M. RuffJr. (R-Mecklenburg) arrived in Paris on Monday and will leaveFriday. Executive director Neal Noyes arrived Sunday and will departJune 28 for Cologne, Germany, where he will meet with companyexecutives in town for an automotive convention until July 1.
The estimated cost for airfare, hotel and food is expected to be$21,123, according to the Tobacco Indemnification and CommunityRevitalization Commission.
It is at least the second overseas trip by members of thecommission since 2001, according to the Virginia Public AccessProject, which tracks money in politics. Last year, two members andNoyes spent more than $8,000 on a trip to England.
Marshall, reached by phone before he left for France, firstquestioned how The Washington Post heard about the trip. He thenexplained that the goal was to recruit companies to Virginia's mosteconomically depressed areas in Southside and southwest - regionsthe tobacco commission tries to boost with $1 billion from a legalsettlement with the nation's largest tobacco companies.
"It's all about jobs, jobs, jobs," Marshall said.
The three men will join Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) onWednesday; he will be in France for the Paris Air Show, aninternational trade fair for the aerospace business held every otheryear.
They will spend much of Wednesday in meetings with executives ofcompanies they hope to lure to Virginia, visit the state's booth atthe show and attend a reception and dinner McDonnell is hosting atthe Cercle de l'Union social club. On Thursday, they will fly toToulouse in southwest France to meet with company executives.
Noyes will then travel to Germany to attend the Automotive NewsEurope Congress.
Noyes's trip is estimated to cost $10,489, including $1,800 forregistration to attend the convention in Germany. Marshall'sexpenses are $5,364, and Ruff's are $5,270.
House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong (D-Henry), whose districtbenefits from the tobacco settlement but has been critical of thecommission's past spending, said he will not know if the money forthe trip is being well spent until he sees whether it results in anyjobs, but he said it may look inappropriate.
"At this time, when you have double digit unemployment . . . itcertainly has the appearance of being extravagant," Armstrong said."On the heels of this scathing report, it sends a bad message."
Last week, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission saidthe commission spent too much money on projects that did notgenerate jobs or boost salaries. In the past decade, 1,368 grantsworth $756 million have been awarded for a variety of projects,including high-speed Internet access in rural areas, walking trailsand improvements to the Martinsville Speedway. About $606 million isavailable for future grants.
Last weekend, after The Post reported that more than a dozenlegislators were flying to France on unrelated trips paid by acompany lobbying them to lift a ban on uranium mining in Virginia,Marshall criticized the lawmakers for taking "vacations" in hishometown newspaper, neglecting to say that he was going to the samecountry the same week.
Ruff did not return a phone call. Noyes defended the trip, sayinghe was flying coach and going to France because "that's where themeetings are held."
Last year, the chairman of the tobacco commission, Del. Terry G.Kilgore (R-Scott), Ruff and Noyes went to England in July at thesame time McDonnell went on a trade mission to Europe.The trip cost $8,291.
Both trips were built around luring suppliers for aircraft-engine maker Rolls-Royce, which opened a manufacturing and researchfacility in Prince George's County in May, and companies to theCommonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing, a research centerset to open nearby next year.
McDonnell announced one deal after the Europe trip, according tohis office. The Hornschuch Group, a producer and marketer of highlytechnical films, said it would invest $28.3 million to expand itsO'Sullivan Films operation, creating 174 jobs, in Winchester, whichis not in the tobacco commission's region.
The cost of the trip for McDonnell; Jim Cheng, Virginia secretaryof commerce and trade; and Vince Barnett, director of communicationsand promotions for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, is$42,454, said McDonnell spokesman Jeff Caldwell.
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