Video Crew Finds Few McDonnell Complaints in Bristol

By David Mcgee
Published: April 23, 2009

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BRISTOL, Va. – The reception to a campaign critical of Virginia GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bob McDonnell was as chilly Wednesday as the weather outside the Virginia Employment Commission office.

Armed with a video camera and plenty of questions, political operatives Yoni Cohen and Elliot Vice from Arlington, Va., are crisscrossing the state in a rented minivan, recording interviews with people looking for work or signing up for unemployment benefits.

Of about a dozen people the pair approached outside the local unemployment office, only one man agreed to speak on camera – and that occurred after the Bristol Herald Courier left.

Cohen e-mailed the newspaper a copy of the audio from the man’s interview, but the file wouldn’t play.

“This is what it is,” Cohen said of the lack of response. “We’re not staging anything. Some people want to talk and some don’t.”

Both men said they were granted a number of interviews Tuesday outside a similar office in Roanoke, but spoke with only one person in Danville.

The pair’s “Bob’s Not for Jobs, Bob’s Not for You Tour” criticizes the former attorney general and the Republican-controlled House of Delegates’ recent vote to reject $125 million in federal funds designed to bolster state unemployment benefits.

Vice said he and Cohen both have backgrounds in political campaign work. “This is definitely the most unique project we’ve done,” Vice said.

The capability of the Internet gives rise to such efforts, Vice said, where a message or campaign can be distributed instantly.

Cheryl Logan of Bristol, Va., who declined to speak on camera, told the men she was signing up for a week of unemployment, after being temporarily laid off from her job at Bristol Compressors.

“I’m laid off this week, but I go back on Monday. Each shift is off for a week,” Logan said. “Around here, a lot of people are out of a job, and we don’t have a lot of places to work.”

Another woman, who declined to give her name, said she wasn’t signing up for benefits after being laid off from her job, but was just there to find another job.

A man who was there for job training told them he didn’t have time for an interview, but would speak with them later.

Their interviews are scheduled to be posted to a Web site run by Common Sense Virginia, a new political action committee.

The pair works for the PAC, which claims to be independent but has as its stated goal to educate citizens about the “real” McDonnell. Their tour, which began earlier this week in Culpeper, is being funded by a $100,000 grant from the Democratic Governors Association, which isn’t affiliated with the campaign of any candidate.

“People are really upset about them turning down that [stimulus] money,” Cohen said.

After Bristol, the pair pointed their van toward an afternoon stop in Lynchburg. They also plan to visit Richmond, northern Virginia and Hampton Roads in the coming days, Cohen said.

dmcgee@bristolnews.com | 9276) 645-2532