Governor-elect attends pre-inaugual ball, helps food bank

ABINGDON, Va. – Governor-elect Bob McDonnell kicked off an inauguration week filled with contrasts Friday.

McDonnell, who takes the oath of office Jan. 16 to become Virginia’s 71st governor, spent part of Friday afternoon packaging meals of mashed potatoes, green beans and ham at the Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank’s soup kitchen.

A few hours later, he, his wife, Maureen, and daughters Jeanine and Cailin donned their finery as the guests of honor at the first of four statewide inaugural balls at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center, where the menu included shrimp and carved roast beef.“It is a contrast,” McDonnell said. “But we haven’t had a Republican governor in 12 years and there are a lot of people who want to celebrate. At the same time, we’re scaling back the scope of the inauguration and urging people to donate their time, their talents and their treasures to agencies that help those less fortunate.”

As a symbol of that movement, guests at the gala were asked to donate canned food to the Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank or coats to the Salvation Army.

Two drums were filled to overflowing with canned food and another bin appeared to contain about a dozen coats.

“It’s really been a rough economic time for the past year and a half,” said attendee Jim Moore of Abingdon, who carried in two bags of canned food. “Lots of folks have been without electricity for some time and a lot of them lost everything in their refrigerator – some of them twice. We just really feel for them.”

Attendee Morgan O’Quinn of Abingdon, who formerly worked in the attorney general’s office, said he was a longtime supporter of the food bank.

“I think it’s a very beneficial program and the [local] food bank moving into that new building is great.” O’Quinn said.

Despite a tough budget year, McDonnell said he supports Gov. Tim Kaine’s inclusion of $1 million in the state budget to assist food banks.

“I can’t think of a better organization than food banks. Ninety-five percent of their funding goes directly to people in need,” the governor-elect told a crowd of about 75 at the food bank.

About 400 attended Friday night’s black-tie gala, including former Virginia Gov. George Allen, former Attorney General Jerry Kilgore and numerous lawmakers from Virginia and neighboring Tennessee.

McDonnell said the decision to kick off the inaugural ceremonies in Southwest Virginia was in appreciation for an overwhelming victory over Democrat Creigh Deeds in November’s election.

“We wanted to start in Southwest Virginia because we had the biggest margin of victory right here,” McDonnell said. “Some of the numbers in the precincts and counties down here were just breathtaking – 60-70 percent. We won some counties in the coalfields that haven’t been won by Republicans in a long time, so we wanted to say thank you.”

In a pre-gala news conference, McDonnell outlined the top priorities for the opening months of his administration.

“First and foremost is making sure to get a Virginia budget passed on time – without tax increases – that reflects the priorities of the citizens of Virginia. We are in some of the most difficult fiscal times in a long time with 6 percent unemployment around the state and much higher in Southwest and Southside Virginia,” McDonnell said.

His other priorities include “significant” investments in job creation, economic development, education reform – including more programs for science, technology and math – and reforming government to make it more efficient.

“I started with the governor’s immediate staff, I had all my top people take pay cuts – including me. We want to do what families and businesses are doing right now to navigate these tough times with strategic decisions,” McDonnell said.

He also repeated familiar campaign pledges to re-open interstate highway rest areas and identify funding to resolve transportation issues.

“During the campaign, I laid out 12 different funding mechanisms in order to build roads. At some point during this first year – it may not be during this first session – we intend to put those ideas before the General Assembly. I intend to build a consensus before we act on those,” he said. The governor-elect is scheduled to attend a concert today in Arlington and another inaugural ball Sunday in Norfolk.

In addition to events for supporters, the upcoming week includes meeting with military families in Hampton Roads, volunteering at other food banks in Norfolk and Richmond, attending a youth outreach event at a Virginia Beach Boys & Girls Club, volunteering at an Alexandria homeless shelter and visiting a Richmond-area correctional facility.