You know how Bob McDonnell – and, in fairness, every other Virginia governor – loves to brag about Virginia’s high rankings (usually by obscure magazines you’ve never heard of) in terms of being “business friendly,” “the best place to raise a family,” etc? Of course, most of these governors had absolutely nothing to do with making Virginia “the best” in any of those ways (for instance, a huge chunk of Virginia’s economy flows from its proximity next to the nation’s capital, to massive defense spending, to the fact that hundreds of thousands of federal employees and contractors live and shop here, etc.), but whatever, it’s politics so of course they’re going to claim credit for whatever they think makes ’em look good.
What makes all it even more amusing is that you never hear McDonnell or the other governors mentioning any rankings that do NOT reflect well on Virginia. Like, for instance, this one:
Virginia has a poor record when it comes to pollution. In 2007, the state released over 18 million pounds of toxic chemicals into its waterways, the second largest amount in the country that year. It places within the top twenty for a number of policy-related categories, however. Virginia ranks 17th for solar power policy and 18th with regards to ACEEE’s financial incentives score.
I can’t wait to hear Bob McDonnell (or any other former Virginia governor) start bragging about this one! 🙂
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