Dave Mills: McDonnell Needs to "put the McGimmicks aside and put Virginians first"

I wrote a post a couple days ago about how Dave Mills called out Bob McDonnell for spending too much time trying to advance his national profile and lobbying for the VP spot on the GOP ticket in 2012. Perhaps in response to comments in the blogosphere that the DPVA should be focusing on the misleading information that the McDonnell's been putting out about Virginia's budget, Dave is once again going after the governor. This time he released a statement that criticized him for using "McGimmicks" to make it it look like Virginia has a large budget surplus.

“Bob McDonnell continues to tout a 'surplus' built with unpaid bills, unmet obligations and fiscal gimmicks. No matter what he calls it, the balance he announced today isn't enough to pay our outstanding bills to the Virginia retirement system and make the investments we need in education, public safety, mental health, and other services that create opportunity for working Virginia families.

McDonnell's self-congratulation over his 'surplus' is similar to a family refusing to pay their mortgage for a year and then celebrating the balance in their savings account.

In his rush to appeal to the Republican presidential field the Governor has chosen boosting his image over being straight with Virginians. Its's time for him to put the McGimmicks aside and put Virginians first as they struggle with a tough economy and the loss of 14,000 jobs in the month of June alone. In short, working families need more Bob's for Jobs and less Bob's for Bob."

I agree with Dave here. Virginia needs a governor who is willing to bunker down and do the hard work necessary to get Virginia families back to work and our economy on the road to recovery. Unfortunately, I'm not too confident that we'll actually see him focusing in on the Commonwealth anytime soon. In the last week or so, for instance, I've heard from folks living in upstate New York and Philly about how McDonnell "seems eager" to be part of the national political scene.

The most noteworthy part of these conversations was that they weren't hearing about what he hopes to do as governor, but instead about how he might be able to bring some swing states into play if he's the VP candidate. I don't know about you, but when you combine that with how he's actively lobbying for the VP nomination, but I don't think it sounds like Bob McDonnell is really interested in remaining Virginia's governor.