The conservative advocacy group founded by David and Charles Koch on Wednesday launched an advertising campaign against the Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam.
"Don't show up for work? You'd get fired," the ad from Americans for Prosperity states. "Waste a million bucks? You'd get fired unless you are a politician like Ralph Northam. Ralph Northam missed nearly 60 percent of meetings for a board that could have prevented cronyism and corruption. Instead, he let a fake Chinese company with a false address and phony website take $1.4 million of our money."
The ad refers to a deal signed off on by Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, in 2014. Virginia paid $1.4 million to Lindenburg Industry LLC, a company based in China. Northam, currently the Lieutenant Gov. of Virginia, was at the time an ex-officio member of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership's board of directors.
According to The Roanoke Times, the deal went ahead after the VEDP made a recommendation to McAuliffe, despite state officials' failure to properly vet Lindenburg.
The Roanoke Times "found that the partnership did not obtain financial records for Lindenburg, relied on a consultant's word that the project was funded and trusted a company website that falsely implied the company had a plant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina."
"Ralph Northam didn't show up. He doesn't deserve a promotion," the ad continues.
In a statement to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, a spokesman for Northam's campaign said, "We'll put the record of the current administration creating jobs up against [Republican nominee] Ed Gillespie's record as a D.C. lobbyist for Enron from now until November."
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