Touring Leesburg and Loudoun
Governor Warner’s “Hometown Days” tour took him to Leesburg and Loudoun County on Friday.
The Governor was invited to speak to about 70 small business owners attending a Loudoun Chamber of Commerce conference on IT at The George Washington University’s satellite campus in Ashburn. The Governor spoke of the dramatic IT reforms he initiated in state government when he served as Governor.
“Coming from the private sector, I know my way around a balance sheet, so you can imagine my surprise in 2001, just 10 days after I was elected Virginia Governor, when we discovered that the budget shortfall my predecessor had said was $700 million was really $3.8 billion.“That $3.8 billion shortfall eventually mushroomed into a $6 billion budget gap. My first thought was, ‘Too late for a recount?’
“But right away, our team made hard choices to fix what was broken. We made tough budget cuts.
“We also launched a top-to-bottom reform of how government operates. And we pushed hard on many fronts to harness technology to produce better service delivery for our customers and create long-term savings for the taxpayers.”
Governor Warner’s reforms consolidated 90+ separate state agency IT functions into a single agency, and the IT reforms in purchasing and day-to-day state government operations already have produced more than $250 million in taxpayer savings. The Governor also improved and expanded an online purchasing portal, eVA, which allows state government to leverage its purchasing power to achieve lower prices and additional savings when it purchases goods and services.
Governor Warner then visited with executives and scientists at the new Howard Hughes Medical Institute facility, where world-class research in the human sciences is being conducted. The effort to lure the economic development prize started during Governor Warner’s term, and he said he was excited about the potential of the Howard Hughes facility to transform the economy of Loudoun County and the outer Northern Virginia suburbs for years to come.
Our friend, Sen. Mark Herring, assembled another 50 local business owners and community leaders for an informative question-and-answer session during lunch at Lightfoot Restaurant in downtown Leesburg.
Governor Warner asked the crowd for their support to go to the U.S. Senate to form a bipartisan coalition to produce real results on healthcare, energy policy, and economic competitiveness.
Afterwards, Governor Warner visited with merchants and customers along Leesburg’s quaint King and Market Streets. He greeted diners at the Leesburg Restaurant, and spoke about current economic conditions with the owners of Caulkins Jewelers and the Georgetown Cafe & Bakery.
We briefly stopped by the offices of the Loudoun Times-Mirror for a spontaneous interview, and then toured and spoke to residents at Falcon’s Landing, an upscale independent living facility in Sterling.
We ended our day with the Governor’s rousing speech at the Loudoun County Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner, where former Governor Warner joined Governor Tim Kaine, Sen. Herring, and Del. Dave Poisson in rallying more than 300 local Democrats to continue their progress in “turning Virginia blue” this Fall.