Kilgore Family Politics

by Lewis Loflin

Please note I supported Rex McCarty, but the real point was to illustrate how politics operate here. I don't believe any of the people mentioned below did anything illegal. It's just the way things work here. In the 2008 election I plan to vote for Terry Kilgore. None of the Kilgores were were convicted on anything as far as I know.

Rex McCarty has lost his bid to unseat Terry Kilgore who outspent him by 4:1. The fact his brother Jerry was running for Virginia governor and his family's control of voting in Scott County I doubt were factors in the race. Jerry Kilgore was easily defeated in a come from behind victory by Democrat Tim Kaine.

November 6, 2005 the Bristol Herald Courier reports Terry Kilgore has outspent Rex McCarty by 4:1. Kilgore, R-Gate City, has raised more than $215,000 and has held the seat representing Lee, Scott and parts of Washington and Wise counties since 1994. Kilgore's top donors have been attorneys Frank Kilgore of St. Paul and Michael McGlothlin of Grundy. They gave him $11,000 and $5,000, respectively. The incumbent also received $7,500 from Dominion, a Richmond-based energy holding company that has contributed more than $130,000 to House races statewide. The Kilgore campaigns other major contributors include the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, $7,000; mining company Alpha Natural Resources of Abingdon, $5,850; Douglas Humphries of Gate City, $5,000; and VFP, a Roanoke-based firm, $5,000. It should be noted VFP has received substantial amounts of money from the Virginia Tobacco Commission Kilgore chairs. Just a coincidence I suppose.

Democratic challenger Rex McCarty, a Gate City businessman, has raised and spent far less than the incumbent – about $53,000. He reported having about $500 on hand as of Friday. McCarty and his wife, Lisa, have been the top donors to his campaign. The challenger reported spending $2,250 of his own money. He also reported $13,000 in personal in-kind contributions and almost $2,500 in-kind contributions from his wife. His campaigns top cash contributor was One Virginia, a Democratic political action committee. Without access and control to state funds to hand out to special interests.

November 1, 2005 the Bristol Herald Courier reports that Willie Mae Kilgore is in legal hot water again. A Scott County woman wants $200,000 and an apology from Willie Mae Kilgore in a lawsuit filed Monday in Scott County Circuit Court. Mary Lane claims her name was wrongly removed from the voter rolls two years ago and that Mama Kilgore wrongly accused her of being a felon in a letter Lane said the registrar wrote to justify her actions to state election officials.

Lane’s husband, Allen, ran an unsuccessful bid as a Democrat for county sheriff. She claims removal of her name from the voter rolls was in retaliation for her contact with the State Board of Elections over Kilgore's refusal to release a list of those who sought absentee ballot applications in the sheriff's election. Lane said she suspected election laws regarding absentee ballots were being violated. Willie Mae Kilgore had nothing to say.

The indictment of Charles Doughtery Jr., Gate City's former mayor, on charges that he violated elections laws by helping people fill out absentee ballots. As voter registrar, Kilgore was a figure in a civil lawsuit that overturned the town election, but she was never charged with any wrongdoing.

October 26, 2005 the Bristol Herald Courier editorial board endorsed Terry Kilgore. They do so "despite a somewhat lackluster track record," but note his 12 years of experience. They further note, "Kilgore has brought the proverbial bacon home to his district by way of grants from the Virginia Tobacco Commission on which he serves. But beyond that, his greatest accomplishments include a sneaky little piece of lawmaking to allow liquor by the drink in a tiny sliver of Washington County near the interstate – without putting it to a popular vote – and a measure to make it harder to open methadone clinics in the state."

To further quote, "Democrat Rex McCarty, a weekly newspaper owner, real estate appraiser and grass-roots activist in Scott County. McCarty makes valid points on some issues, like the need to improve vocational education programs for young people who are not college bound and the need for the state to do a better job of promoting existing tourist attractions in Southwest Virginia. But McCarty gets bogged down in the details of his pet projects."

In the end the Herald Courier says he must assume a leadership role because rural regions are losing influence. "Rural Virginia must present a bipartisan, experienced front to compete against the powerful urban interests...he must abandon the bland positions he has staked out on the campaign trail. Kilgore must stand up and fight for Southwest Virginia or make this term his last."

To be honest, neither Kilgore, McCarty, nor the Herald Courier have any real solutions to our problems. They all fall back on the same old failed government programs, mostly pork. Trying to work within a national economy hell-bent on ruining the working class in favor of corporate profits and inflation control is a waste of time. We need to look at a whole new kind of economy.

Background on why nothing works here.

I live in Washington County, Virginia, but my part of Washington County is part of the 1st Congressional District of Virginia along with Scott County. I had heard about the election scandal in Gate City (Scott County seat) involving Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore and Delegate Terry Kilgore's mother, Willie May Kilgore.

Jerry is running for Virginia governor for the Republicans, Terry has been in Richmond for years as delegate and seems to have lost contact with the local area. I met Rex McCarty who attended school with my wife (she is from Scott County) June 1st when he announced a challenge to Terry Kilgore for delegate. Terry and Jerry are twins by the way.

I was already onto Terry Kilgore before I ever met Rex. Terry had gone behind the backs of Washington County voters (outside his district) on a special interest liquor deal. He also chairs the Virginia Tobacco Commission. The reason I was looking into this was an article in the Kingsport Times-News claimed they had created '10,000 new jobs.' Because I have tracked that issue for six years on this website, I didn't see how they could claim this. VCEDA and LENOWISCO were also named in the article and I knew the claim was nonsense.

I contacted Ron Flanary at LENOWISCO and officials at VCEDA and the Tobacco Commission with a reprint of the article and asked them to justify the claims in that article. Ron and VCEDA claimed to know nothing about the Tobacco Commission, and VCEDA sent me a list of industries they recruited and jobs they had created. They claimed to have 'created' almost 9500 jobs.

The only problem was much of what they listed was out of business and the numbers of jobs claimed are grossly inflated. All three also admitted they couldn't verify the numbers themselves and relied on others. The regulations require that any industry recruited pay 150% of minimum wage. The only problem was this could be avoided by using subcontractors and temp agencies. About May 1, I confronted VCEDA officials with this and asked them to explain it. They have refused to answer me.

To quote the VCEDA annual report for 2004,

It's a lot more than just two. In fact one company (Teleflex Automotive) slammed the doors and left at the end of 2004.

• Travelocity Dumps Clintwood, Virginia

Ron Flanary gets his numbers from the Scott County IDA, which is headed by John Kilgore. who gets his money that is often sent through the Scott County IDA from Terry Kilgore via VCEDA and the Tobacco Commission he chairs. This doesn't mean anything is illegal, but there is a potential conflict of interest here.

I also obtained the annual reports from the Tobacco Commission for 2002, 2003, and 2004. As far as Southwest Virginia, most of the funds that was supposed to go for economic development went for arts and recreation claiming it as "tourism development." Some did go for education grants; most was passed off to private non-profits and other government agencies. I call it pork, while many of them such as the Barter Theatre, Trail of the Lonesome Pine, and the barn at Carter's Fold have been here for decades producing little. Right in the middle of this money passing are the Kilgore's. Not only do we have Terry involved heavily in VCEDA and chairing the Tobacco Commission, his sister-in-law Marti Kilgore is also at the Tobacco Commission while another relative, John Kilgore heads the Scott County Industrial Development Authority. (IDA)

Jerry Kilgore had resigned as attorney general to run for governor. The first thing (the press claimed) he did was have phony letters sent out claiming Lt. Govt. Kaine was slandering us as hillbillies, NASCAR and gun nuts, etc. Then he whined Kaine “stole” his economic plan for this region, which had already been policy for years. The Bristol Herald Courier calls this just "plain silly" and it is.

Mama Kilgore

Even more interesting is their mother, Willie Mae Kilgore, is the Scott County voter registrar. She has been the center of a voter scandal. There are calls for her to resign. Quoting Small-town election, big-time trouble in the Roanoke Times,

Neither the campaign nor the election was clean...candidates aggressively recruit absentee voters...a key figure in the controversy is Willie Mae Kilgore - the voter registrar of Scott County and the mother of Jerry Kilgore, the former attorney general who is running for governor...questions were raised in depositions taken in June, a three-judge panel threw out the results for mayor and town council...

A Roanoke-area prosecutor has since been appointed to pursue possible criminal charges...A second lawsuit claims that Kilgore is an "active political partisan" who uses her office to benefit Republican candidates...The Kilgore family…runs the political machinery of Scott County.

The family patriarch, John Kilgore, is the long-time chairman of the county Republican party. They have three sons. John Kilgore Jr. heads the county economic development authority. Terry Kilgore is a member of the House of Delegates. And his twin brother, Jerry, was until recently the state attorney...

Letter to the editor printed June 9, 2005 Kingsport Times-News:

Disgusted with Kilgore's

As a 1st District resident, I'm voicing my disgust with Jerry and Terry Kilgore. Stop the whining. Terry Kilgore got a special interest liquor law passed bypassing Washington County voters. He helped stab us in the back for a controversial development not even in his district but which will cost all Washington County taxpayers millions.

The claim of "10,000 jobs" by the Tobacco Commission (Times-News March 29) he chairs is nonsense. Information I got from VCEDA and the commission annual reports for 2002-2004 shows a pattern of waste and pandering to special interests. One Bristol company got $500,000 for job creation then fired 600 workers. Others jumped county lines, or were bad credit risks, or took advantage of the system. Including Lenowisco, all three often claim credit for the same jobs they can't even verify directly. VCEDA for example claimed Nexus and Travelocity created 1,050 "new jobs" when the total was about 450 between the two before they both closed down. Many of those companies are gone, many tobacco grants are often pork barrel waste falsely called tourism development.

Jerry Kilgore whines "Kaine stole my plan" while his tax plan puts Southwest Virginia in danger. The failure of his brother, VCEDA, etc. to create real private sector jobs has left us dependent on government jobs and programs. Disruption in revenues would have a massive impact. Remember the last Republican tax mess Warner and Kaine had to clean up. That doesn't include the Gate City voter fiasco involving their mother. I'm voting Rex McCarty because he has a proven public record in our community. Terry lives in Richmond and was ignorant about issues surrounding that special interest liquor license. We can't afford ignorance or whining any longer.

Lewis Loflin
Bristol, VA.

Update September 2005

It should be no surprise my letter in the Kingsport Times-News got attached by another Kilgore on September 14, 2005:

Kilgore's successes

A recent letter asked, "What has Delegate Terry Kilgore done, or supported, to help spur economic growth and diversity for Southwest Virginia?" Perhaps the writer should speak to the hundreds of new hires at firms like VFP, Midpaco, Tempurpedic and Joy at the regional industrial park at Duffield.

One of the first initiatives Terry Kilgore launched when he became a delegate was a statewide overhaul of the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program. In 1996, Duffield was one of the first to be designated under the new program. Employment at the park, which bottomed out at less than 400 total employees by that time, has rebounded, and employment there is now 1,400 and growing every day. In Wise County, Terry Kilgore's support of an appropriation for construction of the technology park was a critical component of landing Sykes Enterprises and the Verizon center. Some 600 employees work in those two firms.

The writer also called our region's tourism development "pork barrel waste." I assume the writer is speaking of the tourism infrastructure upgrades jointly funded by the Tobacco Commission, VCEDA, and the Appalachian Regional Commission for such venues as the Carter Fold and the Ralph Stanley Museum in Clintwood. These sites (plus the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance in Bristol) are key performance venues for The Crooked Road, Virginia's Heritage Music Trail. A few months ago Terry Kilgore, along with other state officials, welcomed guests to these venues from 13 states. Tourism is Virginia's fastest growing business sector, and that growth is being led by Southwest Virginia thanks to Terry Kilgore and the rest of our region's state and federal legislators from both parties.

Southwest Virginia has greatly benefited from what Jerry Kilgore did when he was George Allen's secretary of public safety. He successfully located two major state prisons in the region, and more than 800 jobs at these facilities generate nearly $30 million in annual payrolls.

Naysayers and malcontents need not whine as Southwest Virginia continues to diversify its economy, appreciate and showcase its natural wonders and provide additional higher education opportunities to its citizens.

Frank Kilgore
St. Paul, Va.

It should be noted that the Bristol Herald Courier (Nov 6, 2005) reports Frank Kilgore gave Terry Kilgore $11,000 and was his largest contributor.

The only economic "diversity" we get is Wal-Mart, welfare, and working for the government. According to the Virginia Employment Commission 23% of the VCEDA area workforce is government employed while poverty rates approach 50%. I don't care what they designate an outhouse, where is that list of jobs I've requested? Why can't VCEDA, LENOWISCO, or Terry Kilgore supply a detailed list of those jobs? All they submit are JOB PROJECTIONS. These claims in the above letter can't be verified by the Tobacco Commission, VCEDA, or LENOWISCO. Ron Flanary thought the number was about 500 in Duffield, but I'd have to see John Kilgore. He doesn't verify them either.

Can I see a list of those "tourism" jobs? I forgot, I was told those couldn't be verified either. Tempurpedic is the only real company there that didn't fire other workers or simply rehired after a slowdown. Don't get me going on Joy Manufacturing who fired workers in Washington County, Virginia (just outside the VCEDA service area) while rehiring in Duffield. The Virginia Employment Commission's (VEC) new call center in Buchanan County that VCEDA and Terry paid to move in, they failed to mention VEC was firing workers in Bristol/elsewhere at the same time. VFP dumped workers in Roanoke, Virginia for Scott County. There should be laws against using Virginia public funds to encourage the dislocation of other Virginia workers.

My response to Frank was printed today September 20, 2005:

Turn Terry Kilgore out of office

Re: Kilgore's successes, let's tell the whole truth. The list of projects that have been funded by that Tobacco Commission he chairs reeks of fraud, waste, and abuse. Let's start with Duffield. Two of those companies expanded by firing other Virginia workers in neighboring communities and moving the jobs to Duffield. When a company downsizes, then rehires, that's not job creation. Joy rehired because the coal industry rebounded, not the corporate welfare they took advantage of.

What about Masco Tech, Birmingham Bolt, Buster Brown, Pac-Mor, and Builders First, the Louisiana Pacific plant in Dungannon? All gone, costing taxpayers millions. While Virginia politicians were enjoying "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" in Big Stone Gap, given $210,000 in economic development grants, Rural Area Medical was breaking new Third World poverty records in Wise. Their indifference is criminal. Why can't wealthy Ralph Stanley pay to fix his old house? Why can't the wealthy Carter Family fix their own barn?

That doesn't include Terry's liquor deal in Washington County or the voter fraud scandal surrounding Willie Mae Kilgore in Gate City. Quoting Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Governmental Studies, "The most corrupt region is Southwest Virginia … more indictments for political and public office corruption have happened in this region than all other parts of the state combined."

The only job creation around here is the Kilgore family. The Kilgores are not alone, and it cuts across party lines. But it looks bad and makes our entire region look bad. Government job creation in Southwest Virginia is riddled with corruption, incompetence and nepotism. Let's be responsible and vote them all out, starting with Terry Kilgore.

Lewis Loflin
Bristol, Va.

Loflin's accusations are absurd

Since I spent 35 years of my professional career in planning and economic development in Southwest Virginia, Lewis Loflin's letter Sept. 26 caught my attention. His rather scathing language suggested recent business expansions and employment increases at the regional industrial park at Duffield, as well as earlier projects, were not worthy of the modest financial incentives offered by agencies such as the Virginia Tobacco Commission. He cited what I assume is VFP as a company that "fired other Virginia workers in neighboring communities and moved the jobs to Duffield." He also suggested Joy Manufacturing was unworthy of receipt of the rather small training grant provided by the commission. These are preposterous assertions.

VFP contacted Scott County officials when it independently determined it was in their company's best business interests to consolidate operations at either its Botetourt County facility just east of Roanoke or Duffield. They did not seek corporate welfare, although there were some training and relocation needs that warranted public financial support at either location. The company chose Duffield because of the exceptional work ethic and availability of the labor force in the region. No one was "fired," and all employees were offered an opportunity to relocate to Duffield - many did. Today, there are over 300 employees at VFP earning an average hourly wage of $13. The small grants totaling $325,000 provided to VFP by the commission leveraged the company's private investment of $5 million. That means that the commission's financial support was about six percent of the total cost, which is virtually insignificant. VFP pays a healthy sum in state and local taxes each year, and their total local annual payroll is $8.1 million. The other companies Mr. Loflin listed are closed because of the realities of business cycles and product obsolescence. They did not receive a single dime of public funding over the years.

Bruce K. Robinette
Kingsport Times-News
September 26, 2005

It should be noted that the Bristol Herald Courier (November 6, 2005) reports VFP donated Terry Kilgore $5,000 for his re-election. Bruce K. Robinette has direct business interests with the above mentioned firms as Lenowisco board chairman.

My response was printed in the Times-News October 25, 2005;

Numbers don't add up

Thanks to Bruce Robinette for his letter Sept. 26. He's a retired Lenowisco board chairman.

The question isn't company merit, but job claims from public officials. The Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority (VCEDA) claimed VFP created 125 jobs in 2001 and in March 2004, announced the relocation of VFP headquarters and 68 employees to Duffield and a $600,000 loan. The Times-News in April 2004 claimed a $2.2 million investment, but reported in April 2005 the previous investment was only $1.2 million, another loan for $500,000, claims of another $2.2 million investment, and 138 new jobs over three years. VCEDA says the "investment-loan" in 2004 was $650,000, Mr. Robinette claims 300 employees and $5 million in private investment. The numbers don't add up.

Joy fired their last 80 employees in Washington Country prior to their consolidation in Duffield, producing not 45 new jobs, but a net loss of 35. In 2004 they claimed over 200 new jobs with Virtus Marketing and Southwest Logistics in Norton. Both are gone. In 2002 VCEDA concocted the "tourism capital improvement-matching fund" that combined with Tobacco Commission funds (under Terry Kilgore and Sen. Wampler) produced a political slush fund. Millions squandered on useless pork. $1 million given to a Bristol company to create 350 new jobs resulted in 600 layoffs. Their broadband "initiative" has cost Bristol Virginia Utilities over $47 million in debt and several layoffs. No wonder Dickenson and Wise Counties want out of VCEDA. Vote Terry Kilgore and his hacks out and give them a tourism job selling peanuts.

• Jobs at VCEDA by Lewis Loflin
• Why the public should be angry about Bristol Compressors
• Flying with Pork-Barrel Airways in Wise

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