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Robert Sledd would love to be Secretary of Commerce. But he also wants to be on the board of directors of a few companies, including ginormous Richmond-based tobacco company Universal Corporation. And Bob McDonnell figures that's A-OK. This is *exactly* the crap that I feared from McDonnell. It's not a matter of partisanship; thinking that the secretary of commerce can oversee himself is simply unbridled asininity, the very worst of Bush-era business "regulation" that brought us our recession.
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One of the standout lines in that story was Sledd saying he needs the income from those board seats.
VPAP says he’s donated $113,000 to VA-GOP people in the past 12 years, including $25,000 to McDonnell last year (and $11,000 more to McDonnell for AG, four years ago). That kind of palm-greasing will certainly eat a hole in the ol’ checking account.
Of course, none of that could possibly mean that, while holding his Secretary seat, Sledd would feel the least bit beholden to the companies signing his paychecks (and helping him reload for the next round of donations).
I don’t think the Secretary of Commerce and Trade has any regulatory authority over a tobacco company like Universal Leaf, does he? I mean, what licenses do they get from the Commonwealth? Business licenses are largely local, and they don’t require any professional (state) license that I am aware of.
Come now, Curious. You don’t think the state issues ANY regulations that would affect how Universal Leaf does business? They don’t have to be industry-specific. If the new McDonnell administration decided to mandate that companies must offer same-sex partners of their employees the same benefits they offer to spouses of employees, that would affect Universal Leaf, no?
U-Hoo, virtually everything the Commonwealth does affects every citizen, individual and corporate. Should he sell his house because state policies might affect homeowners?
Just saying, the job of the Secretary of Commerce and Trade is to lure investment and jobs, and oversee the roughly one-dozen agencies that fall under that Secretariat, none of which regulate tobacco. The Secretary does not have a vote on legislation and he can’t veto any bills or enact regulations.