After Being Scammed By Chinese Company, Ralph Northam & VEDP Refused To Fully Investigate

Despite being repeatedly offered information by a potential witness for their investigation into a 1.4 million dollar taxpayer-funded deal with a Chinese company gone bad, Virginia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam and the board of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, which he is a member of, did nothing. A new Roanoke Times editorial asserts that the VEDP board did not even try to look into an offer by Wes Hardin that could have aided their investigation:

“In 2014, a Chinese company claimed it was looking to build a catalytic converter plant in Appomattox County. The state paid out $1.4 million in incentive funds, as it sometimes does when it feels that will make the difference between a company locating here and some other state. This seemed a big win for Virginia: Here was a chance to bring 349 jobs to a rural part of the state that desperately needs jobs. Even better, the jobs being promised would pay $100 per week more than the typical weekly wage in the county. Gov. Terry McAuliffe went to Appomattox and posed for photos with company officials, and the obligatory giant check.

Then, nothing happened.

In January 2016, The Roanoke Times reported that state officials had done very little to verify that the company was real — they simply relied on the company’s website which, among other things, listed a North Carolina address where it never did any business at all. In fact, the information and pictures on the company website had been lifted from another site, prompting a separate company to issue a cease-and-desist letter over the use of the purloined materials.

The aftershocks of those revelations led to several things: The head of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and two others connected with the project lost their jobs. The state initiated legal action to get its money back. Meanwhile, both a state police investigator and FBI agent met with state officials about the case.

Since then:

A state audit of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership called Lindenburg an “illegitimate company” and found the agency had no procedures for checking out companies to which it was awarding incentive money. (There are now vetting procedures in place; along with a new CEO.)

The legal action to recoup the $1.4 million remains alive, but only in theory. Lindenburg officials haven’t been heard from since early 2016. You can’t recover money from people you can’t find.”

Even after Ralph Northam and the VEDP were essentially scammed out of 1.4 million tax dollars by a Chinese company, he couldn’t be bothered to follow up with a potential witness who could have potentially provided crucial information for their investigation. If Ralph Northam can’t be trusted to fight for taxpayers, he can’t be trusted to lead as governor.