Gov. McDonnell Talks Business and Technology in Herndon

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell made a stop in Herndon on Tuesday to help the employees at Raytheon Trusted Computer Solutions dedicate their new offices at 12950 Worldgate Dr.

Raytheon, which acquired the company Trusted Computer Solutions in November, provides cybersecurity and other products to government and defense agencies. Raytheon employes more than 4,000 in Virginia, which makes it an important part of the business and technology community, said McDonnell.

There are few better places to do business than Fairfax County," said McDonnell. "This area has grown due in large part to the technology industry.

The governor pointed out that Virginia has the second-highest number of technology workers in the country, ranking behind only California.

As a former Army officer who comes from a family with a deep military background, McDonnell says defense and security agencies are not only a crucial part of the economy, they are helping protect service members and advance the military into the 21st Century.

"We have to make sure these young warriors who are sacrificing so much, that they always have the very best," McDonnell said.

McDonnell also said it is his goal to make Virginia, home to 830,000 veterans, "the most veteran-friendly state."

"We want them to stay here when they get out [of the military] and contribute to the economy," he said.

Bobbie Kilberg, president and CEO of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, calls McDonnell a "pro-business governor."

She pointed out that the area is a natural for business because of its highly educated workforce; its status as a right-to-work state; consistent AAA bond rating;  its openness to public-private partnerships; and that McDonnell's top priority is job creation.

The governor said Tuesday that the recently concluded Virginia General Assembly session was "one of the most productive sessions by far."

"We had the largest transportation bill in a couple of decades," he said. "We had bills on job creation,  dramatic reform of the higher education system with about $100 million of new money and major new investments in K-12 to restore some of the cuts there and in law enforcement.

"This was possible because we had a surplus," he said. "The economy is growing again in Virginia. I feel like we have turned the corner economically. We had a lot of bipartisan cooperation this year and not a lot of fussing and fighting  like other states are having."

The next bill the governor signs might be the which would require insurance coverage for autism treatments and therapies. However, there might be some changes to it first.

 "I have been meeting with various stakeholders," he said. "We have a few amendments that we will be sending down tomorrow. While I am certainly sympathetic to the plight families have to go with with autistic children and the tremendous expense as well as the challenges of making sure these young people have what they need, I am also concerned with the general cost of health care.  Creating new mandates in our state, it is a challenging time to do that, so we are trying to balance that a bit."