Virginia GOP Business Leaders Defecting to McAuliffe

The Family Foundation's GOP "dream ticket" - nightmare ticket for anyone sane - for statewide office in 2013 seems to be causing more and more rational conservatives to jump on board Terry McAuliffe's campaign.  Unlike the delusional Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli, E.W. Jackson and Mark Obenshain, these individuals realize that theocratic batshitery and out right insanity at the highest levels of state government is not good for business and it's not good for Virginia.  The latest defection comes in the form of Bruce Thompson, a Virginia Beach developer and major business player in Virginia Beach, Virginia's most populous city, who has previously been a GOP appointee to state boards and commissions.   The Virginian Pilot looks at Thompson's decision.  Here are highlights:

The newest addition to Terry McAuliffe's roster of Republican supporters is Bruce Thompson, a Virginia Beach developer previously appointed to a key economic development post by Gov. Bob McDonnell.

Thompson's backing, announced Friday by the Democrat's campaign, follows a string of endorsements by GOP business leaders McAuliffe trumpeted this week to reinforce for his contention that many corporate figures favor his vision for Virginia over Republican nominee Ken Cuccinelli's ideas.

"I am supporting Terry because I know he will focus on diversifying Virginia’s economy and put in place policies that attract and keep the best businesses here in Hampton Roads and across the Commonwealth," said Thompson, who recently inked a deal to acquire the Cavalier Hotel.

Thompon gave $25,000 to McAuliffe during the two-month fundraising period that ended May 29.

As the article notes, Thompson is in good company.  The Washington Post names some of the other former GOP supporters who are fleeing the inanity of the TFF dream ticket:

Milt Peterson, a major Washington-area real estate developer, and Jan Schar, the former president of the Virginia Federation of Republican Women, are the latest local figures to announce their public support for McAuliffe. On Monday, the Democrat’s campaign revealed that homebuilder Dwight Schar and Northern Virginia businessman Earle Williams were also backing his bid.

But the latest McAuliffe endorsements are unusual in that they come from people who have supported and donated to Republicans in the past. (Peterson and Williams have given to candidates from both parties, but both have contributed more to the GOP.)   Some of them have not had kind words for Cuccinelli.

“Virginia does not desire candidates who are so completely disconnected from the average Virginian that they are unable to leave their ideology and political views at the front door of their elected office,” Jan Schar said in a statement issued by the McAuliffe campaign.

“Ken Cuccinelli’s ideological agenda has divided Virginians and blocked progress on education and transportation for long enough,” Dwight Schar said. “Cuccinelli’s focus on extreme social issues will distract from urgent economic matters and make Virginia less welcoming to business.”