Did Ralph Northam accomplish the goals he set when he entered office? How did the Blackface Scandal change the trajectory of Northam's Administration? Why does the Governor support repealing the grocery tax?

Clark Mercer is the Chief of Staff to Gov. Ralph Northam. Ricardo Alfaro is the Chairman of Agenda Alexandria, and this is a special crossover episode with On the Agenda. Mercer details his experiences over the last four years and his perspective on some of the biggest events over the last four years.

Subscribe to Agenda Alexandria on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3EZbMTD.

More from Transition Virginia: linktr.ee/JacklegMedia

Ricardo Alfaro

Hi, I'm Ricardo Alfaro.

Thomas Bowman

I'm Thomas Bowman.

Michael Pope

And I'm Michael Pope. And this is a special crossover edition of two podcasts, Transition Virginia, the podcast that examines the ongoing transition of power in Virginia politics, and, On The Agenda, the podcast version of Agenda Alexandria.

Ricardo Alfaro

And we are here at the Governor's Mansion, the oldest executive mansion in continuous use in the continental United States. And there's a reason why I say continental, because the oldest is in Puerto Rico. It's a Mansion, where I used to work over there for, full disclosure, as Intergovernmental Affairs Director before also being IT Director for the Governor's Mansion, and we are thrilled to be here in Alexandria, Virginia.

Thomas Bowman

And we are on the main level of the Executive Mansion in a room called The Nook. And you might hear some bumps while we are recording and clinking around. Don't mind it. It's just the Northam's and their staff taking all the good china and art off the walls before Glenn Youngkin gets the keys.

Michael Pope

And we are honored to have as a guest a lifelong Alexandrian. He coached high school soccer, he's in the Sports Hall of Fame, he is, currently, looking for a new job because he's about to lose his current job as Chief of Staff to Governor Ralph Northam. We are pleased to be joined by Clark Mercer. Thanks for joining us.

Clark Mercer

Thank you for having me. Welcome to The Mansion.

Michael Pope

So thank you so much for having us here, like this is really a thrill that we've been able to arrange this. So thank you, Clark Mercer, thank you to the staff of the Executive Mansion for making this happen, to be here in The Nook. I hear there's a rumor that the Queen had tea here, that may or may not be true. We don't need to fact check that. But so, Clark, you're about to lose your gig here at the top of the Executive Branch of Virginia politics. Talk a little bit about your time here and like, reflect on what it was like to do this kind of job for these last four years.

Clark Mercer

Sure. Well, you know, our jobs are temporary. And I always talk to our state employees, we have 120,000 state employees, and point out that they're the folks that keep government running from one administration to the next, whether they work at the DMV, or Department of Transportation, Department of Health. They're the ones that do the good work, and don't often get recognized, and we're temporary stewards in the the Governor's Mansion and Governor's Office. So, I've been Chief of Staff to Governor Northam for eight years, as Lieutenant Governor for four, and last four as Governor. And when he came into office as Governor, he had a list of kind of stretch goals, five to 10 of them, which we've accomplished all of them. Medicaid expansion, six, 700,000 more Virginians who have gotten health care, wanted to be a leader in clean energy. We're number four in the country now of deploying solar, the Clean Economy Act, going carbon free by 2050. We just announced Siemens Gamesa, one of the largest manufacturers of offshore wind turbines, is setting up shop in Hampton Roads, the first time they've announced a manufacturing facility in the United States. Raised the minimum wage. We've eliminated the death penalty, the first state in the South to do so. We've executed more individuals than any state in U.S. history. Governor Northam has pardoned more individuals than the last nine governors, here in Virginia combined. He's restored the civil rights to over 110,000 individuals. Virginia was returned to be named the best date for business by CNBC. Not once, not twice, but three times. No state has ever been a repeat winner, and Virginia has been named it three years in a row. We've had over 80 billion dollars in capital investment from various companies into the Commonwealth. The previous record for a four year term was 16 billion. We've had over 100,000 jobs created. Kind of you know, we had the first call last week to 911 that was diverted from the police to a mental health professional with the Marcus Alert. A whole host of, and Brianna's Law, No Knock Warrants, it's the first state to put that on the books. We've had a host obviously, of, of legislative wins that we've set out to accomplish and everything on the Governor's list, you know, we were able to bring home. The most notable, you know, company that we recruited is near Alexander that obviously Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, but Amazon, they had a world, you know, countrywide search and hundreds of applicants. And one of the things I'm super proud of in that application is 70% of the incentives are investing in Virginia, investing in more computer science degrees, investing in the metro system. We've obviously, in transportation, expanded rail all over the Commonwealth, both the CSX and Norfolk Southern, we had a once in a lifetime opportunity to purchase right of way, for their rail lines, we never before were able to do that, and purchase that in a multi billion dollar agreement, which is going to allow long bridge to be rebuilt and, and really free up both freight and passenger rail up and down the East Coast. So we've done a lot, it's been exhausting. And these jobs are temporary. So I'm actually looking forward to getting a little rest and getting off of Capitol Square come January.

Thomas Bowman

Well, I want to turn to the issue that has given you no rest for the last two years, and that's the pandemic. Virginia's COVID policy has been far better than most red states, and also not New York, not California, and the Governor has been able to keep a lot of Virginians safe while striking a balance beam between those two approaches. And so what can we expect a new governor of another party might do differently, that is entirely within his power? Like for example, would they be able to overturn local regulations, or stop localities from enforcing pandemic mitigation strategies?

Clark Mercer

Sure, well I can't obviously speak for Governor Elect Youngkin. He's made a few comments about this. And one of those is with regards to a masking policy, that there wouldn't be a statewide mandate, but that localities could continue to decide what's best for them, which I certainly think is a middle ground to strike. Look, Virginia is the only state in the country that has a physician who's also a Governor. And we were fortunate to have Governor Northam in place during this time, Virginia ranks in the top 10 nationally with vaccination rates, top 10 nationally in the country with deaths per capita. We're first in the South in all those rankings, in terms of vaccinations for kids, five to 12. And the more folks that get vaccinated, means the less folks that pass away. We get a report every morning at 7am, and the virus is still with us, between two and 3000 cases a day. Today, we reported, just today alone, another 30 deaths, between 20 and 30, 20 and 40 deaths a day is not unusual. And of those individuals who have passed away, 99% of them are unvaccinated. And so I think, you know, Governor Elect Youngkin has certainly encouraged individuals to get vaccinated, he's been quick to point out that he's been vaccinated, that he's gotten his booster shot, and encourages other folks to do the same. And the issue of mandates is one that's federally, President Biden has obviously talked about, if you're a company with over 100 folks, there's going to be a requirement for that mandate. And I think that's largely caught in the court system. So I don't know what will happen with that. But the important thing is having voices on both sides advocate to get vaccinated. And I will say though, you mentioned us not going to the lengths that some other states went, it was very important, and remains really important, that whatever mitigation strategies we put in place, they're followed. And I talked to Chiefs of Staffs from a lot of other states that have articulated, "Well, we have this policy, but nobody follows it." And irrespective of what one might think about the Governor, certain mitigation strategy, folks, kind of, "Well he went too far," or, "He didn't go far enough." I think we saw an entire state where our local governments, and our local school boards, followed the policy, whether they were all on board with it or not. And I will tell you, this state is very diverse. When we would make an announcement, I'd get back to my desk and half the emails would say, "You didn't go far enough." Half the email said, "You went too far." And so you know, we didn't shut down, for example, all businesses. Some states kind of listed what states were, quote unquote, "essential." And they print out these long, long lists of what was an essential business and what wasn't. And immediately, when they did that, they started editing it because it's not something government should be doing. It's not something government's familiar with. Instead, we said what are the businesses where you're most likely, where people are interacting, face to face, for long periods of time, and you're most likely to contract this virus? Whether it's a bar, or whether it's a trampoline gym, or something like that, and let's put a pause on those. But let's not just indiscriminately shut down other businesses. So I've been you know, I think Governor Elect Youngkin is going to try to do, and he will do what Governor Northam has been doing, which is trying to keep people safe. And if you keep the same mitigation strategies, if you look at our mitigation strategies, and you look at Florida, for example, and you control for demographics and all things being equal, we would have 3000, over 3000, more dead Virginians, deceased Virginians. And so I'm enormously proud of the work that Governor Northam has done, the decisions haven't been easy. And, you know, I trust that, you know, as folks continue to get vaccinated, and that's really the key, is if you see that vaccination rate increase, you know, it means folks may get COVID, I caught COVID last summer. And I got through relatively unscathed, and I'm grateful for that. It's a blessing, but largely because I was vaccinated.

Ricardo Alfaro

And actually, that that brings up an interesting point. At the top of the program, I'd said, "The oldest continuous Executive Mansion in the continental United States." And the reason for that is, I used to work for the Governor of Puerto Rico, and listening to what you're saying now, really, is reminiscent of 2016/2017, when we went through a transition, and we're talking about policies, such as the ones that were discussing now, and being hopeful as to what the next administration was going to do. So in that sense, in that context, what is...we're now talking about COVID, What are those elements? Because you come into the office, having a sort of information based on transition documents, etc. But then when you're really into it, you kind of like, "Oh, I wish I had known that when I came in." What are those, "I wish I would have known that," that you would expect the next administration to expect, especially on COVID, but just in general as well?

Clark Mercer

Sure. Well, it's been, it's funny, folks will ask me, last fall, "How's the election going?" I said, "I'm not, I don't have anything to do with the elections." We run the elections, and our Department of Elections, their job is to make sure it's free, transparent, folks have access to the poll. I mean, we have moved up into the top five in the country, in terms of voting rights, and being able to access the polls, and that's for everybody. And I think folks noted, after this election, "Well, geez, a lot of folks took advantage of early voting, or no excuse apps," and their Republicans, and that's great. Republicans, Democrats, more folks voting, and you look, last year, President Biden won this state. And this year, Governor Elect Youngkin won the state. And, you know, we didn't have any accusations of a Big Lie, or fraud or anything like that. I mean, there are two elections that were run free and clear, that I'm incredibly proud of. And I've talked with my counterpart, for Governor Elect Youngkin, we've met several times, we've talked. And you know, they're trying to set up an efficient, well-run government. And certainly some of the policies we can get to them in a second, that folks run on during campaigns, I think folks are aware of kind of a change in direction, but there's a lot of commonality. And there's a lot of things that Governor Elect Youngkin wants to do that I'd be supportive of. One of the first Chiefs of Staff to get in touch with me when I took my job was Jay Timmons, who's Chief of Staff to George Allen, and he's become a friend and he said, "Look, when the Executive Branch is successful, Virginia is successful. And I'm rooting for you." And he was kind of always there to bounce ideas off of, so I'm enormously proud of the election that was won. You know, the Transition Director for Governor Elect Youngkin and I've talked about this, and we have a chance to show a different example, obviously, the transition with President Trump to President Biden was an embarrassment. And it's not how, in a democracy, you're supposed to run things. And so you can kind of put your feelings aside about some global policy issues. You know, jumping into those, you know, business, and growing jobs, and growing the economy is the number one job for the Governor. When more companies come here, and more people get hired, and more people get stronger wages, rising tide lifts all boats. Part of what's made Virginia really attractive, and I just got back from a trade mission from Europe. I was in Germany and Basque country, and Brussels, is our tax policy, our business policy is pro business. It's- that's one of the reasons why we're the best state for business. We're also a state that's known for being open and inclusive. And a lot of these companies that want to come here, they don't want to go to a state that's arguing about a bathroom bill, or arguing about transgendered policies and not treating our neighbors with respect and love. And so, you know, businesses is one, obviously, education. We've talked about, Governor Elect Youngkin talked about the importance of teacher pay. Governor Northam, over the last four years, we've raised teacher pay 10%, already, and in the outgoing budget, we have another 10% raise, which will get teachers over the national average for the first time, and folks have been talking about this for a generation. They've also been talking about universal broadband. And the Governor, yesterday announced, $2 billion worth of awards, all to rural Virginia, all to areas of the state that Governor Elect Youngkin carried, but those folks will be able to connect now to the World Wide Web, and we will be one of the first states to get universal broadband. There's a couple jurisdictions here and there that need to kind of work a little bit on their proposals, but it'd be one more round of funding, and Virginia will be one of the first states for universal broadband. Clean energy, Governor Elect Youngkin stated he's all in for offshore wind. And all forms have kind of all the above approach to energy, The Clean Economy Act is a big vehicle for that. And you know, a lot of the things that that folks may want to do, in terms of taking things in a different direction, you got to work it through the House of Delegates, and you got to work it through the Senate of Virginia, and right now, those are...have two different majorities, Republican majority in the House, they will, come January, and a Democratic majority in the Senate. So I think you will find some pretty moderated thoughtful policy that makes its way through.

Michael Pope

Alright, let's take a break. When we come back, we'll talk about the blackface scandal. Clark Mercer will make the case that Virginia has the country's strongest economy, and he'll give advice to the next Chief of Staff. We'll be right back.

And we're back on Transition Virginia. We're at the Executive Mansion, and we're talking to Chief of Staff Clark Mercer. Alright, now I want to turn our attention to the blackface scandal. Now, the last time you were on our podcast, you walked us through the tiktok of the initial reaction, and I don't want to get into any of that, but what I do want to ask you about, is how that changed, because Northam said it was going to be an inflection point, and he would spend the rest of his time in office going after the issue of equity. What kind of policies came out of that? And what sort of tangible things can we look back on and say, "That was the turning point and that's why these policies happened?"

Clark Mercer

Well, from you know, from a staff perspective, you know, it was a difficult time, not only for us, and for the Governor, but for Virginians, you know, who had put their trust and faith in the Governor, and we had some pretty honest and raw conversations, that if we were going to move forward together as a team, we needed to be honest. The Governor and the team needed to be vulnerable, need to be willing to listen to people, listen, and then and then learn. And if that was a commitment that we were willing to make from the Governor on down, we would stay together. And if it wasn't, I don't think we would have been able to keep our team together. We didn't have a single individual leave the administration during that time, despite the difficulties. I think the Governor showed a tremendous amount of vulnerability and willing to listen and learn. So the Governor, you know, my wife is a Secretary of State. She has restored the rights of more individuals than anyone in U.S. history. Between Governor McAuliffe, Governor Northam, Governor Northam has pardoned more individuals, I think than anyone in U.S. history, for the last nine governors in the United States, in Virginia combined. Things like funding historically Black colleges and universities. Governor Northam has funded them to the tune of 87% more than any other governor. You look at things like whether it's the minimum wage, getting rid of the death penalty, that's you know, when you look at the death penalty, and you look at how it's applied, there's obviously overtly racial tones to it. We started, early in the administration, when it was called Project Traveller, and we started that in the first month of the administration, looking at whether or not it was legal, and how we could take the Robert E Lee's statue down, and so that we would have that ready when the time came. And obviously, after the murder of George Floyd was the opportunity to pursue that. And we're taking the pedestal down, now, if you go just a few blocks away. if you look at our Medicaid program, and a lot of our health care programs, about infant and maternal mortality, and recognizing that women of color have a higher death rate than white women with giving birth, and some of the the initiatives that we've we've put after that. Legalizing cannabis, if you had told me four years ago that Governor Northam was going to support legalizing cannabis, I wouldn't have probably believed you. But once he started really looking at who gets pulled over, and not only who gets pulled over, and off with the warnings, but but ends up in court, it's this, you know, white and Black folks use marijuana at the same rates. African Americans tend to get three or four times as likely to be arrested. So I mean, we now, if you have up to an ounce, it's legal. And there's a whole regulatory framework that the next administration will need to think through, and grapple with that, I don't think that will be changed. So I think it would behoove folks to figure out a way to stand up that business, with an eye toward towards equity. We did a lot on small, disadvantaged women owned businesses, making sure they get more state contracts. The disparity study that we did showed, clearly that while there's pretty high percentages of those businesses that are out there willing to provide services, that we don't do a good job contracting with them. So I think equity, and obviously the Governor hired the first Chief Diversity Equity Inclusion Officer, Cabinet level, in the country. And Dr. Underwood has, you know, her task has been to make sure that she infuses a DEI lens. You know, she's worked with the State Police, she's worked with our gaming inland fisheries police, our VMRC to diversify to make sure the folks that are patrolling and policing our communities, look more like our communities. A lot of the criminal justice reform that I mentioned earlier, Brianna's Law, No Knock Warrants, Marcus Alert. You know, obviously all a heavy focus on individuals who have been marginalized in our criminal justice system. So, I think you can kind of look through, and I've shared with you this accomplishments document that we've talked about, but if you look through that, I think you'll pick up on a lot of things that there...would we have gotten them all done? I'm not sure we would have, number one. But number two, you know, I think the Governor probably reprioritized a lot of these items, and decided to tackle them quicker, and elevate them on the list of things that we were going after.

Thomas Bowman

On the subject of reprioritizing, I would imagine that incident sidelined some of Governor Northam's agenda. Is there anything that your -Northam's administration wanted to do, that it wasn't able to do, in part, because of that incident?

Clark Mercer

No, I would actually argue the opposite. There's a quote that I use a lot from the Shawshank Redemption, and it's the last scene of that movie, and they're talking about how Andy Dufraine busted out of Shawshank, and Morgan Freeman's character, Red, talks about the fact that Andy was really into geology, and to used this little shovel and pick this tunnel over 20 years, and and and Red said, "Andy was right, that geology, all it is is a study of time and pressure, that and a big poster," because he used a pinup poster to tunnel. That's what policy-

Michael Pope

Rita Hayworth.

Clark Mercer

Rita Hayworth, right. Every decade of change, or a couple years, whoever was the current pinup of the month. But no, I think it provided an opportunity. As unpleasant, and you know, there's a host of words to describe, kind of, the the emotions that we process, that provided an opportunity. And we seized that opportunity. And a lot of folks had done work in the Legislature for years on things like Brianna's Law, or the Marcus Alert, or funding our HBCUs more. And so it's that time and pressure piece, Medicaid expansion doesn't just happen. Governor McAuliffe worked for years to lay the framework for that to happen. Obviously, it got done during this administration, but it hadn't been for that time and pressure, just like the Fight for 15, and raising the minimum wage. I mean we can kind of go down the list, and so, they're inflection points, and obviously when you retake a majority, that's that's a poster. Governor Youngkin has a poster, right? Winning the House. But no, all of the things that Governor Northam put on our list to accomplish, we got done and then some and, and despite it being difficult, it was absolutely an opportunity to push some things. And you know, you guys are in Alexandria. I mean funding the Freedom House, getting the largest slave pen in America purchased, and be able to renovate it. We have invested in historically Black museums and cultural sites, from state parks, to facilities, and been able to tell a different story, whether it's at Monticello, whether it's at the African American History Museum here, whether it's at Fort Monroe, that I don't think we necessarily would have pursued with with as much clarity or purpose had not been for that.

Ricardo Alfaro

Actually, you just said something interesting that I do want to expand a little bit on which is the the framework. So you just described how Medicare expansion wasn't an overnight thing. It was something that was a framework that was put in place years, and was finally been able to see it across the finish line now. What frameworks are in the works that the next administration can take on and continue to build on?

Clark Mercer

Well, I mean, I think some big items, you know, we just today, with a heavy eye towards equity, talked about certain types of tax relief. The refundable earned income tax credit was actually something that was Richard Nixon's idea at the federal level. But it is the cleanest and most efficient way to get money in the pockets of hardworking folks that that need relief. And COVID really brought to bear the fact that we have over $13 billion in our outgoing budget, that's new money that's in the system. It's the most it's ever, ever occurred in history of the Commonwealth. We have 18% reserves, we had less than 2% of the general fund in reserves. So, the economy has done really well for people who were doing well going into COVID. But if you were a dishwasher, you worked at a fast food restaurant, you worked in a service economy, you didn't do very well, and you might not have been paying a lot in taxes, but that's, that's the group that we really need to focus on when we talk about tax free. So we talked about the grocery tax holding localities harmless, but the grocery tax is a regressive tax. Governor Youngkin and Governor Northam are right about that. And we talked about the Earned Income Tax Credit making that refundable. So I think the, I think that conversation is prepped for the next session. I hope the guardrails around it, are we instituting tax policy that helps those that need it the most? And comprehensive tax reform is something I think we would have liked to have gotten into. I don't think...it wasn't something that was derailed, per se, by any one event. But there's a nervousness from our legislature to really get into comprehensive tax reform. Our tax system was put in place when we were a goods based economy, when we when we made things largely. We're we are overwhelmingly a service based economy now. So whether you're repairing someone's yacht, or it's a, you know, or you're working in law or selling stocks, services are not taxed, right, and that's if you're going to have... its, you know, I'm proud of the tax announcements we made, because I think they're low hanging, relatively, low hanging fruit. But the real challenge is taking a big step back and have an adult conversation about our our tax system. And that that we're not doing, that we have not done. That's one. Number two, I think campaign finance reform is one that the Governor's talked about, we introduced bills on it, those bills got killed in Committee. You know, there's a lot of focus on our one regulated monopoly here in the Commonwealth, you know, our energy company, but I think there should be a bigger conversation about businesses and how much they're able to donate, or if they're able to donate. And I do think-

Ricardo Alfaro

You think there should be limits?

Clark Mercer

I think there should be limits. Yeah. I think a lot of folks in the business community agree. I think they're, they're tired of kind of having to give year in and year out, I think they'd be happy if everyone was playing by the same set of rules.

Ricardo Alfaro

What should the limits be?

Clark Mercer

5, 10,000 bucks? You know, I'm not I don't think we should be singling one company out or another. I think across the board, there needs to be campaign finance reform. And obviously, we're, you know, there's a constitutional amendment that's up this next session. It was up last session, which is the Automatic Restoration of Rights for individuals who have paid their time, served in, you know, served and been incarcerated, done their parole or probation, then they get their civil rights back. They can vote, they can be no to Republic, they can carry a weapon, they can run for office, almost every state in the country, that's automatic. Two states, in the northeast, you never lose your right to vote, even if you're incarcerated. And Virginia is one of the, I think, two states, where you have to officially apply to the governor and make your case. And we've made that case much, much easier. But the governor should not be part of that equation. If you believe in restorative justice, the governor needs to be out of that equation completely. And I'm hopeful. I've talked to several Republicans who agree, and when you look at who the folks are, that are getting the rights restored, and if you want to talk politics and demographics, I can assure you it's not a given that these folks are, you know, Democrats that live in a city, a lot of folks are living in the country. And they made a mistake when they're when they're kids, and they're and they're voting for Republicans, which is fine. It doesn't matter who you're voting for. But that is up this session. And if it passes, it will be a constitutional amendment on the ballot this fall.

Ricardo Alfaro

I hope you included Puerto Rico in one of those two jurisdictions that allows...

Clark Mercer

Oh you do? Okay, okay, well, no, that's good to hear. Yeah.

Michael Pope

So every governor that leaves office, prepares a document for posterity, about all the accomplishments of the administration while they were there. The Northam document that lays out the accomplishments of Ralph Northam years in office, the very first thing on your list here is the economy. The headline on your document is, "The Country's Strongest Economy." That's quite a statement. Clark Mercer, explain that? How is Virginia the country's strongest economy? And what did Ralph Northam do to make that happen?

Clark Mercer

Like I said earlier, it's been named the best state for business for three years in a row.

Michael Pope

Yeah, I think that the technical term for that is, "hat trick," right?

Clark Mercer

So, that's a hat trick. So that's not an hyperbolic term. When we got the call from CNBC, that we were going to get it, we were elated. We got another call, we were getting the second years, and the only time anyone's ever gotten it two years in a row, and we got it a third year in a row. It's not obviously just Governor Northam. It's the General Assembly, and it's folks in Virginia who are working really hard, and we're attracting a creative and talented workforce. It's not just the federal government, Defense Department. Obviously, during COVID, Feds and Defense Department didn't make cuts, helped out the economy of Virginia. But we've also recruited, I'm going to talk about Amazon, Facebook, we've diversified the economy, so if something happened to the Fed to the Defense Department, we'd still be plugging along. Some states that are in that list, Texas, Louisiana, very dependent on the price of oil, for example. If oil loses $1 per gallon, or per whatever it is, per barrel, I think that's a $60 million a year or $12 million a year hit, per dollar, to the state's economy, which is a lot. So some states are overly reliant, for example, on on petroleum. We made an intentional move last year, year and a half ago, when COVID started to start reshoring a lot of these companies that we had hard time sourcing PPE from. So we have a glove factory out in Wytheville. And Congressman, that's out the ninth district, Morgan Griffith said, it's the largest economic development announcement that he's ever seen his time in office, whether it's Democrats or Republicans. 2500 jobs nitrile glove factory. In Petersburg, just down the road, the flow corporation $700 million grant from the feds, we've developed a pharmaceutical cluster, and they're making a lot of the generic drugs that were just made in India, where we had a slow up and couldn't get them out of India, with the pandemic. Micron, which is up your way, in Manassas, is the world's leader in making the microchips which everyone talks about now that are in all the cars and semiconductors. They've expanded once a large multibillion dollar expansion. Senator Warner's carrying the Chip Act, I would suspect Micron is going to expand again somewhere, fingers crossed they expand in Virginia. So we've been pretty intentional with who we've recruited, like I said, the largest offshore wind company, their first facility manufacturing facility in the United States is in Hampton Roads. We've diversified our port down there. They're all about, they're incentivized by how many cargoes come in and out of the port. That's how most ports are incentivized. Manufacturing something at the port, having a manufacturing facility is not something they're used to. Virginia is uniquely situated, all of our competitors for offshore wind, have bridges, and have really mature metropolitan ports. One turbine, one wind turbine, is taller than the Statue of Liberty. One blade is as long as a football field and weighs 30 tons. The the thing that the NWSL, the nut that keeps the blades connected to the big tower, weighs 85 tons, and is three stories tall. And we don't have any bridges in the way at Hampton Roads. So you can get a fully assembled turbine out to open water much, much quicker than our rivals. And we've really honed in on that. We've got the widest berths down there, the deepest channels, and the jack up vessel, which is the boat that makes, that that installs these turbines, it's about a $600 million boat. There's not one in the United States that's Jones Act compliant, that was made here in the United States. There's going to be one now, and it's home port is going to be in Hampton Roads. So all of those turbines that are being installed up and down the East Coast, can call on Virginia, and can call on Hampton Roads to get that jack up vessel to them. So we've been intentional about the economy. And I said it earlier, I mean, we've jumped over 30 spots for being a state that's respecting and good for workers. And you know, whether it's raising the minimum wage, or folks at doli, kind of clamping down on worker misclassification, which is, which is a big deal. We have shown, you can be good for workers, and good for businesses. And those two things can can coexist.

Thomas Bowman

Clark, you're about to graduate into a very small club of former Chiefs of Staff to the Virginia Governor. What is a lesson you learned in this role that you can only get by being the Chief of Staff?

Clark Mercer

That's a good question. I mean, obviously, when you come into it, folks talk about how many people are going to be nice to you, and approach you for things, and they're not really your friends, right? And so, that was one that was told to me enough.

Michael Pope

We're your friends, Clark.

Clark Mercer

Yeah. I'm sure you are. That was a- I mean, we were able to get you The Nook. I don't know, without The Nook, whether we would be friends. I don't know. I mean, you've got to make decisions, and be confident in them, and not let folks sway you. It can be, you know, I took great intentionality to make sure I see my kids at night, that I'm able to pick them up from school. I've had previous folks in my position that have had really horrible health issues as a result of, of how they've handled themselves during this term. And Governor Northam, the doctor, he's a pediatrician. And he always says, "Take care of your family first." And if there's anything that comes up with a family, he said, "You don't need to be here." He always says, "The sun will rise again tomorrow." We've talked about some difficult things, we've gotten through whether it's COVID, or other and he always says, "I bet you the sun will rise again tomorrow," and he calls the next morning says, "Guess what? The sun rose." So you know, it's taking enough personal time to kind of keep that clarity. But once you make a tough decision, it's being able to have the resolve to kind of stick with it. And so I guess that's something you just kind of learn. It can be a lonely position. And governors are different. How you kind of manage that relationship, for me, it was really important to make sure that Governor Northam heard from more people, more cabinet secretaries, as he thought through decisions, that it wasn't that we didn't...There's this book, "The Gatekeepers," about the history of Chiefs of Staff, Chris Whipple wrote it, and there's this hub and spoke theory of the Chief of Staff, and whether or not you let all the spokes kind of get into the hub and talk, and just great piece about Dick Cheney passing off a broken wheel to Jimmy Carter's Chief of Staff, because he wanted to make sure that he was the only person passing information on to the President. But I tried to be really intentional to get more voices in the room. And that's one of the things that I learned, was that oftentimes, we didn't have enough diverse voices in the room when decisions were getting made. So, you know, I'm very hopeful, and I wish the incoming Chief of Staff, you know, nothing, nothing but the best and, and I think, you know, when I look at former Chiefs of Staff, I'll be there, cheering them on quietly, but I'm not going to be piping in every week with with my ideas, or my observations, or critiques.

Michael Pope

Okay, well, one last question, Clark. We really appreciate you inviting us here to the Executive Mansion. What's next for Clark Mercer? What's, uh, you're about to lose your gig here. What's on the horizon for you?

Clark Mercer

To be determined. I'm helping a lot of our folks- we have hundreds of folks who are considered at will, and helping them right now. We've placed six or seven folks in pretty senior positions in the Biden administration, like really senior positions, and providing references, and helping other folks get placed. It's awkward to be helping a lot of other folks find where they're landing, at the same time, you're trying to think through where you're going to go. Likely teaching. There's a couple local colleges in the Richmond area. But my wife and I are going to take a little bit of time off. And to be determined, we'll share it on a future episode.

Michael Pope

We look forward to it. Thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

Clark Mercer

Thanks, guys.

Thomas Bowman

So that's all for this episode, hit us up on social media or get in touch at transitionvirginia.com. There you can check the transcript for this episode and find the links to support the show on Patreon. Special thanks to Emily Cottrell who transcribes every one of these so they're accessible to everyone.

Michael Pope

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