RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe has been named “Public Official of the Year” among American governors by GOVERNING magazine.
The politics and government magazine cited McAuliffe’s ability to navigate an opposition legislature and economic development efforts, creating more than 200,000 jobs during his tenure.
“The bottom line is that Virginia has created more than 200,000 jobs on his watch, with unemployment well below 4 percent — and with the rate down in every county in the commonwealth,” the magazine said.
Despite those accolades, the magazine said McAuliffe’s biggest achievement is something else.
“His proudest single achievement, however, is restoring voting rights to ex-felons,” the magazine said. “In most states, this happens automatically. In Virginia, former felons are barred from voting unless they can obtain a pardon from the governor.”
To date, McAuliffe has restored voting rights to more than 165,000 ex-convicts.
“I am deeply honored to be recognized for the hard work that this administration has done to build a new Virginia economy that works better for all Virginia families,” said Governor McAuliffe. “As we reach the end of our term, this award is a sincere validation of the effort so many men and women have put into making our government work better and creating real opportunities for families to thrive in every corner of our Commonwealth.”
McAuliffe is one of nine public officials honored in the December issue of GOVERNING. He will be honored at a dinner at the historic Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington, D.C., on November 30.
Every year since 1994, Governing has honored individual state and local government officials for outstanding accomplishment by naming them Public Officials of the Year.
“Public Officials of the Year are selected from nominations submitted by readers, experts in the public and private sectors and the GOVERNING editorial team,” according to GOVERNING.
