Newly obtained records show that Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s top aides expressed concern over the Virginia Tourism Corporation choosing — without competitive bidding — the digital media agency the governor uses for politics to produce a state-funded tourism ad to air in Virginia airports and welcome centers.
The records released by Virginia Tourism Corporation under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act revealed no attempt at any influence by the governor’s office on the front end of an April decision by tourism officials to pick Poolhouse Agency for an ad featuring Youngkin at a time he’s considering a run for president in 2024 and seeking to bolster his national image.
Agency guidelines recommend six bids for such a project, but Rita McClenny, the CEO of Virginia Tourism Corporation, has the power under the law to do that, reach out to fewer vendors, or simply handpick a company for a contract. She said last week that she picked Poolhouse and that neither the governor nor his staff suggested it to her.
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Democrats last week wrote a letter to state Inspector General Michael Westfall asking for an investigation. He hasn’t yet said if his agency will investigate.
To recap: McClenny said she decided in March to make a tourism video featuring the governor — her boss. Her agency normally uses The Martin Agency for such work. Richmond-based Poolhouse, which was instrumental in the branding and political strategy that helped Youngkin win the governor’s office last year, had never before done a tourism ad for Virginia.
McClenny has said she chose Poolhouse because of the firm’s experience working with Youngkin.
But tourism officials said last week that around April, someone on the governor’s staff raised a concern about the appearance of bias in the selection of Poolhouse and wanted bids.
The public records back that up.
The latest records obtained by The Times-Dispatch show that an official with Virginia Tourism Corporation reached out to an employee at Poolhouse about the project on March 17 — two months after Youngkin was sworn in — and they set up a meeting at Poolhouse’s office later in March. By then, Virginia Tourism Corporation was moving to make Poolhouse an approved state vendor.
The company is especially known for its digital advertising work for GOP candidates, including U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and currently two Republicans running in Virginia congressional seats, Jen Kiggans and Yesli Vega.
On March 23, records show, McClenny met with Commerce Secretary Caren Merrick to talk about the project, and Merrick “was pleased with the campaign idea,” tourism records show.
But on March 28, Becca Glover, a deputy chief of staff and communications director to the governor, emailed the governor’s public relations staff and two officials at Virginia Tourism in response to emails about the planning of the ad: “So did we put out a bid for pool house or is this a single sourced contract? If that’s the case we really need to talk,” Glover wrote.
By early April, Poolhouse had sent the state a sample script for the “Governor’s Welcome Project.” Poolhouse then signed a state contract on April 13 to do the video, with a final deadline of June 9. The dollar amount was $268,600.
A state tourism official emailed Poolhouse to say tourism officials wanted Poolhouse “to get into pre-production right away.”
But Mike McMahon, an executive at Virginia Tourism Corporation, emailed colleagues on April 8 to say there was a “minor snag” from the state commerce secretary and the governor’s office. “They now want a second quote,” McMahon wrote, followed by a sad face emoji. “But we are ready.”
McMahon emailed a tourism colleague on April 25 to stop working on Poolhouse’s work order, saying McClenny, the CEO, “just got directions from the Governor’s office to get a bid from Martin [Agency]. We need to put a bid package together.”
The records show tourism officials had some concerns about opening up the project for bidding. The “timeline is critical because the work must be complete[d] quickly to take advantage of the summer tourism season,” McMahon wrote to Merrick, the commerce secretary.
A Poolhouse representative emailed the state on April 27 to say “it seems like there are some issues that have arisen. We’re pausing this project completely on our end until they are resolved.”
But by the next day, Poolhouse was working on the project again.
“Obviously some dates will need to be adjusted, but we are moving again!” the Poolhouse representative wrote to tourism officials.
Merrick wrote to tourism officials the morning of May 5 about the need for competition: “The Governor is making this request personally,” Merrick wrote, and she offered to reach out herself to Poolhouse and The Martin Agency. She said she thought Martin Agency would be willing to provide a bid.
To comply with the governor’s office request, the state on May 5 offered The Martin Agency a chance to bid on the “Governor’s Welcome Project” and formally sent Poolhouse a new offer to bid. Martin declined, leading the state to make the third offer, to a firm called Henninger Media Services, which didn’t get a response.
“Part of the issue was being able to respond to the bid in time. There was a very short fuse on the whole thing,” president and CEO Robert Henninger said in an interview. “It didn’t really feel like a real opportunity, and that’s the way we viewed it.”
Poolhouse signed the new contract on May 18. The firm filmed the governor and made the ad, and on Sept. 20, McClenney signed the $268,600 check from Virginia Tourism Corporation to Poolhouse.
Del. Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, the state House minority leader, said he still has questions about how and why McClenny opted to select Poolhouse in the first place. “It doesn’t pass the smell test,” he said.
According to the governor’s office, neither the governor, the first lady or anyone on the governor’s political or government staff took any action to suggest Virginia Tourism pick Poolhouse.