Top Kaine donor Sheila Johnson endorses McDonnell

Bob McDonnell, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, picked up the support of one of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s largest donors.

Sheila Crump Johnson of Middleburg, a billionaire and co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, pointed to the struggling economy and said she thought McDonnell would do more to help create jobs in Virginia than Democrat R. Creigh Deeds.

Johnson has donated more than $600,000 since 2005 to Kaine and his political action committee, Moving Virginia Forward. She paid $1,500 for Kaine’s air transportation to the Democratic National Convention in Denver last August.

Johnson said she had notified Kaine by phone yesterday.

“He respects my decision, and we both said we are friends first and foremost,“ said Johnson, who appeared with McDonnell at the General Assembly Building in Richmond.

She also said she has nothing against Deeds, a state senator from Bath County.

“Creigh Deeds is a great guy,“ she said. “He would make a good governor, but Bob McDonnell will make a great governor. From the very beginning, Bob McDonnell has been very clear about the economy and the need to create jobs.“

During the recent Democratic primary, Johnson gave $1,000 each to Deeds’ opponents, Terry McAuliffe and Brian J. Moran, according to numbers provided by the Virginia Public Access Project, which monitors campaign financing.

Johnson said she is a lifelong Democrat and remains a Democrat.

Of McDonnell, she said “he is the only one who has really laid out a roadmap from the very beginning . . . so if you are just now hearing it today or yesterday it’s because oh, this is a wakeup call,“ she said.

Deeds laid out his economic plan yesterday.

McDonnell said at the news conference that he has had several conversations with Johnson. He called her “one of America’s most accomplished business leaders.“

“We share a mutual commitment to revitalizing Virginia’s economy, getting Virginians back to work . . . ,“ he said.

Johnson is developing a resort spa, Salamander Resort and Spa, near her Middleburg home. The resort, set on 340 acres, is scheduled to open in spring 2011.

Johnson is a part owner of the Washington Mystics of the WNBA, the NBA’s Washington Wizards and hockey’s Washington Capitals. She also owns an aviation company and is a film producer.

Johnson and her former husband, Robert Johnson, founded Black Entertainment Television. They sold BET to Viacom in 2000 for $3 billion.