The Back Creek Civic League hosted a “Candidates Night” on Monday (Oct. 19) at the Back Creek Fire Station in southwest Roanoke County, attended by a number of people seeking office on November 3: Virginia House of Delegates (8th District) candidates Morgan Griffith, the incumbent, and Carter Turner; Roanoke County Board of Supervisors (Windsor Hills District) candidates Sarah Goodman and Ed Elswick; and Drew Barrineau who is running unopposed for reelection to the School Board in the Windsor Hills District. Elswick and Griffith are running as Republicans; Turner and Goodman are Democrats.
Turner is a Salem High School and Virginia Tech graduate, with a PhD in religious and theological studies from the University of Denver. He currently is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Radford University. “I decided to get into this race because I am very disturbed by the partisanship that we find in Virginia,” Turner told Civic League members. Citing the need to find a revenue source for transportation, he emphasized, “It’s going to require sacrifice by Democrats and Republicans and it’s going to involve a whole host of solutions.”
Turner advocates doubling the Governor’s Opportunity Fund, which is used to convince new businesses to move to Virginia and to help existing businesses expand operations. He supports a 30-cent increase on a pack of cigarettes, which he claimed would bring 148 million dollars to the state, to offset Medicaid costs that are rising in part because of cigarette smoking.
He alluded to the possibility that his opponent, Griffith, voted against this increase in the General Assembly because of tobacco industry contributions to his campaign. “My vote is not for sale, nor has it ever been for sale,” retorted Griffith, the House majority leader. “One of the things that I pride myself on is that I am willing to take the tough votes and the tough measures.”
Griffith supports education that would bring about a reduction in smokers, but worries that an increase in taxes on cigarettes might create a ripple effect on jobs. Turner later mentioned a 2004 independent study, “The Fiscal and Economic Impacts of Increasing the Cigarette Tax in Virginia” which disputes the loss of jobs.
Griffith talked about his work with Governor Tim Kaine and Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer to bring an intermodal transportation hub to the Roanoke region, where cargo can be transferred between trucks and Norfolk Southern railroad freight trains.
Griffith also spoke about bipartisanship in Richmond, saying that roughly a thousand bills are passed during sessions by a different conglomeration of delegates working together, but that only about 10-15 become the highly charged partisan issues that people see in the news. “Sometimes I’m on the winning side, sometimes I’m on the losing side, but I am always fighting for our region.”
Roanoke County Supervisor candidate Sarah Goodman currently teaches English at William Byrd High School. Prior to that she worked as a realtor for seven years. She has served as Vice President of the PTA for Green Valley Elementary and also as a coordinator for the regional chapter of “Mothers & More.” Goodman said, “My decision to run was a result of a growing dissatisfaction with the current Board.”
The three goals of her platform are the funding and support of public education; the advancement of economic development and job growth; and the promotion of quality of life issues like parks, greenways and cultural opportunities. “We have to have all of these things to be a successful community, and the success of each of them is related to the other,” said Goodman.
Ed Elswick won the opportunity to be a candidate for the Windsor Hills Roanoke County Supervisor seat by beating incumbent Joe McNamara in the primary election this past June. He is running for supervisor as an “ordinary citizen” who believes that residents need to have more input on county initiatives. “I [also] have the time to devote to this job. This is more than a job where you go and vote twice a month.” Elswick retired from General Electric as a government compliance and quality assurance manager. He has been president of the Bent Mountain Civic League for some time and also organized the county wide civic league several years ago.
Elswick is opposed to the county’s use of lease revenue bonds to fund major projects such as the new Green Ridge recreation center in North County. He believes that it is the job of a supervisor to work closely with the School Board, the organization responsible for schools.
Drew Barrineau, currently the Chairman of the Roanoke County School Board, is a CPA and tax accountant. He believes that his financial background is an asset in Roanoke County, especially in times of fiscal uncertainty. He was instrumental in developing the current revenue sharing agreement between the School Board and the Board of Supervisors and played a key role in developing the capital funding plan that currently pays for major projects. “We have 2200 wonderful employees that give all that they have every day to see that the children in Roanoke County receive an education second to none,” added Barrineau.
By Dot Overstreet [email protected]