Metro's the word in 51st debate

It’s easy to sum up Thursday night’s 51st District House of Delegates debate in a word.

Sure, several issues were discussed. Republican Rich Anderson even announced that he’s knocked on more than 14,000 doors in the northeastern Prince William County district, which he said was the most this year for a GOP House candidate.

But the 45-minute forum sponsored by the Prince William Committee of 100 was dominated by discussion of one issue: Metro.

The extension of Metrorail to Woodbridge is the centerpiece of the re-election campaign of Del. Paul F. Nichols, and he mentioned it continuously to the crowd at the Westminster at Lake Ridge retirement community.

“We should be all together,” the Democrat said. “The citizens should be behind it. We should be pushing for this thing. The political people should be behind it. It’s a no-brainer.”

Anderson, however, said high-speed train service is a better route for taking cars off Interstate 95.

“Metro, I think, is a diversion right now,” he said.

Anderson said that the project is an admirable one but not the right short-term solution for traffic gridlock.

High-speed rail, on the other hand, could be up and running sooner, Anderson said, perhaps as early as 2011.

The beauty of that transit service, he said, is what’s known as the “Rule of 90.”

“Ninety miles an hour, 90 minutes to Richmond and a 90 percent on-time rate,” Anderson said. “High-speed rail is a ‘now’ option.”

Nichols wasn’t to be swayed, though. He noted that Rep. Gerald E. “Gerry” Connolly, his fellow Democrat, is helping to tout the issue, and he said leadership requires looking beyond the present.

He even approached the matter from a humorous perspective in an effort to show why Metro is the best choice for eliminating highway traffic.

“Here’s another option,” he quipped. “Build sidewalks on 95. People will walk to work, and they will walk home.”

Sparks also flew over taxes at the event, one of four House debates the Committee of 100 sponsored this year. The nonpartisan group holds forums on other topics throughout the year.

Anderson called Nichols a “tax-raiser” and proclaimed the incumbent’s vote on a failed state Senate bill last year as a vote in favor of a $2 billion tax increase.

But Nichols said now is not the time to talk about raising any taxes.

“If anything, it’s a time to cut some taxes,” he said, “to give some relief to people so that they can spend money and survive.”

In addition, Nichols criticized GOP gubernatorial nominee Robert F. McDonnell’s transportation plan, which he said would result in less money for education.

McDonnell’s proposal would shift money away from the state’s general fund, nearly half of which goes toward schools.

But Anderson said using money from the state’s general fund for roads shouldn’t be prohibited in the abstract. It would be OK, he said, “as long as it doesn’t impact education.”

The political newcomer wasn’t OK with Nichols’ vote this year in favor of Virginia’s acceptance of $125 million in federal stimulus money for additional unemployment insurance.

The strings attached to that funding source would harm small businesses, he said, so GOP majorities were right to vote it down.

But Nichols, who runs a law firm in Lake Ridge, said that Republican refrain is “hogwash.”

He said the cost that Anderson decried would have amounted to only $800 a year for the Nichols firm.

“That was going to put me out of business? I don’t think so,” he said. “That’s an excuse. That was a political excuse to send money back instead of helping out needy people in Virginia that now don’t have their benefits and they can’t put food on their table.”

Staff writer Jonathan Hunley can be reached at 703-369-5738.