General Assembly candidates stake out positions

The Prince William Committee of 100 presented a forum  Wednesday with candidates who are running for seats in the 36th Senate District, as well as the 2nd and 52nd districts of the Virginia House of Delegates.

The candidates at the forum, moderated by former television newsman Matt Brock, staked out their positions on High Occupancy Toll lanes, jobs creation, voting issues  and taxes.

Westminster at Lake Ridge hosted the forum.

2nd House District

Republican Mark Dudenhefer and Esteban Garces, a Democrat,  clashed a little bit  over transportation.

Garces and Dudenhefer are running to fill the  open seat in the newly created 2nd District in the Virginia House of Delegates.

Garces, a community organizer, favors bringing Metro to Prince William County.

“Transportation is key in this district,” Garces said.  “If we bring the Blue line down from Springfield to Potomac Mills, we create a job hub around Potomac Mills. We bring jobs to this area.”

Bringing jobs to the area would create a tax base that Garces said would benefit the county.

While Dudenhefer didn’t argue that bringing commuter rail service to the county might create jobs, he said the proposition was too expensive.

“The estimated cost for bringing the Blue Metro Line down to Potomac Mills from Springfield is well over  $3 billion,” said Dudenhefer, a retired Marine Corps colonel who is chairman of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors. “Somebody’s got to pay for that.”

The two also disagreed over High Occupancy Toll lanes, which  are being discussed for the Interstate 95 corridor between Springfield and Massaponax.

Under the proposal the state would lease the road to a private company that would, in turn, charge commuters variable tolls.

The current proposed plan has Fluor Transurban, an Australian company, running the toll lanes after leasing the road from the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Garces opposed the toll lanes saying he didn’t think a foreign company should be in charge of Virginia roads.

He said he doesn’t agree with tolls in principle.

“I don’t think we should be taxed to get to work,” he said.

Dudenhefer said he wasn’t in favor of HOT lanes, but saw no alternative.

“Personally I hate HOT lanes, but it’s what’s there and we have to make the best advantage of what is out there,” he said.

The two agreed that absentee voting should be expanded.

52nd House District

Incumbent Del. Luke Torian, a Democrat, faces local business owner Cleveland Anderson, a Republican, in the race for the 52nd District seat in the Virginia House of Delegates.

Their main point of contention was over how to bring jobs to the commonwealth.

Anderson said he would follow Gov. Bob McDonnell’s example in bringing corporations to the state even if they were foreign companies. 

“The top priority is to create  jobs and no one does it better than our governor. He will go out of his way, he will go out of the country to bring in outside employers,” Anderson said. “If you can convince outside employers to locate here in Prince William County, then you increase tax revenues. You create jobs at home and it takes cars off the highway.”

Torian disagreed.

“We want Virginia companies to have the first shot at business and we want Virginia citizens to be employed as well,” Torian said. “It makes no sense to bring in outside resources if they don’t employ our people.”

Another point of disagreement  between the two was over absentee voting.

Torian said he would be in favor of expanding voting to allow people to vote absentee without an excuse.

He said that commute times sometimes make it difficult or impossible for people to get to the polling places when they’re open.

“I think that we should do all that we can ... to give the opportunity to our citizens to vote,” he said.

Torian said technology these days should make absentee voting reliable and accountable.

“If one wants to vote early, let us provide the opportunity for our citizens to vote,” he said.

Anderson held an opposite view, saying that expanding absentee voting would lead to apathy. 

“I think it’s an honor to get out and go to the polls and vote. I think that once we all change the rules to where we don’t have to do anything, that’s what we’ll do,” he said.

36th Senate

Incumbent Democrat Linda T. “Toddy” Puller faces Republican Jeff Frederick in the race for  the Virginia Senate’s newly redrawn 36th District.

Puller is running on her record of nearly 20 years in the Virginia legislature. Frederick is running to make a change in the district that stretches from Fairfax to Stafford counties.

“There are still things that I want to go down to Richmond to work on that I’m not finished working on,” said Puller who wants to continue work on revitalizing the U.S. 1 corridor,the Wounded Warrior Program and health care.

Frederick said while he appreciated Puller’s service,  it’s time for a change. 

“I think this election gives us a very clear choice between a small businessman with a record of service and a long-time Richmond politician. I appreciate service, but 20 years is a long time. Maybe it’s time to try something new,” said Frederick, who served three terms in the Virginia House of Delegates.

The one thing Puller and Frederick agreed on was that  gas taxes should be changed from a flat rate to a percentage of gas sales.

The gas tax in Virginia  currently stands at 17.5 cents per gallon.

“We can’t continue to rely on gas tax as a method to fund our transportation system,” Frederick said.

“Find out what the revenue-neutral percentage rate is and then peg it to that,” Frederick said. “As the economy grows and as other things grow, it keeps pace with that. We need to change it to a percentage instead of a flat rate.”

Puller said the last time the gas tax was raised was in 1986, when it went from 15 to 17.5 cents a gallon.

“Clearly we need to do something to bring in more revenue,” Puller said. “We do need to have a sustained force that increase revenue for transportation all by itself.”

 The two also discussed the Business Professional Occupancy License tax.

Frederick told the audience that the tax was established in the 17th century to fund the War of 1812 and has never gone away.

The tax, which Frederick finds onerous, is based upon gross receipts, which means that a business that breaks even in a given year could still owe taxes.

“It’s a job killer. It’s a business killer and I think ... if we’re able to get rid of that it would be one way  to attract a lot of businesses to Virginia,” Frederick said.

Puller said she doesn’t know anybody who likes the BPOL tax, but noted that Republican Gov. George Allen tried to eliminate the tax but found it difficult.

“The BPOL tax is still a local tax and we’ve tried giving state money back to localities on other things like say the car tax,” Puller said. “The state doesn’t need to fund the localities, the localities actually need to have more taxing powers like the cities so they can make up their own minds and not rely solely on the property tax.”

 Senior reporter Keith Walker can be reached at 703-369-6751.