2009.10.21
Q&A with House candidate Gwen Mason
Southwest Roanoke County is split between two districts in the House of Delegates. Most voters will be casting their votes in race between Morgan Griffith and Carter Turner.
However, voters in the Clearbrook, Hunting Hills and Ogden precincts are in a district that stretches to Botetourt County. There, Del. William Fralin, R-Roanoke, is retiring and Republican Bill Cleaveland and Democrat Gwen Mason are running to succeed him.
We put the same five questions to each candidate. Here's a link to Cleaveland's answers; Mason's answers are below.
1. What is the most important issue facing Virginia during the next four years?
The most important issues facing Virginia is finding a sustainable, long-term solution to our transportation needs, and supporting our public education systems from pre-school to higher education. Our success or failure in attracting new jobs to the Commonwealth will be determined by our ability to face these challenges.
2. How do you propose to deal with this issue?
The only way forward on this issue, like all the problems we face, is a new kind of politics in Richmond. We need to stop the bickering between parties and work together in a bipartisan way, as Virginians rather than politicians, to make hard choices about where our Commonwealth is going.
3. What is the best decision that the General Assembly has made in recent years, and why do you think this was the best?
Passing Governor Warner's budget in a bipartisan way, with realistic solutions to fund core services is a perfect example of leaders putting people, not politics, first.
4. What is the worst decision that the General Assembly has made in recent years, and why do you think this was the worst?
Politicizing the transportation crisis is the worst thing that has happened in recent years. Our infrastructure needs measure in the billions of dollars, and we must find a way to meet this challenge. In recent years we have endangered our economic growth and threatened other priorities such as education and public safety while we scramble to find the resources.
5. What else should voters know about you before casting their vote?
In these uncertain economic times, it is important to elect experienced, responsible, independent leaders willing to put people first. I am the only candidate with experience as a public servant, a record of wise fiscal investments, and the independence to put the politics aside and do what is best for the Roanoke Valley.
