Q & A with Del. Jim Shuler

Jim Shuler at the General Assembly in Richmond in 2009. Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

About Jim Shuler:
Age: 68
Home: Blacksburg
First elected: 1993, served 18 years in House of Delegates
Work: retired veterinarian
On politics: “It’s a rough and tumble situation. It’s no sport that you can take without giving some bruises and taking some bruises.”

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When Jim Shuler announced last spring that he wouldn’t run for another term in the House of Delegates, it set off a scramble.

Shuler had gone through the every-decade redrawing of his district in 2000 and continued to win re-election, but the GOP-led adjustments of 2010 were aimed at crafting a more Republican-leaning seat.

Blacksburg Councilman Don Langrehr gave up his town role to try to hold Shuler’s 12th District for the Democrats, but Republican Joseph Yost, making his first bid for elected office, took it with help from a flood of party money.

Shuler offered some thoughts and a bit of advice for the legislators heading to Richmond this week.

What was it like to have to come to terms with a reconfigured district – a couple of times?

Shuler: Ten years ago it was very challenging, because it turned out to be … the second-largest district drawn in the state. It was drawn around my home … all the way to Highland County. … It was a district a little bit different from Blacksburg per se. When you drive out of Blacksburg, you’re sort of in a little bit of a different world. …

Blacksburg is very much focused on the academic environment of Virginia Tech, and the high-tech community. The rest of the district is way more rural. You take Craig County, 5,000 people with hardly any employment other than Christmas tree farming and the national forest. And then when I got into Allegheny County, the employment was really based upon one major employer, MeadeWestvaco. And then when you got up into Bath County, it was farming and the Homestead. …

It was always a challenge to try to balance the needs of really sort of a bifurcated district.

What were the issues that united the district?

Shuler: Education. Of course Tech has always been the driving force here in the New River Valley …
K through 12, that’s … been an ongoing battle for years, to get Richmond to pay up what it should be paying up. … When there is a continual drop-off in support from your central government … it puts a huge burden on the localities on how to fund K through 12.

Primarily it gets down to the tax issue. If Richmond is not doing it for you, or helping you with it, then to maintain that level of education back in the district, local boards are faced with cutting services of finding additional sources of revenue. And additional revenue, as we all understand it, comes primarily from real estate taxes.

What do you see as the big issues the General Assembly should be trying to deal with?
Shuler: Where do I start? No. 1, we’re kicking the can down the road on education. No. 2, we’ve kicked the can down the road on transportation. And both of these have been in front of the General Assembly almost forever. …

It amazes me how those in the General Assembly who hate taxation don’t have any problem at all increasing fees. … These same people don’t seem to object to using our schools, using our roads, having public safety, health and welfare that’s all funded through taxation. They don’t seem to object to that, and I assume very few of them give it up. …

Do you think there was more bipartisanship when you started?

Shuler: I think what’s happened is we’ve gotten so constrained with some social issues and the tax issues that it has polarized us to the point where neither the fringes on the right or left are willing to work to the middle for a solution. …

I think that’s what driven away a lot of good people from staying on in politics or being willing to serve in politics, because of the strident nature of not wanting to move one iota off a position. It’s OK to be principled, but after all we are a commonwealth. And we should be willing and able to bring our opposing views together to serve the commonwealth.

The second-most disappointing thing I’ve seen is the amount of money that’s involved in even running for election … I do not think Virginia politicians are corrupt, I really don’t. But with the influence of all this money that is flowing toward campaigns, there’s no way for anybody to deny that financial support does not influence their thinking and maybe their votes and maybe how they react to the situation. … I’m not saying money buys votes, but it buys accessibility and influence.

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