5 Central Virginia delegate seats up for grabs

The vast majority of voters in the Charlottesville area will have a choice of whom to elect to the House of Delegates for the first time in more than a decade.
Five of the area’s six House races will be contested Nov. 3, the most contested seats since 1997.
In the 57th District — which includes Charlottesville and six Albemarle County precincts west and northwest of the city — Del. David J. Toscano, D-Charlottes-ville, is facing independent challenger Robert Brandon Smith III.

Toscano, a two-term incumbent and former Charlottesville mayor, is asking voters for another term so he can continue serving as the state deals with unprecedented budget cut challenges.
“There’s a lot of things that remain to be done and a lot of things that we need to protect in this budget period, specifically education — pre-K, K-12 and higher education,” he said.
Toscano said he also wants to continue working on issues such as clean energy and reforms of the foster care and adoption system. If re-elected, Toscano said, he plans to introduce legislation that would reduce sprawl by encouraging schools to be built where housing already exists, minimizing the need for additional transportation infrastructure.

“Part of the problem we face has to do with where we locate facilities,” he said. “I want to provide incentives for localities to place facilities at a place where the transportation infrastructure already exists.”
Smith, who also goes by the name RBS-III and can often be found on the Downtown Mall, is running primarily in opposition to the ongoing Meadowcreek Parkway project.
Smith also wants to see the demolition of a low-income housing project in downtown Charlottesville, which he would like to see replaced with public housing that would be built in a ring around the city.
“Garrett Square has been a public policy failure,” he said. “They’ve been a regressive phenomenon.”
Smith has also advocated on behalf of a few education reform ideas, such as requiring school uniforms and banning homework.
“I’m catching hell for this a little bit, but my proposal to abolish homework is a serious one,” he said. “I want kids to read instead and I want them to read things they’re not reading now.”

Landes vs. Marrow

The 25th District, which sits primarily in the Shenandoah Valley but includes the Crozet area of Albemarle, has been represented by Del. R. Steven Landes, R-Weyers Cave, since 1996. Landes is facing a challenge from Democrat Greg Marrow, an optometrist and Navy veteran from Rockingham County.
Both candidates have been spending nights and weekends knocking on doors and talking to voters. Nearly everyone, they said, is expressing concerns about the economy.
Landes points to his record, saying he has a long history of backing pro-business policies. “I’ve tried to support legislation that provides a good regulatory environment for business, especially small business,” he said.
Landes said he seeks to support measures that protect Virginia’s countryside, but balanced with a respect for development and business growth. He added that he has played a role in bringing jobs to his district, including helping to broker a deal in 2006 that opened an SRI International research and development facility in partnership with James Madison University.

Landes plans to announce a proposal this week that he says would boost economic growth in the district without requiring additional state money.
“My opponent has talked about green jobs and tax credits for new jobs,” Landes said. “The only problem with that is that tax credits take money away from education.”
Landes is also running on his history of trying to protect funding for higher education operations and capital projects, noting that many Crozet residents work at the University of Virginia. Once the economy improves, he said, the state can better fund its colleges and universities, helping to ease the pressure on tuition costs.
Marrow argues that Landes’ record on the economy leaves much to be desired.
“He’s ignored the district,” Marrow said. “He’s gotten complacent in his position. He can’t, in my opinion, stand on his record.”
During Landes’ tenure, Marrow said, the unemployment rate has doubled in parts of the district.
The jobless rate, it should be noted, has doubled across Virginia in the past year, including in the Charlottesville metropolitan area.
Landes, Marrow said, raised objections in 2006 when Toyota was reportedly considering opening a plant in Weyers Cave. According to a Roanoke Times article from the time, Landes said he was concerned about the auto industry’s volatility.
“He opposed a Toyota plant coming to the area. He opposed green jobs being created in the area,” Marrow said. “That’s ridiculous.”
In addition to the economy, Marrow said he is running on health care and veterans’ issues. He has also sought to draw attention to Landes’ comments about President Barack Obama’s political operation in which he said: “When you’ve got a White House that’s keeping names of people that don’t agree with them, that reminds me of what went on in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.”
“It was inappropriate and I called him out on it,” Marrow said.
Landes told the Waynesboro News-Virginian that he had no intention of apologizing for the remark. “I’m not going to apologize for speaking my mind,” he said. “The last time I checked the First Amendment protected my political speech.”

Janis vs. Towey

In the 56th District, which includes Louisa and Goochland counties and part of Hen-rico, Del. Bill Janis, R-Glen Allen, is seeking his fifth term in the General Assembly. Janis is defending his seat against a challenge from James O. Towey, a former director of the Virginia State Crime Commission.
Janis did not return a request for comment. His Web site lists recent endorsements from the National Federation of Independent Business and the Virginia Farm Bureau.
Janis said in a news release that he received the endorsements for his opposition to “legislation that would cause skyrocketing health insurance costs, increased government regulatory compliance costs, and higher taxes on small businesses” and because he “represents the issues and concerns of farmers, foresters and ranchers in Virginia.”

Towey, a Democrat, said he decided to run after he grew frustrated working with the General Assembly as a state official. Towey said he tried to blow the whistle on the misuse of $200,000 of taxpayer money by a legislator, but was ignored by the Republican leadership of the House.
“I saw firsthand, working in the General Assembly, that there was a party-first mindset among the lawmakers from both parties,” he said. “They put the interests of their party ahead of the interests of Virginians.”
If elected, Towey said, he would seek to increase the transparency of state government. For example, he said, he wants to require that General Assembly members post on their official Web sites any budget amendments that they request to be added to the state’s budget.
Towey, who also served as director of the attorney general office’s organized crime unit and other posts, is also running on public safety. He wants to establish programs that teach inmates parenting, financial, job and anger management skills to reduce the likelihood of recidivism.
“With none of this kind of training, when they’re released they’re going to go back to the same life they were leading before,” he said.
By ramping up programs that target recidivism rates, he said, the state could improve public safety and lower prison costs.

Scott vs. Carson

The 30th District — which includes Madison and Culpeper counties and part of Orange County — has been represented by Del. Edward T. Scott, R-Culpeper, since 2004. Scott is facing a challenge from Culpeper resident Matthew A. Carson, who is running as an independent.
Scott said he is vying for another two years in office to continue advocating for his district’s priorities — education and job creation — as the General Assembly makes difficult decisions to deal with Virginia’s revenue shortfall.
“We’ve got to make the right decisions for the long term,” Scott said. “We’ve got to prioritize as best we can when it comes to the budget.”
Scott added that it is too early to know many specifics about how the state will close its budget gap, as the legislature is still “getting its arms around the governor’s spending reductions” that were proposed Sept. 8.
“I’ve seen the process work for six years now,” Scott said.

Scott has been endorsed, he noted, by the political action committees of the Virginia Farm Bureau, the National Federal of Independent Business and the National Rifle Association.
Carson, the founder of a Web development company, has somewhat Libertarian leanings but without the overt skepticism of law enforcement agencies that is sometimes associated with that political ideology. One of Carson’s primary reasons for running, he said, is to make Virginia declare itself a “Patriot Act free state” as he believes the Bush administration-era legislation infringes on civil liberties.
“It’s one of the worst offenses against personal liberty,” he said. “It bothers me that states have not stood up against it.”
Carson is also troubled about the growth in state spending over the past decade.
“Virginia, to me, should be a beacon of responsible government and responsible spending,” he said.
Carson is also running on environmental issues, he said. He is proposing to enact a ban on any new discharges — such as sewage — into Virginia’s waterways. “That wouldn’t cost a dime,” he said. “It’d take five minutes of legislation.”

Del. Watkins M. Abbitt Jr., I-Appomattox, who represents the 30th District — which includes Buckingham and Nelson counties, as well as parts of southwestern Albemarle County and eastern Fluvanna County — is not opposed for re-election.
Abbitt, who has served since 1986, said he is seeking another term to continue being a voice for rural Virginia, particularly as the state deals with the revenue shortfall and more budget cuts.
“Everybody’s going to be cut,” he said. “I want to help make sure that we aren’t cut more than elsewhere.”
Abbitt said he enjoys being unopposed.
“I’ve run opposed and unopposed,” he said. “Let me tell you, it’s a lot easier to run unopposed.”