Education, healthcare take center stage at forum

OCT. 6, 10:15 P.M. – Education, healthcare, economic development and – perhaps fittingly, finance – were the focal points of a candidate forum tonight at the Junior Achievement of Central Virginia's Finance Park at Henrico's Libbie Mill Library.

Candidates for a special election to fill the Brookland District seat on the Board of Supervisors and those seeking the 72nd and 73rd district seats in the Virginia House of Delegates discussed their visions for government before a crowd of more than 100.

In the Brookland District, Democrat Courtney Lynch (pictured, seated), a small business owner, and Republican Bob Witte (pictured, standing), the district's representative on the Henrico Planning Commission, are competing to fill the final two years of late supervisor Dick Glover's term. Glover died in February.

Lynch told the audience that her experience as a Marine, a business owner and a mom would provide important perspective on the board. Witte countered that his experience on the Board of Zoning Appeals, the Planning Commission and as a longtime public servant would continue Glover's legacy of service.

Lynch would champion expansion of public transportation routes in the county, she said, while Witte said he would do so only if a proven need existed.

Lynch, the mother of three school-age children, said the board needed the viewpoint of a mother and vowed to work for stronger schools and more funding for education. Witte told the audience that he also favored more funding for education, but said that the Board of Supervisors only can provide the School Board with its annual budget – not appropriate those funds for it.

Lynch twice criticized a mailer sent in recent weeks by the Republican Party of Virginia that she labeled a misleading attack piece that featured racist and sexist undertones, designed to insinuate that she would raise taxes and increase red tape on businesses. Those claims are untrue, she said.

"I think I speak through the example of what I've built on how much I want to empower economic development," she said, describing that her consulting firm has added $500,000 in payroll during the past year.

Witte denied any role in the mailers and said he only saw one when it arrived in his mailbox. Nearly 100 of his campaign signs have been damaged, he said, but he doesn't hold Lynch responsible for the vandalism.

"I'm not blaming it on my opponent any more than I knew about those mailers," he said.

The candidates agreed that more funding is needed to address the opioid crisis. Witte vowed to provide funding for whatever other issues might mitigate crime.

"If that means we need more police officers, then that's a need and we fund it," he said. "If we need more lights, more sidewalks, more crosswalks – whatever it is to cut down on our crime, that's what we'll fund."

Lynch said she'd work to expanding community policing efforts and seek more funding for mental health care.

"We can no longer turn a blind eye. . . to the growing mental health epidemic that we are experiencing," she said.

House of Delegates
Later in the evening, the two candidates for the 72nd District House seat being vacated by Republican Jimmie Massie – Democrat Schuyler VanValkenburg, a Glen Allen High School teacher and Republican Eddie Whitlock, an attorney – agreed that education would be a focal point but outlined different plans to improve it.

VanValkenburg championed the need for increased state funding and an overhaul of the school accreditation process.

"Schools are currently incentivized to focus on tests," VanValkenburg said. "Testing isn't bad – bad testing is destructive. We have bad tests in Virginia." The General Assembly should reduce the importance of standardized tests, he said, and work to increase students' critical thinking skills and access to apprenticeship programs, music and the arts.

Whitlock agreed that the Standards of Learning tests needed to be overhauled but vowed that for all ending decisions, he would first determined whether the funds were necessary for a core function of government and then whether government is better equipped to perform the function than private industry. If so, then he would seek to fund such functions at the lowest level necessary to perform them appropriately, he said.

"Right now, we are spending too much on projects that are not efficient," Whitlock said.

Whitlock said he wouldn't support new laws to prevent gun violence, eliciting a groan from some in attendance.

"Right now, the laws that we have on the books are not being enforced, and the people who are committing crimes are not obeying those laws," he said, "so why are they going to obey additional laws? Laws by themselves don't solve problems – people solve problems."

VanValkenburg vowed that he would work to close gun show loopholes and pass other measures that he believes would make it more difficult for would-be shooters to carry out their plots.

"Gun violence is a real problem," he said.

In the 73rd District, Randolph Macon College professor Debra Rodman, a Democrat, is challenging 17-year incumbent Republican John O'Bannon. At the forum, Rodman challenged O'Bannon on education and healthcare, saying that he led the charge to deny expansion of Medicaid in Virginia and that he supports the use of taxpayer dollars to fund vouchers for charter schools.

"What we value as a community is not being well-represented at the capital," Rodman said. "He goes against his constituents in both areas."

But O'Bannon pointed to the fact that even without widespread expansion, Medicaid funding accounts for 60 percent of the increase in the state's general fund budget. And, he said, the General Assembly has acted prudently to expand the program specifically for mentally ill citizens and substance abuse victims. The issue, he said, is one that Congress needs to fix before the state can make widespread changes.

Rodman vowed to work for the expansion of Medicaid in Virginia, arguing that some 4,000 more Henrico citizens would have access to healthcare as a result.

Rodman stumbled briefly when asked by moderator Dan Palazzolo (a University of Richmond political science professor) what type of tax reform she would support. After a moment of silence, she said she'd have to think about it and then passed the question to O'Bannon, who said he would support analyzing potential changes to the state's income tax and sales tax levels.

The event, sponsored by ChamberRVA, Junior Achievement and Woody Funeral Home attracted crowd of more than 100.