Comment: Vote for Mr. Davis!
Both candidates in the 19th Senate District are too conservative by our lights. But the Democrat would put the people above party politics.
Voters in Virginia's 19th Senate District will choose between two conservative candidates Tuesday in a special election to replace conservative Republican and Rep.-elect Robert Hurt.
We give a qualified endorsement to Democrat Hank Davis, whose claim to being "generally conservative" he tempers with a belief "in putting people sometimes in front of dollars."
Davis said that in Pittsylvania County, where he has served on the board of supervisors 11 of the past 19 years, local taxes were lowered this year and last without causing layoffs, and local support for schools increased.
Unfortunately, the state's days of pain-free budget-writing are not likely to be seen again for years, and Davis betrayed no clue how he would come down in the General Assembly when it has to make difficult choices.
The Democrat was unenthusiastic about Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell's latest transportation proposal, for example, calling borrowing "an awful price for future generations to pay" and dismissing other elements.
Yet Davis opposes raising the gas tax as long as gasoline prices are high. His solution to the state's growing transportation crisis? "Could be [the state] can tough it out for another year, then cobble together enough funds" when an improved economy generates more tax revenue.
This is magical thinking. Even before the recession, Virginia was looking at a $1 billion-a-year transportation funding shortfall. Thus our qualified endorsement.
Davis, a Chatham lawyer, is running against Republican Bill Stanley, a Franklin County lawyer also given to magical thinking.
He promises never to raise taxes or user fees. He supports selling bonds to pay for roads in the near term. In the future? Stanley offers blind faith in failed party dogma: Cut waste, keep taxes low, businesses will come. Voila! Revenues will rise to meet all real needs.
Both candidates emphasize a need for more jobs.
Davis has the advantage of longtime service on a local governing body, experience that would inform any debate about further state belt-tightening -- which is already shifting costs to localities for services like education and public safety.
He also opposes uranium mining near Chatham and would vote against lifting a state moratorium that bars it no matter what the studies find.
Opponents would have a certain ally in Davis.
Both candidates embrace a fiscal conservatism that plays well in a district that covers Danville, Franklin and Pittsylvania counties and part of Campbell County.
We think Davis' long experience as a supervisor will keep his district's interests front and center. We support his election.
Read more:
http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/272895
