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Meet the Candidates for Governor: Republican Frank Wagner

wagnervasenate.com

State Senator Frank Wagner is one of three Republicans running for governor in Virginia.  He doesn’t have the money or national party connections of Ed Gillespie, and he’s not as controversial as Corey Stewart, but he told reporter Sandy Hausman that he hopes voters will recognize more than 20 years in the state legislature as a plus - and agree that it might be time to raise the gas tax in Virginia.   

Interview Highlights (emphasis ours):  

Wagner: Government is big.  It’s very complex.  There are a whole lot of things that go on that to me a governor who’s ready to hit the ground running better know about.  Of the other Republican candidates, none of them have any experience in Richmond.  I am currently on the finance committee, which is the money committee in the senate.  I chair the transportation subcommittee of the finance committee.  I chair the commerce and labor committee, which is the business committee.  It regulates utilities, banking, insurance, you name it.  It has to come through that committee.

Hausman:  You’ve said you want public schools in Virginia to create a second track for middle school kids who are not interested in college prep.  Tell me about that.

Wagner:  Many of the fields in healthcare don’t require a college education.  Coding may not require a college education.  Every business I’ve visited has the same problem.  They cannot find skilled help.  You go to Newport News Shipbuilding.  They have to replace 6,000 workers in the next five years – not due to growth in work but just due to retirements.  If you have a good career technical education, you’ll make more than a college graduate if that college graduate can even find a job, and typically that college graduate is graduating with $30,000-$40,000 in students loans, so it is good for Virginia’s economy, but more importantly it’s best for the student.  I think we lose too many kids in school – kids who are never going to pass algebra.  That’s okay. Stop trying to beat the square peg into the round hole.  Let’s have these options so the child can feel he has a great future.

Hausman:  Now coming from the finance committee, I wonder if you want to talk about the fact that Virginia has been raiding its rainy day fund for years to make up for budget shortfalls.  Might it be time to raise some taxes?

Wagner:  We have a rainy day fund that’s there for a recession.  It should be at $2.4 billion.  It’s less than $300 million right now, and I point this out on the campaign trail because both of my opponents for the Republican nomination are saying, ‘We’re going to cut income taxes,’ and I’m saying, ‘Really?’  The gas tax in North Carolina is more than twice what Virginia’s is.  And the gas tax in Maryland is twice what Virginia’s is.  There is no money to fix Interstate 81, and it’s the economic artery. It’s full of cholesterol in the western third of Virginia.  There is no money to talk about what I want to do in Southside Virginia.  We could really re-invigorate what used to be textiles and tobacco with high-tech manufacturing by making changes to the transportation network and adding broadband. 

Hausman:  One of your opponents, Corey Stewart, has made a big issue out of the Confederate monuments.  I’m wondering if you have a position on whether they should stay or go.

Wagner:  Look, you can’t change history.  It is what it is.  Monuments are put up there, and they tell a story.  Everybody ought to be able to see that story, and I think the monuments should stay where they are.

Hausman:  We are now surrounded, at least on two sides, by states that have decriminalized marijuana use.  Would you consider going in that direction here in Virginia?

Wagner:  Yes.  I’m on record saying, ‘Look, for small amounts we don’t need to be locking up people.  We’ve got enough people in our jails right now.’  It’s still illegal at the federal level, so I think a fine of $200-$250 is appropriate.  It’s against the law.

Hausman:  And given that the state is now spending a billion dollars a year on corrections, do we need to take another look at our criminal code – possibly  back off on some of the drug laws that were passed during a time when the nation was kind of in a panic over drug use?

Wagner:  I think we need additional drug courts.  Someone who is caught using drugs goes in front of a judge.  The judge says, ‘Get into these programs or go to jail,’ and start to steer these people back to recovery.   

Hausman:  Do we need to impose stronger limits on who can own a gun in Virginia?

Wagner:  I think we’re at the appropriate spot.

This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.

Sandy Hausman is Radio IQ's Charlottesville Bureau Chief
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