The following is the fourth in my series of interviews with the five Democrats - Miles Grant, Patrick Hope, Alan Howze, Adam Parkhomenko, and Andres Tobar - running to replace Del. Al Eisenberg in the 47th House of Delegates district. This Q&A is with Alan Howze. Thanks to Alan for answering my questions, and I look forward to hearing back from the remaining candidate (Andres Tobar) in the race (Note: Adam Parkhomenko's interview is available here; Miles Grant's is here; and Patrick Hope's is here).Q. Why, in your own words, have you decided to run for the Virginia House of Delegates from the 47th district at this time? What specific qualifications do you bring to the table?
Our community, our state, and our nation face serious challenges that demand real solutions. Getting our economy back on track and creating jobs is the first priority, because a weak economy affects many of our core priorities such as education, healthcare and social services. Virginia has an important role to play in strengthening our economy and creating jobs by being a strong partner with President Obama and the Democratic Congress. This means putting together a coalition in Richmond that is willing to make needed investments in Virginia in areas such as transportation, education, energy efficiency, and healthcare. These important investments will create jobs in our communities, and lay the foundation for future prosperity. I come to this campaign with public and private sector experience, and an understanding of how to deliver real solutions by linking Arlington’s needs with broader statewide needs.
To learn more about my life experiences and how they have shaped me, please visit my website at www.alanhowze.com.
Q. How would you describe your political philosophy - progressive, moderate, conservative, or - to paraphrase Jim Webb - "the old political labels no longer apply?"
I am a progressive Democrat who believes that a strong, active government can be an agent for improving people’s lives.
Q. What is your attitude regarding bipartisanship, aka "reaching across the aisle?" Is this a high priority for you, or are you more interested in pushing hard for what you believe over compromising with conservative Republicans in the House of Delegates?
There is a time for partisanship and a time for governing, and Republicans in Richmond have chosen partisan politics over responsible governing for far too long on issues that are important to our community.
On issues that directly affect the freedom of people to live their lives free of discrimination and persecution, such as women’s rights, gay rights, abortion rights, and civil rights, we need to fight hard and without compromise.
On other issues such as investing in Virginia, ensuring accountability of our tax dollars, providing social services, managing our state government, and getting results for Arlington, being effective means knowing how to build coalitions to that can get a bill out of Committee and deliver 51 votes on the floor of the House.
I have a record of working effectively with the members of the House Democratic Caucus, both on issues that required bipartisan support, as well as those that required a strong resistance to Republican partisanship. When it comes to representing Arlington in the General Assembly, I will know when to fight and when to reach across the aisle to find votes to improve our quality of life and strengthen our economy.
Q. If elected, what would your top three priorities be when you get to Richmond? Why these and not others?
Creating jobs and fixing or economy has to be our top priority, because without a strong economy we will be hard pressed to fund our priorities in other areas.
In order to create jobs, we need to focus on three areas:
1) Real transportation solutions. We need to create a durable statewide transportation package that provides a large and stable increase in transportation funding. Any transportation package needs to promote mass transit over roads, and must provide significant funding for Arlington and Northern Virginia. Northern Virginia is where the state’s money is raised and where the transportation needs are the most acute. Investing in transportation will create local jobs, ease congestion, reduce pollution, and set the stage for long term economic growth in our region and our state.
2) Create a thriving green energy economy. We can create jobs and reduce our energy consumption by increasing the energy and water efficiency standards for all new and existing public buildings and schools, and creating incentives for homes and businesses to invest in energy and water efficiency. Increasing energy and water efficiency will create local jobs, reduce operating costs for public buildings, reduce pollution, and reduce our carbon footprint.
3) Invest in education. Instituting universal pre-K will create jobs, and more importantly it will give children a strong start in lifelong learning. We must also increase our state investment in k-12 education, which will reduce the property tax burden on homeowners, and ensure that all Virginia children are receiving the type of high quality education that Arlington’s superb public schools provide. Investing in k-12 education will ensure that Virginia’s workers have the skills and training they need to succeed and thrive, even in a down economy. Virginia also needs to live up to its commitments to fund higher education. Higher education support is critical for training tomorrow’s workers, and we must ensure that Virginia’s higher education system of community and four year colleges remains affordable and accessible. Higher education research and development is also a critical economic engine and we must not let our research institutions wither on the vine for lack of state support.
As President Obama notes, in times like these we have to be able to do more than one thing at a time, and there are many other important priorities that I will address as Delegate including repealing Virginia’s ban on gay marriage, expanding health care coverage, integrating immigrants into our communities, and protecting a women’s right to choose.
Q. What is your position on Dillon Rule , which severely limits the power of local government vis-à-vis the state? Should it be weakened to allow a progressive county like Arlington to move ahead on things like human rights, energy efficiency, environmental protection, and other areas?
The Dillon rule should be applied more selectively to allow localities such as Arlington, which leads the way in many areas, to experiment with policies that improve the life and welfare of our citizens.
Q. What will you do to fix the traffic mess in Northern Virginia? Specifically, what is your stance on "smart growth," extending Metrorail to Dulles airport, and I-66 widening?
Transportation networks are systems with many interconnected parts, and as such, require comprehensive solutions. It is not enough to build more roads, and as has often been noted, we can not pave our way our of our traffic problems. Solving our transportation challenges will require significant new broad based and stable funding sources. This will allow us to issue bonds to build large scale public works transportation projects such as new mass transit routes and increase our mass transit capacity.
I am opposed to widening I-66 because it will not reduce traffic congestion and will force more congestion and more pollution into Arlington. I strongly support extending Metro to Dulles and we should be looking at ways to fund further expansions of Metro’s bus and rail service.
After graduating from JMU, I spent three months biking across the country, from Harrisonburg, Virginia to Seattle, Washington, carrying all my gear on my bike and camping along the way. I remain a bike commuter today, and I understand the need for expanded trail networks that provide safe alternative ways for people to move about our communities. Whether for transportation or recreation, we need to invest in our network of bike and pedestrian paths and trails.
Q. What are your beliefs regarding gun control? For instance, do you favor banning so-called "cop killer bullets" and "assault weapons?" What about closing the so-called "gun show loophole?"
We must make sure that our citizens remain safe by keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, domestic abusers, and the mentally ill. Virginia needs to close the gun show loophole, and crack down on gun dealers whose weapons repeatedly show up in crimes within or outside of our state borders.
Q. Do you believe that gays and lesbians should have full marriage rights in the Commonwealth of Virginia? If not, why not?
The gay marriage ban is a stain on Virginia’s Constitution and should immediately be repealed. Gays and lesbians should have the same rights and privileges afforded to heterosexual couples, including full domestic partnership benefits. As I go door-to-door I hear concern about the punitive and mean spirited legislation that unfairly targets our gay and lesbian neighbors and threatens their rights, their property, and the custody of their children. Arlington has led the way as a tolerant, progressive community and I will take these values to Richmond with me to fight for equal rights and protections for gays and lesbians.
Q. Do you support an aggressive move to slash Virginia's power consumption, particularly for fuels that emit carbon dioxide or cause environmental destruction (e.g., mountaintop removal coal mining) in their production? Would you press for "decoupling," "smart metering," and mandatory "renewable portfolio standards" if you get to Richmond?
There are a number of actions that we need to take to reduce our energy consumption and in doing so reduce our carbon emissions (linked to global warming), mercury emissions (linked to nervous system impairment), NOx emissions (linked to acid rain and forest degradation in Shenandoah NP and our National Forests), and fine particulate matter emissions (linked to asthma). These actions include increased efficiency standards in our building codes, incentives for weatherization and efficiency investments, stronger efficiency requirements for all new public buildings and schools. I also support decoupling, smart metering, and the development of a new, more efficient national transmission grid.
One of the most significant steps that we need to take is to restructure Virginia’s relationship with utility companies to “decouple” their revenues from the amount of power they sell, and create incentives for utilities to profitably invest in energy conservation. This would fundamentally transform how power is developed and delivered in Virginia and would pave the way for truly significant investments in energy conservation by making utilities a partner in our conservation efforts. I do not support Dominion Power’s plan to build a new power plant in Surry County or their new facility in Wise County. I believe that the capital invested in these projects should instead be put into conservation efforts that would create many more jobs, reduce energy consumption, and eliminate the need for the additional power generation capacity that the new coal fired facilities are designed to provide.
Virginia can and should do more to make it easier for individuals and businesses to sell power back to the grid through solar, wind and other alternative energy sources. Regulatory hurdles need to be cleared away and the market boosted for alternative energy through policies such as renewable energy portfolio standards.
I have been trained as a home energy auditor and come to energy conservation issues with a hands-on understanding of what is required to reduce consumption, as well as an understanding of the policy tools available to lawmakers to accelerate our transition to a clean power economy.
Q. On a related note, will you pledge to take no money from Dominion Power or other companies that act in ways that harm workers, the environment, etc?
I am not accepting contributions from Dominion Power’s Political Action Committee. I have received a contribution from Bob Blue, a Dominion Power employee, who is a personal friend, a fellow Darden Alumni, and with whom I served in Governor Warner’s administration.
Q. Which one issue are you most passionate about and why?
Getting our economy back on track and creating new jobs is my highest priority, because it lies at the heart of our ability to address so many of the other issues that we care about. I am confident that Virginia can partner with the federal government to strengthen our economy and rebuild our society in ways that promote our values and address the long term challenges that we face. We can meet our transportation needs, and we can do so in ways that create jobs, reduce traffic, and expand mass transit and alternative transportation such as bike paths. We can improve the education we provide to our children and make college affordable and accessible. We can meet our energy and environmental challenges in ways that reduce global warming and pollution. We can provide health care for children and families and partner with the federal government to truly deliver universal healthcare.
Q. Can you give us a few reasons why people should vote for you instead of your Democratic opponents?
I come to this campaign with a unique perspective of how to link our needs here in Arlington with the larger statewide picture to create real solutions to the challenges that we face. I was born in Arlington Hospital and I grew up in Clarendon, but I have also lived and worked in many other parts of state.
I’ve spent many years working to turn Virginia blue, and have worked to elect Democrats at the local, general assembly, congressional, statewide, and Presidential levels. I have traveled to all 95 counties and 39 cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and I have recruited and trained candidates from across the state to run for office. I bring to this race not only an understanding of why it is important to win back the House of Delegates this year, but a strategic perspective of what it will take to do so. I believe that the 47th District Delegate can and should play an important role in this effort, and I am committed to working hard to win back the House this year.
I have experience working closely with Legislative leaders from Arlington such as Senator Whipple and Delegates Brink and Ebbin, and with legislators from around the state. I understand how Richmond works, and how to be effective in representing Arlington in the General Assembly. I have been at the table during negotiations between Governor Warner and the legislature, and I have worked to develop and execute legislative strategies that delivered more funding for education, public safety and healthcare.
I spent ten years in the public sector developing a deep understanding of Virginia, of the legislative process and what it means to effectively serve constituents. I have spent the past several years working in the private sector, I’ve owned and operated my own small business and I have worked with environmental non-profits. The combination of public and private sector experience provides me with a clear understanding of how we can create jobs and how Virginia can effectively invest in key areas such as clean energy, transportation, and education. I’ve got a record of delivering real results, and I will work hard to provide real solutions to the many challenges that we face.
