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Will's campaign website highlights the following issues:
One of the most important investments we can make is in our children. They deserve a first class education to better prepare them for their future, beginning with the reform of our standards of learning (SOL) evaluation. Students should be taught to interact with the subject matter with critical thinking skills rather than just memorize for a test. Undue stress is put on our children at a very early age, learning to despise school, and affecting their health.
We need to allow for more control of schools by local school and county boards who are accountable directly to the people of that particular school division. This is especially necessary in funding as we must review and adjust how our schools are funded.
We need to make higher education more accessible and affordable for all. We can create more opportunities for students to gain college credits in high school. For some students, learning a trade is more suitable, therefore we should offer such training beginning in high school, even offering certifications to help them begin their career.
We can strengthen and expand our community college system to include more vocational training after high school certification, while assisting other students begin their academic journey.
For those wanting a future in the agriculture business we should provide incentives to do so and offer education in 21st century techniques. We should provide innovation for future careers with an economic philosophy that I call “eco-conservatism”. This is the practice of job creation, with successful small businesses, while using our resources wisely, securing the future.
Agriculture is the cornerstone of the Virginia economy, and always has been, yet the state is not doing enough to promote or protect it. For starters, we have nutrient run-off and soil erosion issues which are affecting our crops.
I will support agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) that will ease restrictions and provide farmers more freedom to succeed. An example of this would be introducing incentives for nutrient management programs.
I also plan to work for the introduction of industrial hemp production, somewhat of a miracle plant. This plant can take a struggling farm of 10 acres or more and turn it into a thriving farm with a lucrative crop. It requires no pesticides, it self-composts, does not require rotation of fields, yields two harvests per year and creates jobs as it increases the need for an expanded workforce.
We must remove unnecessary regulations from our small businesses and farms. Agricultural products should be easier to get from the farm to the table.
We should be fully engaged in the protection of our environment and natural resources. I will be a leader in the transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy. I will oppose any new pipelines or any fracking. We will protect our state and national parks, our waterways and our biodiversity with the protection of our endangered species.
It is becoming critical that we address C02 emissions which automobiles are the main cause of. To combat this I will introduce legislation that offers tax credits for the purchase of electric hybrid cars. We will also offer incentives to individual home owners for the installation of solar systems, not just for businesses.
We will need to be innovative in preparing for the future. I will work with local elected officials toward the installation of solar powered charging stations throughout the district. We can also do this at interstate rest stops to aid tourism and at commuter lots as well. Installation of these will also create jobs for our local work-force.
We must also be diligent in our protection of water. We must assure that lakes, rivers and streams, as well as groundwater are not being polluted and that there is an adequate supply for our residents.
While the protection of the rights of property owners is important, the rights of neighbors are as well. With every right comes responsibility. We should all be free to utilize our property as we enjoy, but not to the point it affects someone else's property.
The introduction of hemp as a cash crop increase the agricultural work force and increases the demand for manufacturing to convert it to consumer products. Then there is the sales of same. As we make it easier for solar systems to be installed the need for installation and maintenance of it rises, creating new local industries.
We must be fully engaged in the promotion of buying at local businesses and eating locally grown foods. On average 48% of monies spent at a local business returns directly into the local economy while only 13% spent at non-local businesses returns. We need to return to a Main St over Wall St economy.
We will work to ease the burdens on the starting of a new business with less restrictive regulations, most of which are designed to benefit the larger out-of-town businesses. The same will be done for existing small businesses to help them succeed as half of the private sector jobs in Virginia are with these small businesses.
Assistance with training for those with jobs that are disappearing due to innovation and modernization, such as coal workers.
Encourage investment in our infrastructure. Businesses looking to locate in Virginia will need roads, bridges, utilities and even broadband. An educated workforce is an asset as well.
it is imperative that we review and modernize our antiquated tax code.
This is an issue that has become a crisis in America. Access to healthcare should be a right of citizenship. Medical treatment should not be limited to the privileged. One out of every seven people in the 18th district have no heath insurance coverage of any sort. The under insured, and those with unaffordable coverage is staggering.
First, after careful study and consideration of the expansion of Medicaid as it presently stands, is both a good business decision as well as a moral one. Virginians are presently having this money withdrawn from their paychecks to pay for it, and have been for years. Even at the 10% liability to the state for this the increased revenues and job creation will add more to the state budget than the cost. This is certainly not the solution for healthcare, but an immediate stop gap that should be employed. 2600 residents of the districts would be covered by this expansion, immediately.
Bottom line, healthcare for profit is destroying our families, our economy and our small businesses. “Obamacare” was not the answer, and “Trumpcare” is even worse. If the Congress is not willing, or able, to address this crisis then we, as Virginians must. I am prepared to lead the way on this, looking at what other states are doing.
While I don't necessarily subscribe to the notion that there is an active pre-meditated “war on women”, it cannot be denied that inequities exist and are deeply embedded in our culture. Equal pay for equal work, as well as equal treatment, is a a no brainer and must become the norm.
As to healthcare, and a woman's right to choose, I believe that this is an issue best taken out of the hands of the government and handled between the woman, her family, her doctor and her god. Government intrusion into this area should be withdrawn.
Shamefully, Virginia has not yet ratified the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution. It has actively refused to codify that women and men are equal partners in society, in business and in government. How then can a legislature be entrusted to legislate the body of a woman when it has yet to see her as a human of equal stature?
I will be a leader toward the ratification of the ERA.
All humans are entitled to rights that are inalienable to all of us regardless of nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status. All of humanity is entitled to these basic human rights without discrimination. The following are examples of these rights and are interrelated, interdependent and indivisible:
Having served in the military, a former law enforcement officer, and a gun owner, I fully support the 2nd Amendment. I do, however, believe that there are circumstances whereby someone should not have access to guns. We must exercise common sense in all of our rights.
