Accotink Unitarian Universalist Church was the political hub of the 41st District Sunday, Oct. 18, as it played host to a debate for the candidates for the House of Delegates.

Incumbent Del. David Marsden (D-41), Republican challenger Kerry Bolognese and Independent Green Party candidate Monique Berry met for an hour-and-a-half long debate, answering questions submitted by the audience on the most important issues facing the area.

After each question was read, the candidates were given three minutes to answer, and were then given one minute to either rebut to comments made by an opponent or to clarify or expand an answer. Similar to many other debates in the region, the predominant questions pertained to transportation, energy, jobs and the economy.

The candidates' stance on the energy issue was an important topic to the environmentally-conscious audience, and their respective solutions to the problems reflected the familiar refrain of their parties. Marsden said that he is a proponent of wind power and favors building windmills along Virginia’s coast. In addition to providing cheap energy, he said, it would also create jobs.

“The number of jobs that can be created by wind power off the coast of Virginia is staggering,” Marsden said. “These are the kind of sustainable jobs we need. The offshore winds in Virginia are the best in the country.”

Bolognese said that he is a supporter of offshore oil drilling, and also said that he favors mining for coal. He said that an abundance of both natural gas and coal exist in the state, and that they would be the foundation of the economy. Bolognese also countered Marsden’s call for windmills, calling them a “pipe dream” and saying that they have proved to be environmentally destructive.

“We have massive natural gas and mineral deposits in Virginia and I strongly support brining these resources into Northern Virginia,” Bolognese said.

Berry, a committed environmentalist who does trash pickups in her free time, said that she, like the other candidates, feels that alternative energy sources are needed, but feels that changes have to occur in the community before the use of these energies can be widespread. She said that having the alternative energies is beneficial, but until businesses have a reason to use them, the dependence on traditional energy sources would not lessen.

“Everyone talks about saving the environment, but no one tells you how,” Berry said. “The government has to make more incentives for business to go green.”

ON TRANSPORTATION, the candidates were again divided. Marsden said the he favors an increase of the gas tax as one way to generate more funding for the transportation budget. He said that while raising taxes is something he does not like to do, the gas tax has not been changed in 24 years, and therefore, has not remained in proportion to the expansion of the overall budget. In addition, Marsden said that when the economy recovers, he would vote for more funding going to the state’s transportation budget.

“We need to put all possibilities on the table [to solve the transportation problems],” Marsden said. “When the economy recovers, I will vote to bring revenue to transportation, but the economy cannot take it right now. We’ve got to do it when the time is right.”

Bolognese said that if elected, he would push for the state to earmark a certain amount of new revenue for the transportation budget. He also said that he favors the formation of private-public partnerships in order to get projects completed, and decried Marsden’s support of the gas tax.

“[If Marsden is elected], your reward as a citizen for getting a smaller, more fuel efficient car, would be a higher gas tax,” Bolognese said. “I would favor a percentage of new revenue dedicated to transportation.”

Berry, on the other hand, disagreed with both candidates on how to solve the transportation issue. She said that instead of raising taxes or securing funding from revenue, she would favor the increased accountability of the government in regards to taxation, saying that enough money is being brought in to build more roads, but that too much of it gets wasted in the bureaucratic process.

“People talk about raising taxes, but what about tax accountability?” Berry asked. “Instead of asking what taxes to raise or what programs to cut, how about asking how that tax money is being spent?”

While each candidate drew rounds of applause on several answers from the 100-plus person audience, the attendees interviewed said that they already had a favored candidate prior to the debate, and that the candidates they did not support did little to curry favor.

“I had supported Del. Marsden in the past and this did not change that,” said Burke resident Ron Maccaroni. “My wife and I just wanted to hear all three of the candidate speak, so we came.”