McLean resident Robert Anderson was not really familiar with Del. Margi Vanderhye (D-34) before he attended a “meet and greet” with the candidate at his neighbor’s house Oct. 19.

But almost from the moment Vanderhye, also a McLean resident, walked into the small gathering of 15 people or so, Anderson and the delegate were talking transportation.

Vanderhye listened to Anderson’s ideas of about using speed cameras for revenue and timing lights to move traffic better. She also shared some of her own thoughts on how to improve traffic congestion in Northern Virginia and across the state.

Though she has only been in office two years, the Democrat has been serving as a political appointee on regional and state transportation commissions since Gov. Doug Wilder’s administration in the late 1980s.

“Frankly, I am impressed. I didn’t expect her to know as much as she did,” said Anderson, who had not necessarily been converted into a supporter but seemed to be considering voting for Vanderhye.

“I am sure her opponent can hold her own too,” said Anderson, referring to the Republican running against Vanderhye in a tight election next month.

Vanderhye faces Barbara Comstock, a Capitol Hill veteran, in a general election for the 34th district delegate seat Nov. 3.

INDEED, Comstock, who has lived in McLean since 1981, is running an enthusiastic campaign and attracting many supporters of her own in the district, which includes Great Falls, most of McLean and a sliver of Herndon.

The Republican runs her own public relations and government affairs firm and previously worked as a U.S Department of Justice spokesperson under former Attorney General John Ashcroft. Comstock was also the head of research at the Republican National Committee, where she was instrumental in digging information up on former President Bill Clinton.

Earlier in her career, Comstock was chief counsel for the House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform and a senior legislative aide for local U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-10).

McLean resident Ellen Field has known Comstock since both of their children, now out of college, attended pre-school together. She supported Vanderhye, who she considers a friend, during the 2007 election but has thrown support behind Comstock this year.

“Margi has had a lot of experience in the transportation area but Barbara has had a wealth of experiences in many areas,” said Field, who identifies as a Republican.

Comstock has been a stay-at-home mom and a working mom. She has been a federal employee and, most recently, started her own small business, said Field.

“She is a quick study. Barbara is as bright as they come and she has done it all. She can relate to everyone,” she said.

“I am very excited about Barbara’s chances but, really, it is just great to see two, smart capable women running. It just feels good. There was a time when we wouldn’t have had any women running,” added Field.

BUT EVEN WHEN the candidates agree on what issues are important, such as transportation, Vanderhye and Comstock have proposed radically different ways of dealing with the problem.

The Democrat said the amount of money dedicated to transportation is simply not enough to meet the state’s needs and that new revenue will be needed. She is not in favor of using more of Virginia’s general fund revenue for transportation, because that money is already allocated toward important state functions like education.

“A slightly bigger bit of a four-inch tart is still not enough if you need a 10-inch pie,” said Vanderhye, to make an analogy to the state’s transportation funding situation.

Though she is not in favor of raising taxes or fees during a recession, Vanderhye said the state should devise a plan for funding transportation improvements and raising revenue when the economy bounces back.

Vanderhye is in favor of using revenue sources, such as tolls or possibly a gas tax, so both Virginians and out-of-state people who drive on Virginia roads would share the burden of a tax increase.

“The solutions are there. The question is whether we have the political will,” said the delegate.

COMSTOCK agrees that transportation is a problem but doesn’t believe that raising taxes, now or during a better economic period, is the solution to traffic congestion.

She criticized Vanderhye for voting in favor of transportation proposals this year, which did not pass, that would have raised taxes on Northern Virginia residents. She said enough revenue can be raised to address Northern Virginia’s transportation funding shortfall by changing the state transportation formula, which favors rural communities over urban and suburban communities.

If the formula is not changed and taxes go up, Northern Virginia will simply be contributing more money to the state and still not getting enough back to meet the region’s needs, Comstock said.

“We do not need to pay more to Richmond. Raising our taxes is not a way to bring economic growth to the area,” said Comstock.

Several incumbents, including Vanderhye, have said it politically impossible to change the transportation formula as Comstock suggests because a majority of the delegates benefit from the current structure of funding.

But Comstock said, at the latest, an opportunity will arise when the census calls for political redistricting in two years and more delegate seats are located in urban and suburban areas, causing a shift in power from rural to suburban and urban areas.

What extra money is needed for transportation fixes should come from innovative solutions, like the selling of the state-owned liquor stores and royalties from drilling for oil off the shore of Virginia Beach, Comstock said.

Vanderhye said it is not clear whether off-shore drilling for oil would actually produce any funding for Virginia, since the federal government may already have a claim on any royalties that come from such a project.

Vanderhye is in support of drilling for natural gas off Virginia’s shoreline or installing wind farms along the Virginia coast. The wind farms could be placed far enough away that they would not interfere with an average person’s view of the horizon from the shore, she said.

STATE COLLEGE SLOTS have also become a big issue during the campaign.

Comstock said Virginia colleges and universities should be required to take a higher percentage of in-state students in their freshman classes. Currently, some universities, like the University of Virginia, draw more than 30 percent of the undergraduate students from out of state.

In general, Virginia’s state universities and colleges claim they are forced to accept more out-of-state students because the higher tuition those students pay helps cover the cost of educating in-state students, whose tuition is much lower. The state has also cut much of the higher education’s public funding in recent years.

For example, the state provides less than 10 percent of the University of Virginia’s annual operating budget.

Comstock has criticized Vanderhye for not supporting a bill that would have required state colleges and universities from drawing less than 75 percent of its class from inside Virginia.

But Vanderhye said that to artificially increase the number of in-state students attending Virginia state colleges and universities without increasing state funding to the schools would cause in-state tuition to rise sharply and would diminish the amount of financial aide that could be offered, she said.

Vanderhye is in favor of incrementally imposing some increases on out-of-state tuition but she would not support an artificial cap on the number of out-of-state students that could attend Virginia colleges.

VANDERHYE, who calls herself a moderate, said many of Comstock’s views on “social issues” are out of line with the thinking of most 35th delegate district residents.

“We have very different records and very different views,” said Vanderhye.

Vanderhye has been opposed to new laws that, for example, banned companies who did stem cell research from locating in Virginia. Vanderhye said the issue of stem cell research is linked economic development.

“North Carolina and Maryland are eating our lunch when it comes to biomedical research,” said Vanderhye.

During a debate at the McLean Community Center, Comstock deflected a question about her views on social issues by stating that they were “divisive issues” that were no longer a hot topic of discussion in Virginia.

But Vanderhye said there were at least six bills attached to budget amendments aimed at restricting reproductive rights during this year’s General Assembly session. One such bill would have required a woman to report a miscarriage to law enforcement, she said.

“There is a group of legislators and that is what they are there for. Those types of bills,” said Vanderhye.

The delegate added that Comstock has had a long career working with the conservative wing of the Republican Party. Comstock has received about $10,000 from “pro-family” or “family values” political groups, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

Comstock said she was interested in focusing on practical issues, such as the ones she tackled for Wolf as a legislative aide.

“Both my opponent and I have worked for our respective political parties. … I see
Congressman Wolf as role model. I really want to have a record of getting the job done like he does,” said Comstock.

WITH MANY CONNECTIONS to national politics, Comstock is a well-funded challenger, having raised approximately $457,000 to Vanderhye’s $460,000 during this election cycle, according to the most recent campaign finance reports.

The 34th district is also considered a swing district. In 2007, Vanderhye won the district over Republican Dave Hunt by about 52 percent.

Prior to that, Del Vince Callahan (R-34) represented the district for four decades.
In 2008, President Barack Obama won 53 percent of the vote in the district but Wolf also performed far better than his Democratic opponent during the same election cycle. Four years earlier, Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry barely edged out President George W. Bush in the district with 50 percent of the vote to the incumbent’s 49 percent.

Former U.S. Rep. Tom Davis (R-11) said it is difficult to tell who will win the race between Vanderhye and Comstock.

“This is a race with two very energetic and capable candidates. This is a race where you have two good choices. There are some other races with neither of the candidates as good as Margi or Barbara,” said Davis.