John Michael Wolfe had been following local politics for several years and was growing increasingly frustrated. Then, he took the plunge and decided to run for the 41st House of Delegate seat. That crowded contest already includes 30-year incumbent Jim Dillard (R) and another Independent challenger, Michael Golden.
"I would say it happened early this spring," said Wolfe (I). "The Republicans had taken control, and our situation in Northern Virginia hadn't changed."
Schools and transportation were still suffering from archaic funding formulas that denied Northern Virginia its fair share of state money, Wolfe said. Officials in Richmond had driven the state into a budget crisis and steadfastly refused to consider tax increases, while political fund-raising, bloated with money from special interests groups, showed no sign of calming down, he said.
"The government for a long time was controlled by the Democrats. Then the Republicans took control, and now we have many high-ranking Republicans who are in key positions, and we also have a Democrat from Northern Virginia who's a governor, but there was no real change," he said. "My view was it was time for somebody to run and maybe address this issue."
IT'S NOT like Wolfe has nothing else to do with his time. He runs a Web design company and is working toward a Ph.D. in information technology at George Mason University.
"I'm the person with the most to lose if I win," he deadpanned. "I will have to make a lot of personal sacrifices to serve this district."
If elected, Wolfe said he would limit himself to three terms in office.
One of the major goals that Wolfe hopes to accomplish if elected is to get the state out of its budget mess. The only way to do that, he said, is to raise taxes.
"I support raising the state gasoline tax. We really need to raise that more to fund transportation," he said, adding that he is considering a 5-cent-per-gallon increase with a study every five years to determine whether it needs to be raised further.
He also said he is in favor of raising the cigarette tax 5 or 10 cents a pack.
"I think the situation is that we have a funding problem with education and transportation, so the money's going to come [from] somewhere, and we're either going to raise it by gas taxes or tobacco taxes or income taxes," he said.
On transportation, Wolfe said that he supports High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes, extending Metro, and promoting telecommuting. Wolfe opposed last year's sales tax referendum, he said, because "we are not getting our fair share of services, and if we just continually raise our own taxes, the system will never change."
In his support of tax increases, Wolfe is almost indistinguishable from his main rival, Del. Jim Dillard (R-41st).
Dillard has introduced several bills that would have increased taxes in order to finance the state's needs. Dillard has said he supports raising cigarette taxes because smokers end up being responsible for over 60 percent of Medicaid costs, which are borne by the entire state.
A cigarette tax, he said, "would free up some money that we could use for other areas."
Dillard has also said he would "probably" support a gas tax increase to pay for more public transportation.
Of Wolfe, Dillard said, "I haven't heard anything from him one way or the other."
BUT WOLFE differs from Dillard in his unorthodox campaigning methods. Wolfe is not seeking endorsements from special-interest groups and won't return their questionnaires. Instead, he is posting the questions and his answers on his Web site, votewolfe.org. He has also refused to accept any campaign contributions, preferring to fund his entire effort by himself and capping his spending at $5,000.
Spending vastly more on a campaign, he said, is a "problem.”
"To me that is not necessary," he said.
If elected, he said he would donate his $12,000 a year Delegate's salary to projects in his district.
"I don't need the extra income," he said. "I would rather give it back to the community."
Wolfe would also hold meetings and poll his constituents before important votes to ask them how he should vote.
"I have to cast my vote based on their opinion and not mine," he said. "It would work at this local level. It's maybe not practical for the governor or, say, a U.S. president."
WOLFE HAS traveled extensively throughout Asia and has spent years volunteering to tutor Asian university students in English.
"I think he thinks that is his mission, to introduce America to all the world," said Ning Xu, a Chinese student at George Mason University, who has lived in the United States for two years.
"I'm sure he can do a very god job in politics, because he likes it very much. He's very passionate about it," she said.
Another friend, Shulan Jiang, said Wolfe just wants "to change people's lives."
Jiang said she trusted Wolfe to help bring down university tuition in Virginia, which has shot up an average $1,000, and to help relieve the area's traffic problem.