Office sought: Board of Supervisors, Broad Run District
Party Affiliation: Republican
Previous offices held: none
Incumbents: when elected to this position:
Occupation: Executive Director
Current employment: Eagle Forum, 316 Pennsylvania Ave., SE, Suite 203, Washington, D.C .20003
Previous employment
Education: BA in Political Science from Furman University, 1997
Community ties: member of Sonrise Community Church
ENDORSEMENTS:
U.S. Sen. George Allen, Congressman Frank Wolf, Senator Bill Mims, Delegate Dick Black, Michael Farris, Morton Blackwell, Dulles Area Association of Realtors, Virginia Federation of Republican Women
1. What is your top public-service accomplishment?
I have worked with national leaders, Congress, and the Bush Administration for parental rights in education and for federal tax rate reductions, doubling the per-child tax credit, easing the marriage tax penalty, and eliminating the death tax.
2. What are the top five problems facing your constituents and what approaches will you use to solve them? Describe one challenge (or more) in your district that is different than other parts of the county.
1. Real estate taxes are up 69 percent in four years. We must set priorities through a zero- based budget approach and eliminate pet projects.
2. Gridlock traffic is only getting worse, especially since the county transportation plan partially relies on sidewalks and bike paths to ease traffic. I will work to build, upgrade, and ill missing links in our roads.
3. There is increasing crime, including gang activity. The new bridge over Goose Creek is already marked with MS-13 gang graffiti. I support community policing and working with HOAS, such as Ashburn Village, that are willing to provide office space for community police officers.
4. School boundaries are a true nightmare with children frequently switching schools and then cause buses to bypass closer schools. I will build a positive working relationship with the school board to help parents in difficult situations.
5. The lack of useable open space, such as ball fields, is a real challenge for the Broad Run District. More children wish to take part in youth sports, which are character-building activities. Some Supervisors even advocated charging children to play on county-owned ball fields while championing the Purchase of Development Rights program that has used up nearly 9 million tax dollars. To me, participating in youth sports is not fair game for politicians to tax. I will eliminate PDRs, and refocus funding to ball fields.
3. What qualities, qualifications and characteristics will you bring to this office?
As Executive Director of Eagle Forum, I have worked on behalf of families for reasonable tax reductions, fiscal responsibility, and respect for family values, especially parental rights. I will apply these core principles to the Board of Supervisors to bring common sense and reasonableness back to our local government. I have also worked extensively in coalitions. As Supervisor, I believe in having an open door and having a respectful and professional working relationship, even when disagreement occurs.
4. How will voters best distinguish between you and your opponent(s)?
I will be an advocate for Broad Run families. I will look out for the family budget as well as the needs of Broad Run families. Given a choice between funding schools or pet projects, I choose schools. Give my opponent that same choice, and he will just double your taxes.
5. What specific solutions will you propose for the transportation dilemma? Please address funding, prioritization, air quality, bus service and other non-rail public transportation solutions, expansion of rail service, and any other possible approach.
The county transportation plan calls for side walks and bike paths to ease traffic congestions. These are unrealistic measures considering a 30 mile commute or 3 inches of snow. Furthermore, the bike path plan doesn't even intelligently connect current and future paths. I support building and upgrading our roads. Funding will have to come from proffers and Richmond. More taxes aren't the answer since we already pay 36 cents per gallon in gas taxes. While some people fear that more roads will bring more people. I ask: what about the people who already live here. It is wrong for working parents to spend more time with commuting than with their families. I support carpooling, telecommuting, and bus rapid transit as additional solutions, especially since rail is extraordinarily expensive and isn't supposed to reach us until after 2015. .
6. The majority on the current Board of Supervisors have followed a "Smart Growth" policy. How has it been successful? How has it failed? What remains to be done?
What is "smart" growth? The definition varies depending on whom you ask. I will work against both "dumb" growth and "dumb" government. I believe that some specific changes are needed to the Zoning Ordinance, but we are unlikely to see a revamping of the entire plan. It was a gruesome process for homeowners and businesses, but we can make improvements where unintended consequences of the Zoning Ordinance are only now being realized. For instance, under this new plan, school ballfields cannot be built in flood plains, which means the cost of school sites rises significantly. With good engineering and design, we can balance the environmental concerns as well as meet the growing demand for more ballfields for children to play on. Furthermore, we need to establish a better level of predictability and timing in the county approval process.
7. What are your top environmental priorities? Please address air quality, water quality, open space, etc.
My top environmental policies are balancing the needs of people with protecting our natural resources. For instance, current rules prevent ball fields in flood plains. With proper design and engineering, we can utilize these areas for children to play while protecting the environment. Furthermore, storm water management has become a euphemism for mosquito pond breeding grounds. Our environmental policies must consider public health concerns, especially considering the growing number of West Nile virus cases each year.
8. Are residents safe enough? How do public safety officials balance new demands of "homeland security" with other safety and quality of life issues?
Families move to Loudoun county for suburban life - quality schools, less crime, etc. However, as we grow, crime is also increasing, especially the influx of gangs. Public safety officials have taken action to address the gang activity as well as homeland security threats. More can be done through enhancing community policing initiatives.
9. Do you have any concerns about civil liberties and public access to information in the wake of the Patriot Act and other responses to Sept. 11?
I am concerned about the impact of the Patriot Act and related bills on the rights of law-abiding citizens. The growing philosophy in government is that everyone is a suspect. I oppose tacking and tracking law-abiding citizens in everything they do. I have worked diligently at the federal level to eliminate the Total Information Awareness program, to limit the reach of the CAPPS II passenger profiling system, and to prevent the adoption of a national ID card.
10. Working poor families in Northern Virginia face a daunting cost of living, with little in the way of affordable housing, health care, child care and transportation. Are low-wage workers important to the local economy? What do you propose to address the needs of these families?
All workers are important to the local economy. Affordable housing, health care, and transportation are problems all families are facing. Government has neither the ability, expertise, nor money to help alone. We should look for opportunities to partner with private organizations to help relieve burdens on the poor. We should also put policies in place that given people greater ownership over their health care decisions.
11. Should counties have the taxing authority of cities?
No. Higher taxes would likely result. I support state tax reform as long as the proposal is revenue-neutral or reduces taxes. Revising formulas that send our tax dollars to other parts of the state is a step in the right direction. While the state endures a budget crunch, it is vital for our representatives to reassess priorities and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.
12. What proposals do you have for mitigating the effects of soaring property values and related taxes?
The demand for housing is high in Loudoun County. Property values will continue to soar as a result of the market. However, that doesn't mean that real estate taxes have to skyrocket as well. By setting fiscal priorities and being better stewards of the people's money, we can reduce the tax rate to balance out the increased assessments. I believe that we can better manage growth with smarter government policies.
13. What campaign finance reform do you support? How should the county avoid conflict of interest, or even the appearance of conflict, given the Board's role in approving development and zoning changes and contributions by development interests?
While some believe that candidates are available to be bought. Based on political contributions, I have found that many business interests are quite timid in supporting a particular candidate out of fear or retribution from the other candidate or his party. The current reporting rules are adequate. It is up to the individual candidates to make his or her positions and interests clear so that when votes come up, any questions about conflict of interest are openly addressed and fully resolved before moving forward.
Please feel free to send us any other materials you think might help us understand your motivations, positions, record and candidacy.
Please feel free to visit my website, www.votelori.com for additional information.
Lori Waters,
Republican for Broad Run Supervisor