Transportation

Northern Virginia’s transportation infrastructure is essential to the current and long-term prosperity of our region. We must develop, implement, and fund transportation solutions that are safe, efficient, and sustainable for our citizens and businesses.

The Kaine administration wasted years, left our infrastructure a mess and failed to spend the dollars that it had available.

I will work to keep more of the transportation tax revenue from Northern Virginia – in Northern Virginia. I will work to strengthen public/private partnerships and implement creative solutions like the use of innovative traffic management technology and business tax incentives for telecommuting.

We can do better – we must do better.

Education

I will work to expand the charter school programs in Virginia which have proven to be a tremendous success.

I will work to cap out-of-state admissions to our colleges and universities so that our children will not be discriminated against because they happen to live in Virginia. Currently, 30% of the university slots are given to students living out-of-state. Our tax dollars support these institutions, yet far too often our own children are denied admission.

Taxes

While our state budget has doubled over the last 10 years, there are still some in Richmond who are convinced that raising taxes is the only solution. We won’t solve our problems by raising taxes; in fact, we will just make them worse.

As your Senator, I will work to find efficiencies, eliminate fraud, cut waste and hold our government accountable for results. Government must learn to do more with less - in the same manner as the private sector.

Public Safety

Law Enforcement and First Responders – Law enforcement officers and other first responders are essential to the security and prosperity of our communities. I will work to ensure that they are properly staffed, trained, and equipped to enhance their ability to protect our families, children, and neighborhoods.

Elderly – I will work to strengthen our ability to punish those who commit crimes against the elderly. As the Executive Director of Greenspring, the Commonwealth’s largest continuing care retirement community, I see seniors targeted daily by predators seeking to exploit. These criminals must be stopped.

Children – I will stand with Governor McDonnell and work to give Attorney General Cuccinelli the tools necessary to protect Virginia from child predators and street gangs. I will work to require tougher sentences for sexual predators, including extending their stay on the Sex Offender Registry and requiring life-long monitoring for the most dangerous offenders.

I will also work to create better programs and tougher sentences to combat domestic violence and child abuse.

Transparency in Government

I will support legislation to have Virginia’s expenditures placed on the Internet so that our citizens have clear and easy access to the budgets of their government.

Protecting Life

I believe that a fundamental responsibility of government is to protect the weakest in society. I will fight to protect the right to life for all people from conception to natural death.

Second Amendment Rights

The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution clearly states that every law-abiding citizen has the right to own a firearm, and I believe that it is an individual right that must be protected.

Energy

I will work with Governor McDonnell to enact an energy plan that supports the growing needs of the Commonwealth and reduces our country’s dependence on foreign oil.

I aggressively support initiatives to explore and drill for oil and natural gas off Virginia’s coast. I will support Virginia’s coal and nuclear industries. I will work to support alternative and renewable forms of energy in Virginia.

Property Rights

I believe that the right to own and keep property is one of the most fundamental rights envisioned by our Founding Fathers. This right must be defended in Virginia through the addition of a constitutional amendment.

Right To Work

Virginia’s Right to Work laws are critical to keeping Virginia one of the best places to do business in the country. I see first hand the unprecedented drive for union expansion in the Commonwealth. I understand the subsequent cost to our economy and will fight to protect Virginia businesses, consumers and employees from the traps of unionization.