Politics & Government
New 13th Senate District positions Black against Prince William hopefuls
The district skirts Leesburg and Manassas, offers battleground for three conservative Republicans to fight for a Senate majority in November.
Virginia’s new 13th Senate district has a field of three Republicans vying in the party's Aug. 23 primary for the nomination to run against Democrat Shawn Mitchell in the Nov. 8 general election.
The district runs north to south from above Lovettsville to west and north of Manassas. It also includes Purcellvillle but skirts both Leesburg and Manassas.
At an Aug. 10 debate sponsored by the Republican Party leadership, the candidates met at the Rust Library in Leesburg, each arguing he would be the best candidate to face Mitchell.
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Dick Black of Leesburg and John Stirrup of Haymarket disagreed about a 1998 vote on a bill in the House of Delegates during a special session on repealing the car tax. Stirrup quoted a Washington Times news article which alleged that Black voted for a "back door pay raise" attached to the bill that increased the delegates' out-of-session pay. Black denied the vote. "I won't get into their little tiff," said FitzSimmonds, of Bristow.
Excerpts from the candidates' Aug. 10 comments are condensed here; these comments are not verbatim or comprehensive. For more detail about the candidates’ views, please visit their web sites.
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13th District Seat, Virginia Senate
Dick Black
Bob FitzSimmonds
John Stirrup
Age
67
59
54
Occupation
Lawyer
Chief deputy clerk of court in Prince William County Circuit Court.
Second term, Gainesville District, Prince William County Board of Supervisors.
Previous campaigns
Served four terms in Virginia House of Delegates from 1998-2005.
Received 46% of the vote in a 2007 run for the Senate seat in District 29 against Va. Sen. Charles Colgan, longest-serving senator and president pro tempore of the Senate.
Ran and elected to Prince William Board of Supervisors in 2003; re-elected 2007.
Funds raised:
District 13
Loudoun County: 92,298 (74%);
Prince William County: 31,957 (26%)
Web site
Opening statement
The nation is in a crisis. Everyone in this room has got to do everything in their power to get us moving again. There is a connection between the collapse of morality in the country and the collapse of Wall Street.
Established three crisis pregnancy centers, started a voluntary abstinence program that both Fauquier and Prince William Counties adopted
On Prince William Board of Supervisors he cut $143 million out of a $900 million budget, a 16% cut. Removed 4,000 “criminal aliens” from Prince William County.
Do you support Dulles rail?
I seriously question Metro from the airport to Loudoun. People pay tremendous amounts to come in on Rt. 267. We’ve got to play hardball and not impact the people who use the toll road. We cannot make them subsidize Metro.
With a caveat. Compared to the Boston “T,” we have the most expensive and least effective metro system in the U.S. We can put pressure on Metro to economize … and reform and become a world-class system.
The fare box on Metro only covers 44% of the cost. The second phase is already $1 billion over budget. You could limousine everyone from their home to the airport cheaper than they could take Metro.
[Rail to Dulles] is a great idea, but it’s probably not viable any more.
Do conservation easements violate property rights?
We have gone back and forth with growth and no growth. The Democratic Board (of Supervisors) has not changed anything. Supervisor (Mick) Staton (Black’s son-in-law) introduced the Staton plan that put in place a permanent policy so the west (of Loudoun) stays rural and the east continues to see growth. This will play out in a fairly short time. It is essentially a decided issue in Loudoun, and also in Prince William.
It doesn’t violate property rights if it's voluntary. Bring the decisions back to the locality I support market-based solutions. If anyone wants to downzone, they should have that ability.
This policy depends on the jurisdiction and should be decided on a case-by-case basis. In Prince William, explosive growth raised taxes and crowded the schools. It became unattractive to live there. Those choices should be made locally. What drives these decisions is you, the taxpayers. Without growth, the economy contracts, and you die.
Did you take a tax pledge?
I signed the no-tax pledge for Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) and the Campaign for Liberty. Votes are more important than words on a pledge. I have never voted for a single tax increase. I sued two Democratic governors – Kaine and Warner – on tax increases.
Yes, I signed the ATR tax pledge. John (Stirrup) signed it after I publicized that he hadn’t signed it.
I signed the ATR “no tax increase” pledge. I have never voted for a tax increase in eight years on the [Prince William] Board of Supervisors.
[Rebuttal to FitzSimmonds]
I signed the pledge for the Senate race because I needed to sign again when I ran for a new office.
Do you support e-verify? Should it be mandatory for states and businesses?
Yes. There are 14 million unemployed in the US and we allow one million illegal immigrants here. This is nonsense. We've got to get a grip on it. Sub-contractors are the ones that hire illegals. We should make them use E-verify.
Yes. It should be mandatory for government and probably for businesses. To deal with illegal immigration, we are going to have to cut off the jobs.
Yes -- for government employees, contractors, and business subcontractors. We need to get a handle on this problem.
Do you support the tea party?
I just saw on Facebook that the Loudoun Tea Party endorsed me. The Tea Party is us. It’s people who care about their nation. To denigrate them and call them racists is absurd.
We need [people who will] bring us back to the Constitution that was drafted by the founders!
I used to be a member of the Tea Party before I got so busy. I don’t think they should be co-opted by the Republican Party. I hope they flourish. We have the [crappy debt ceiling] deal we got because people pledged they would not raise taxes.
TEA stands for “taxed enough already.” I’ve met so many folks (in the Tea Party). About 95% of them were just fed up. Yes, I support them.
Do you support the Castle Doctrine?
I stand before you today thanks to a Winchester 114. (Under the Castle Doctrine) you can shoot (if someone breaks into your home) and they cannot sue you. I have an A+ rating from the NRA. I believe in the 2nd amendment. I will defend the second amendment vigorously in the Senate of Virginia.
Yes, I am a strong supporter of the Castle Doctrine and the 2nd Amendment. I support concealed carry permits. I would sponsor a bill to make the Castle Doctrine policy in Virginia.
Yes, very much. [A citizen has] the right to defend [oneself] in a home invasion.
What policies will you promote to encourage economic growth in our region?
The government doesn’t create jobs. It crushes them. For example, the Chesapeake Bay Ordinance: Where’s the ocean? We are nowhere near the ocean, and yet it nearly passed. We need to get busy on American energy production. We have oil reserves – we can produce industrial energy. On Route 28, I took away the stoplights and replaced them with flyovers.
Lower taxes, lower taxes, lower taxes! Richmond spends way too much money. [I will] finish cutting the car tax and make Richmond economize. We need to do more with less. An economic downturn is the only time a government has a bottom line!
I would create a state sunset commission. All programs would have to be evaluated to continue. That would reduce the size of government because they would have to justify their existence to continue. I would reduce the corporate income taxes and the [business and professional] tax. I would reach across the aisle [to accomplish this.]
Do you support taxing retirees’ income?
I introduced property tax relief for seniors and passed it twice. But when we create differences in tax rates, some people are in the game and some are not. When we get too high (on taxes), we have to join together and put pressure to bring it down.
In concept, I agree with John. I oppose graduated taxes in general. My aunt tried to give her Social Security [payments] back and they wouldn’t take it.
We have to look for ways that people living on retirement income don’t have to pay taxes.
It’s wrong. In a perfect world you can’t tax retirees, but it’s not going to happen in the short term. But as a public policy issue, retirees should not be taxed.
It is time to reduce the monster which it is government.
Would you end the car tax?
In 1998 I was a freshman in the House of Delegates. We voted against the budget twice because car tax relief was not in it. We need to get rid of the car tax; It’s a pain in the neck.
We need to shrink government. That is the key.
The Republicans in the state Senate are convinced we could not end the car tax. I am for ending the car tax, but also for ending Republicans who don’t act like Republicans.
We need dependable conservatives.
Yes. I would offset the revenue by reducing the size of government with a sunset commission. There are bureaus, departments and agencies that exist that you wonder, “what do they actually do?” Government left unchecked will continue to grow.
Why are you most qualified candidate to run against a Democrat?
I am amazed that someone who has not won in four tries over 15 years says I failed to win one election out of nine. I have won eight elections in Loudoun. I am the only one who has ever served in the Virginia General Assembly. It makes a difference to serve in the House before [serving] in the Senate.
Answering Stirrup's allegation that he voted for a 1998 "back door pay raise" during a special session on the car tax, Black countered by naming other delegates who voted as he did: Joe May of Leesburg, Vince Callahan of McLean, and Bob McDonnell, now Virginia's governor.
"If I'm 'just another cheating politician' ... why is [McDonnell] not 'just another cheating politician?'"
"I have run a positive campaign,” Black said.
I am dependable. I am the most experienced in the Senate. I spend four years in the Senate. I took on Sen. Colgan. My wife and I knocked on 14,000 doors. We over-performed. Mr. Stirrup barely won a Republican district and Mr. Black lost one in 2005.
FitzSimmonds sidestepped his opponents' scuffle over Black's 1998 vote on a pay raise: “I won’t get into their little tiff.”
The majority hangs in the balance. We must win the 13th District. I am the only currently elected person in the race. I have not lost once.
Stirrup quoted a Washington Times article stating that in 1998, Black voted with the majority on HB 4001, 49-47, to preserve a 100% increase in out-of-session pay, a “back door pay raise” for the House of Delegates.
“They are not in this race," he said of the other delegates named by Black. "You are.
"You called me a liar through several media, yet you voted for this back door pay raise,” said Stirrup.
What about an energy policy?
We should reduce taxes on coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear energy. We must start pushing back against the federal government. We’ve got the finest grade of coal and offshore resources. We must force the federal government to yield on this. We should take our royalties from oil and put it into transportation.
I lived near a nuclear power plant and Virginia Power gave us a check every year. The feds don’t want us to mine coal, produce nuclear or mine uranium or do offshore drilling. There is a radical leftist agenda for our energy policy. The federal government has seized our sovereignty,and we need to take it back.
Our energy policy needs to be comprehensive – we should mine uranium if it can be done safely and used for nuclear energy.
I agree with Dick on this. We are handcuffing ourselves. It is fundamentally wrong-headed. We need to exercise our 10th amendment rights We need to push the government on this.
What is your #1 issue?
Jobs and the economy.
Parents should be in charge of their children’s education. We should introduce and reintroduce legislation until it happens.
1. Institute a rule of law resolution statewide. In Prince William County we moved 4,000 illegals out of Virginia.
2. Transportation funding formula
3. Economic growth.
Closing statement
There has been a change from a good and decent moral government. We have fallen into decadence and dishonor in the political and economic segments; we are moving to socialism and farther from free markets.
We are at a tipping point in history. We need to reassert limited government, local control, and personal liberty.
We are selecting a candidate to run [against a Democrat]. We need to nominate the strongest and best candidate. I am a strong conservative Republican and worked in the Reagan Administration. I am a proven vote-getter and a committed conservative.
