Lt. gov. candidate makes campaign stop here (Franklin News-Post)

By JOEL TURNER – Staff Writer

Jody Wagner, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor in the November election, said the top priority for state government during the next four years is getting people back to work.

With the state’s unemployment rate above 7 percent, Wagner said “people all over the state are hurting.”

At a campaign appearance in Franklin County during the weekend, she said, “We’ve got to work to reduce unemployment and get people back to work.”

She noted that the unemployment rate in Martinsville is more than 20 percent.

“The number one job in the next four years is helping people” to find employment, she said.

Speaking to about 50 people at the home of Anne Carter Lee Gravely in Rocky Mount, Wagner said that education and transportation must also be priorities for the state during the next four years.

Wagner, a former secretary of finance for Virginia, won the Democratic nomination in the party’s primary election in June when she defeated Mike Signer.

Wagner has worked in finance for two Democratic governors, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine.

Wagner is running on the ticket with the Democratic candidate for governor, Creigh Deeds, and Del. Steve Shannon, the party’s candidate for attorney general.

With the nationwide economic downturn and the high unemployment in Virginia, she said it was “appalling” that the House Republicans in the General Assembly rejected $125 million in federal funds for extended unemployment benefits for Virginia.

With so many people losing their jobs and hurting in Virginia, Wagner said it was dismaying that the House Republicans refused the federal funds.

Wagner will face incumbent Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, a Republican, in the Nov. 3 election.

She said that Bolling has been “silent for 3 1/2 years” about jobs and the economy.

Bolling has started talking about jobs only during the past month with the election approaching, Wagner said.

Wagner, who worked in former Gov. Mark Warner’s administration, said Bolling “fought us every step of the way” as Warner dealt with a $6 billion shortfall and maintained the state’s triple A bond rating.

She said that Bolling has also opposed efforts to solve the state’s transportation funding problems.

Wagner said she was encouraged by the turnout for her campaign stop in Rocky Mount.

This fall’s election will be a tough one for Democrats, she said, because Republicans are gearing up to make a comeback from recent losses.

The GOP is seeking to reverse a trend in which the Democrats have won three consecutive statewide races, including two United States Senate seats (Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb) and the governor’s mansion (Tim Kaine). President Barack Obama also won in Virginia in the 2008 presidential election.

Back to The News