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Ward Armstrong |
Friday, October 30, 2009
By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Politics is a pendulum that swings back and forth, according to Del. Ward Armstrong.
Armstrong, D-Collinsville, has served nine terms totaling 18 years in the House of Delegates. He has been the minority leader for 21⁄2 years.
Yet he is not taking his bid for a 10th term lightly. He said he recognizes there is a lot of dissatisfaction with Democratic leaders in Washington, and those sentiments could trickle down to state politics.
“The (political) climate has changed,” he said. “People are very nervous about” the future and issues such as the economy and health care reform.
Armstrong, who practices law in Martinsville, is optimistic that he and other Democrats will prevail at the polls Tuesday.
The election has the largest number of candidates running as Democrats — about 70 — statewide and overall “the best quality” among candidates that he has seen during his time in the General Assembly, he said.
But he thinks his Republican challenger, political newcomer Ed Creed of Patrick County, is not a quality candidate.
Creed moved to the district in June. Armstrong said he understands Creed arrived two days before the filing deadline for the election.
“I think that shows disrespect for the office (of delegate) and the people” he would represent, said Armstrong. In fact, “I find that insulting.”
“Having a connection to your community means a lot” in being able to get votes, even if people do not always agree with a candidate’s views, he said.
Considering that Creed once ran a company that went bankrupt, Armstrong questioned whether his challenger can effectively represent the district.
When asked about his biggest accomplishments as a lawmaker, Armstrong gave two responses.
One is that he helped found the New College Institute (NCI) in Martinsville. He was the chief sponsor of legislation that established the institute, which provides local access to courses needed to receive bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Virginia colleges and universities. He now is on the institute’s board.
NCI “will do more for both young people and adults in this area than about anything else you could do” for them, he said, because it helps people who cannot leave the area pursue four-year degrees.
The State Council for Higher Education in Virginia is expected to decide in three years whether NCI should evolve into a stand-alone university, become a branch campus of an existing university or something else.
In the meantime, “we need to do whatever we can to make it survive and grow,” Armstrong said, because it is vital to transforming the local economy.
He posed the idea of NCI evolving into a unique “two plus two” college. Students would take two years of courses at Patrick Henry Community College, then take two years of courses at NCI to receive a degree there.
“I wouldn’t have a strenuous objection to that” concept, Armstrong said.
Comparing NCI with a new automobile, he said, “we need transportation” to a better economy. “I don’t care what the color of the car is.”
Armstrong’s other biggest success turned into a failure, he admitted. That occurred about 10 years ago when he persuaded the General Assembly to approve legislation to provide health insurance to laid-off textile workers.
Former governor Jim Gilmore later vetoed the legislation. However, Armstrong said he still considers it a major accomplishment because “I stood up for” people in the 10th District who had a need, and he was able to convince a mostly Republican legislature to approve the measure.
He said that if he is re-elected, his major goals will be improving the area’s economy, such as by trying to attract industry that will create new jobs and ultimately reduce local unemployment rates.
Along that line, helping the state find a way to fund highway improvements, such as completing the widening of U.S. 58 between Stuart and Hillsville, is at the top of his to-do list.
Economic developers have cited a need for the area to have better quality roads.
“You can’t fund transportation (needs) by selling off the liquor stores” as Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell has proposed, Armstrong said.
That might be adequate for a year, but Virginia needs a sustainable source of revenue, he said.
While he indicated that a tax increase eventually may be necessary to fund transportation needs, he said that people cannot afford to pay higher taxes right now due to economic problems.
He is not in favor of increasing the gasoline tax, he said, because that revenue source is steadily declining as vehicles become more and more fuel efficient, causing people to buy less gas.
Armstrong, 53, was born in Roanoke but has lived in Henry County virtually all of his life. He and his wife, Pam, who is chairman of the board at the Virginia Museum of Natural History, have two daughters in college.
He said that if he is re-elected, he will seek the minority leader’s post again.
If the Democrats become the majority party among delegates following the election Tuesday, he plans to seek the post of speaker of the House.
“But that is not something I think about frequently,” Armstrong said. Mainly, “I’m thinking about my own re-election,” as well as helping other members of his party get re-elected. |
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