The Stuart campaign has a new commercial up in the Stafford area that focuses on transportation. It's actually pretty good, but it puts more of an emphasis on making Richard Stuart look "folksy" than anything else. Albert Pollard may be running the most focused, issues-oriented campaign of any Democrat this cycle. He has comprehensive plans to tackle all the issues that voters in the 28th are clamoring for, i.e. conservation, immigration, and transportation. In more evidence that Democrats are eclipsing Republicans as the party of fiscal responsibilty, Pollard, if elected Senator, has a plan to hold the Virginia Department of Transportation more accountable.
More after the flip...
From the Pollard campaign:
Pollard to Hold VDOT AccountableInforming the public is the start of accountability that can help solve transportation woes.
Albert Pollard, candidate for Virginia State Senate, has pledged that if elected he will strive to make VDOT more accountable with twice annual audits of high priority projects such as bridges and key intersections. The audits, which would be available through the web, would be in everyday language that community leaders and the public could understand.
Pollard got his inspiration from Project Dashboard, VDOT's projects and programs performance reporting system that is used by highway contractors and engineers (http://dashboard.vir...). The goal, said Pollard, is to have a tool for citizens that creates transparency and thus holds government accountable.
"We can help VDOT improve by pushing for timelines and budgets that are understandable by everybody," said Pollard "VDOT's Project Dashboard might be understandable to highway contractors, but I'm pretty well informed and can't navigate my way through it. Public accountability starts with the public knowing of the status of priority traffic and bridge projects."
"No one State Senator can fix all of our transportation problems," continued Pollard, "But in order to get headed towards solutions, we need to go back to the basics with twice annual audits that create accountability."