Jody Wagner spoke to the Virginia Beach Democratic Committee membership this morning emphasizing her main concerns: the state transportation system and workforce development. "We have got to do the three B's," she said, "Beat Bill Bolling" She argues he won't work in the right direction on either of these issues.
Unlike too many Chief Financial Officers in the private sector of late, Jody Wagner has left her service in the Warner and Kaine administrations with the state in better fiscal condition than she found it. Mark Warner brought her into statewide politics by guiding her into the position as Vice Chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia, then into his administration he when he became governor in 2002, appointing her as state treasurer. In that position she was responsible for investing the state's cash, issuing the debt, and managing a variety of different programs
Virginia's AAA bond rating has been recently reaffirmed
Then Governor-elect Warner's guidance was to not lose the AAA credit rating Virginia has had since 1938. During the transition, Governor Gilmore's treasurer handed her a trade journal for the municipal bond industry containing an article that assessed a negative outlook for Virginia. She was at the forefront of the administration's effort to explain to the General Assembly the fiscal situation that required an increase in revenues. Maintaining the bond rating is important for local governments because the cities' cannot be any higher than the state's rating.
"As important as it is to me to win the Lieutenant Governor's race, it is much more important that we win a majority in the House of Delegates."
Governor-elect Kaine offered her the opportunity to serve as Secretary of Finance, a cabinet level position where she has served until recently when she left with some inkling she would run for Lieutenant Governor. Jody says that she is running because there needs to be a team in place that can continue to move Virginia forward. There is a lot that still needs to get done that will not get done in the next year. It is a longer term process. That means electing a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General who will continue the work to continue the progress. It means electing a General Assembly that is easier to work with. "We need that majority in the House of Delegates."
The relevance of the transportation system emphasis was evident to a crowd who lives in part of the state with grand challenges. And she explained her emphasis on continuing to improve our workforce. Virginia has an 81% high school graduation rate, but we need everyone to be part of the economy and community. Portions of Hampton Roads are well below the state graduation average. To counter this, she believes that we need to improve our career track education. "We can never off-shore those jobs."
One thing she says she learned when explaining the fiscal situation to the General Assembly is that a better job of explaining why the budget has grown so much and where the money is going is required. The budget looks large but she argues that Virginia is not a high spending state. She pointed out that in all the areas of spending, there is only one in which Virginia is in the top half of the states on: per capita spending for inmates and that is only 25th.
Cross posted at Blue Commonwealth
Cross posted at VBDems.org - Blogging our way to Democratic wins in Virginia Beach!