Brian Moran on Election/Races

In 2001, Moran was elected to chair the House Democratic Caucus succeeding Creigh Deeds who was elected to the Virginia State Senate. Since then, Democrats have added seats in every consecutive general election and now hold 44 of the chamber’s 100 seats. Moran spent the better part of 2006 and 2007 traveling the state to recruit and support House candidates for the 2007 election, when all 100 Virginia House of Delegates seats were on the ballot (as in every odd-numbered year).

Moran formed a fundraising committee to campaign for Governor in 2009.[6] Mame Reiley served as director of Virginians for Brian Moran, helping Moran in his election bid for Governor, from 2007 to 2009. Moran ultimately lost the Democratic nomination for governor to Creigh Deeds, who received more than twice as many votes as Moran. Moran came in third after Terry McAuliffe.
On December 4, 2010, Moran was elected Chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia, defeating Peter Rousselot of Arlington County.

(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Moran)

So up steps the newest political candidate, he or she is hungry for a job that many of us frankly wouldn’t want. However, we all want them to do the job right and now of course with the downturn more than ever. Like all employers, the voting public has high hopes for all their perspective employees, hearing about application after application and then they begin to come in late, not to stick, to do only maybe half the job if the job’s done at all. At least that’s how we see it. Maybe they begin taking an item here and there, it wouldn’t be missed but it’s made off with. Here we were once bright and hopeful citizen employers whose believe in optimism has vanished. Still and all, we want to believe and the last election for many of us clinched that hope. So Brian, tell us if you would, about your background and qualifications for the job, why do you want the job and why should we hire you?

Brian Moran: That’s wonderful because I was in Charlottesville this morning, spoke to a group and I laid it out just in that way. I said, ‘This—I’m applying for a job and here’s my resume. I have a mission statement, I have a body of work in my experience as well as references’. And I mentioned the wonderful references I have in this area with former Congressman L.F. Payne and his wife Susan and many others here, activists in the Charlottesville area. And then I talked about my body of work, that I’ve served in the legislature for 13 years, first elected in 1995 and in 2001 when Democrats took a beating at the polls and we were down to 33 members out of 100, my peers chose me to serve as their caucus leader. And that meant a couple of things. It meant politically I traveled the commonwealth, traveling hundreds of thousands of miles recruiting candidates to run for the House of Delegates, went into communities all over Virginia from Galax to Fairfax and we won seats that had previously been held by Republicans, Lynchburg, Loudon, Prince William, Virginia Beach. And now we are on the cusp of gaining the majority in the House of Delegates which is important because we recruited candidates that are pro-education, pro-environment, pro-opportunities, pro-economic development and pro-higher education so those are candidates I was able to recruit and that’s why we’ve been able to move Virginia forward in any number of areas. In addition to the political success, body of work is such in the legislature of 13 years I’ve gotten a lot done, a lot of substantive legislation. I’ve bridged regional divides and partisan divisions.

Jan Paynter: Could you give us an example of some of the legislation?

Brian Moran: Yeah. Absolutely. Just last year I championed Alicia’s Law which cracks down on online child sexual predators and I reached across the aisle to gain Republican support for that because 20,000 computers in Virginia contain child pornography but we don’t have the resources for our law enforcement officers to properly investigate all those individuals. And this was legislation to help our law enforcement with the training and the resources necessary to find those predators and bring them to justice and put them away so that they no longer offend our young people and that came from Alicia’s Law and that was my legislation. The year before that I championed Business One Stop which allows small businesses to startup here in Virginia free of charge over the internet so you don’t have to spend time with forms and costly—hiring a lawyer and so forth. And that was actually my legislation. It was recognized by the National Federation of Independent Businesses as well as the Northern Virginia Technology Council, a strong piece of legislation. In addition to that, public safety issues, I cracked down on drunk drivers and so in a number of areas I have a body of work that recognizes obviously not only who I am, what I’m about, what I want to do but also demonstrates my ability to reach consensus, reach across the aisle, reach across regional divides, from southwest Virginia to northern Virginia, Hampton Roads and central Virginia. And then the mission statement, why should voters choose Brian Moran? Well, I’ve laid out some specific proposals of how we move Virginia forward.

Jan Paynter: Okay, give me your top six.

Brian Moran: Top—good. First the economy, let’s talk about jobs and the economy. I’m a small business person so I want to focus on building this economy from the ground up not the top down and that means working with our small businesses in Virginia. I was in Charlottesville on the mall to announce my small business package, a small business job creation tax credit, $2,000 for every employee you hire. That will stimulate the economy, also eliminate the corporate income tax for struggling small business. I also want to stimulate the economy by putting money back into the pockets of hardworking Virginians by indexing the minimum wage, providing a refundable earned income tax credit.

Jan Paynter: That’s great. Just if I may interject for a minute because here in Virginia, as you know, you’ve heard a lot of people saying, ‘We’re small businesses, we cannot get those small loans’, maybe $100,000, maybe $500,000 to keep the business going and it’s a real problem because the stem is not going to kick in enough for those folks. They’ll be under water.

Brian Moran: Right. Right. That’s why I believe Virginia should have their own stimulus package and working with small businesses. 90% of employment is small businesses. I’ve traveled all over Virginia, main streets all across Virginia, Main Street in Bristol, Broad Street in Richmond, Granby Street in Norfolk. I want those small businesses to stay open.

Jan Paynter: When did you come to Virginia?

Brian Moran: 1980—well, I came to Virginia many times. I spent my college summers here and high school years and then I came to law school at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., lived in Alexandria. When I graduated law school, I became a clerk for the circuit court and then became a prosecutor. I prosecuted in Arlington County for seven years and that’s when one night 15 years ago Mark Warner encouraged me to run for the House of Delegates.

Jan Paynter: Is that where you became particularly sensitive to issues of rape and child abuse and so forth, during your work at that time?

Brian Moran: Right. As a prosecutor I became obviously very knowledgeable about victims’ rights and I have a long record in the legislature working with victims and victims’ rights and also a criminal justice system is not just about punishment but it should be about prevention and I want to work and I have on issues with respect to more drug courts, drug prevention programs and treatment, mental health. Before I became a legislator I was a prosecutor and I was on a volunteer board in the city of Alexandria and our responsibility was to interview inmates in the Alexandria jail for less expensive, more appropriate alternative sentences. For instance, a lot of folks in your local jails suffer from mental illness and they’re not receiving the appropriate treatment and so they get arrested and then they serve a period of days and then they get out and then they offend again because they haven’t received the necessary services. Similar to drug treatment, in addiction they continue to steal so that they can get money for drugs or they write prescription fraud and addicted to pain killing like Vicodin and Percocet. So what you need in the jails…it’s not only just about punishment but obviously keeping our citizens safe and that’s a chief responsibility of government to keep our homes and businesses safe but also prevention in terms of providing the necessary services because frankly it’s cheaper in the long run for taxpayers to treat the problem up front and give them the necessary services so they don’t reoffend and re-victimize someone.

Jan Paynter: On another venue related to the issue of prevention, I noticed…I was very interested in your prevention and vaccinations for children, preventative healthcare in particular. Tell us more about that.

Brian Moran: Yeah. Yeah, I have a real detailed plan with respect to healthcare. I want to enroll every single Virginia child in healthcare. We have 200,000 kids right now without any health insurance and that’s I believe a moral responsibility to get those kids healthcare but also an economic necessity because healthy kids grow up to be healthy, productive adults so again it’s one of those smart investments that pays dividends in the long run. Child immunization was something that I pushed for chicken pox way back when. I have two small children. My wife and I have an eight year old and a seven year old and it was our family pediatrician who mentioned, ‘In Virginia we don’t require chicken pox vaccinations’. So I went to the legislature and made it happen to keep our kids healthy and grow up to be healthy, productive adults.

Jan Paynter: How would you—how would you feel about this woman who of course has been in the news lately and the child is missing and there hasn’t been vaccination. Obviously it’s an ethical issue for her.

Brian Moran: It’s not only vaccination but I think it has to do with chemotherapy.

Jan Paynter: And yes, excuse me, chemotherapy. But the issue is the same.

Brian Moran: Those are pretty difficult issues, personal determinations. But we—you want—it’s what’s in the best interest of the child and the child at this point less than 18, is my knowledge of that case, and I think at some point the state has responsibility to make sure that person has access to healthcare and we know that—well, those treatments have not been—alternative treatments have not been determined to be as successful as chemotherapy so that’s a very difficult issue. But I want to make sure that every child in Virginia has access to healthcare if they so choose.

Jan Paynter: Yeah, I was curious on your thoughts on that and also related to care and mental health, our vets coming back.

Brian Moran: Oh, yes.

Jan Paynter: Obviously they have job issues, retraining but also a lot of them have the trauma of combat and there are severe mental health issues.

Brian Moran: Yes, yes.

Jan Paynter: How would you deal with that and also how would you find funding for that?

Brian Moran: Well, I’m glad you asked that Jan because just yesterday I announced a Military Bill of Rights and a Veterans—detailed Veterans plans with respect to assisting them with jobs, introducing them into the green energy economy jobs that I want to create in addition to assisting those in a Homeowner Bill of Rights. The foreclosure crisis we’re experiencing right now falls heavily—disproportionately on military and minority families. There’s an area around the Quantico Marine base in Prince William County where foreclosures have increased by 414%.

Jan Paynter: Oh, yeah. I have a friend who did two tours in Iraq and he’s about to go back to Afghanistan. He has been keeping up the payments on his house but the company that has it reneged on their agreements and he lost his house.

Brian Moran: Well, that’s—no one fighting for our freedoms in Iraq and Afghanistan should return home to a foreclosed house. I want to give them special ability to give them a longer period of time to get their financial house in order because that’s just not right and so in the area of home foreclosures, additional rights of jobs and third, what you mentioned with respect to when they return with injuries.

Jan Paynter: Veterans, hmm mm.

Brian Moran: Poly trauma, post traumatic stress syndrome—disorder. And we have a wonderful facility, the Hunter-McGuire Medical Facility in Richmond. It’s a poly trauma center, it’s one of five in the country. What happens, they receive that care but does that care follow them when they return to their community and that’s what—community based services we need to beef up and support so that they can…

Jan Paynter: That is the issue because so many people fall through the cracks which brings me around to education and kids who are falling through the cracks too. And you’re talking about contributing to education at all levels and again, it’s always an issue of funding, funding, funding but I was interested to hear your thoughts—I know K through—Kindergarten in particular is of interest to you and higher education, research. Tell me some more about that.

Brian Moran: Great. Well, with two children in the public schools this is very important to me personally. My third grader just took her first SOL exam in reading last week and she feels she did very well. She has science next week, she wanted to make sure I was home for her next exam. We have to have a lifelong learning process here that begins with quality pre-school education so that—get these young minds as early as possible in their formative years so that they reach kindergarten, they’re ready to learn. And then K through 3 very important years. Those are the years you want to make sure we have small class sizes, as individual instruction as you can achieve and good teachers in the classroom. I’ve fought and battled in the legislature to increase teacher’s salaries to the national average. We must attract, retain and reward the best teachers and then right through we have to address our high school graduation rates. Charlottesville is doing pretty well, they’re at 90%, only 10% dropout. Of course that’s one out of 10. We do need to address that and make sure 10 of 10 graduate.

Jan Paynter: We do have excellent schools here, that’s true.

Brian Moran: But you do—you’re better than state average and I congratulate the Charlottesville area for that. And then college affordability is very important. I want more collaboration with our community college and our business community as well for purposes of this economy and job creation. We need to communicate with our business community as to what jobs are available, where are we going in terms of demographics, for example, the healthcare professions. We have an aging population. There will be job growth in that sector and we need to now change our curriculums or modify our curriculums to make sure we’re graduating the students with the skills necessary to work the jobs that are necessary for the future, particularly in the healthcare professions and I want to make sure we do that as well. Not everyone goes on to college either but the high schools we need to make sure that they receive technical and vocational educations so that they can graduate with a skill that’s marketable and they can get a job.

Jan Paynter: How do you feel about mentoring programs for kids?

Brian Moran: Yeah, I think that’s a great idea.

Jan Paynter: How would you see yourself doing that?

Brian Moran: Well, a lot of our seniors, our retired individuals can get back into the classroom, work with our education system, take advantage of the wonderful experiences and knowledge we have in Virginia with—in our military. That was a part of my military package as well. They’re disciplined, they’re knowledgeable, they exhibit leadership.

Jan Paynter: Great skill sets.

Brian Moran: Great skill sets and we should introduce them into our student population for purposes of disseminating that type of leadership skills and that knowledge and they want to do it. It’s a matter of matching up and integrating the system to incorporate some of those retired folks as well as our retired military.

Jan Paynter: It’s an interest—intriguing idea about the military people too because the byproduct of it also is that you’re exposing the kids to what that’s all about, what these people actually look at as instead of just numbers on a screen for casualties and so forth so it’s socially…

Brian Moran: Well, we don’t have a national draft and so the more you introduce our young people to that I think there’s a sense of national kind of a service corps national pride in our country so I think there’s a lot of benefits that can be associated with that initiative. You men—you asked about six things. We’ve covered a lot of them, Jan.

Jan Paynter: We have covered a lot so now you have to go to the…

Brian Moran: There’s small businesses, strengthening our economy, education is a part of it, absolutely, excellence in education, healthcare, insuring every single child.

Jan Paynter: Good recap.

Brian Moran: We haven’t gotten into the green energy jobs.

Jan Paynter: Well, I was coming to that and I also wanted to ask you, cause I was curious, you’re no on offshore drilling, is that correct?

Brian Moran: Yeah. Yeah, I’m the only one running that has opposed offshore drilling and will as governor and I also opposed the new coal-fired power plant in Surry, Virginia, which is in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

Jan Paynter: So that’s a firm no.

Brian Moran: I’ve taken those positions—yeah. It would happen on the next governor’s watch so when the application was submitted in December, I said, ‘No, it’s in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, we—‘… I want to get serious about developing a clean energy system. At 20—facing our 21st century challenges, can’t rely on 19th century solutions. I truly believe in being some innovative industries’ research into cleaner technologies. Let’s harness wind and solar on a 24 hour basis that’s dependable and reliable.

Jan Paynter: That was going to be my next question–wind.

Brian Moran: The battery cell technology necessary to do that, I know it doesn’t exist now but that’s the type of research, that’s the type of focus and attention we need to pay because we can draw—connect the dots between energy, the economy, strengthening our economy and protecting our environment and that is very key. To build—to go offshore is a very costly future. The future economic viability of that does not make sense.

Jan Paynter: Do you feel the same way about wind? Offshore wind possibilities is something McAuliffe has talked about.

Brian Moran: I want offshore wind—I was the first one to come out—he talks about it a lot more because he has a lot more male to talk about it. I’ve been talking about that for years. I was there in 2007…

Jan Paynter: How do you protect the fragile…

Brian Moran: …stood on the shores of the—I stood on the shores of Virginia Beach in 2007 with the mayor, with the Sierra Club, with the former Department of Environmental Quality and George Allen. It was a bipartisan effort to say no to offshore but yes to wind. That was two years ago. We need to put windmills off the coast of Virginia Beach, not drilling rigs.

Jan Paynter: I have a question so I’m just going to interrupt you for a second here cause I know you’re on a roll and it’s great. How do you protect the fragile marine life when you put a wind machine in the—say off the Chesapeake Bay? Do you worry about disruption of the ecology or is that not an issue?

Brian Moran: There’d be far more disruption from the drilling rigs and then all the apparatus necessary to transmit all that—whatever’s found out there whether it be oil or natural gas. The wind—the studies indicate there’s far less ecological disruption.

Jan Paynter: Very interesting.

Brian Moran: Yeah, far less. And if we put them approximately 20 miles off, you can’t even see them and so the information and the research I’ve done, it’s far more helpful to the—We have a billion dollar tourism industry in Virginia Beach and a great concern of Virginia Beach that it’s an economic engine there and they’re worried what the environmental hazards would be from drilling. We also have the naval operations which is an enormous economic engine, lots of job in Virginia Beach and Norfolk and Hampton Roads area, that they oppose offshore drilling as well so I’m in good company. I’m the only one out there though in terms of gubernatorial candidates that oppose offshore drilling. I think it’s the right decision. We can create thousands of green energy jobs weatherizing our homes, refitting our buildings, installing solar panels on our homes and businesses and plugging that into a smart grid technology. President Barak Obama has put money into smart green technology, he understands that. I want to partner with him. We can create jobs and protect our environment for the next generation. We should be good stewards of our environment.

Jan Paynter: You’re right. You’re right about that. Now, the two term governor business. It’s an interesting idea.

Brian Moran: I support two term governor.

Jan Paynter: Now, of course, if that were true now, you’d be not quite seeking the job just yet.

Brian Moran: Right. No, I think Tim McCain’s done a great job and I would have liked Tim to have had another chance. Tim has tried to accomplish transportation, he’s had a bad budget. He has done some wonderful reform in the mental health system, invested higher education bond package for capital. So Tim’s done a great job, I wished he had another opportunity. We should have two term governor, we’re the only state in the nation who has one term for any strategic planning now for long term like transportation, to get rail and transit where we need it, high speed rail and passenger rail and freight rail, that takes years to develop and you need some continuity with respect to gubernatorial administration, it’s unfortunate. Now I will continue on what Mark Warner and Tim McCain have started. I’ll try to finish and continue much of what they’ve started but I do believe in two term governor, I think it would help how we are able to manage and lead Virginia.

Jan Paynter: Actually I agree. I think that’s quite true. Bringing industries to Virginia. Again, McAuliffe has talked about the film industry, about certain other ones. What are your sort of pet projects to bring to Virginia just now?

Brian Moran: Again, I have a record. I have a body of experience doing this. I’m the only one running for governor who has actually been overseas to bring business here to Virginia. I know exactly what conversation has to occur because I’ve had it.

Jan Paynter: Do you have particular businesses in mind?

Brian Moran: Well, let me…I was in Indian and we were there on a governor’s trade mission with India; high technology, also agribusiness. We brought over over hundreds of millions of dollars of economic activity from India to Virginia. I was in Israel in September, sat with three different CEOs, one a bio-cancer research firm. We want to attract them to the bio-tech center in Richmond. Talked to them about what assets we have in Virginia. That’s a wonderful, clean industry, high paying jobs, technology, bio-cancer research. Also a manufacturing CEO, met with a manufacturer who manufacturers safety glass for Humvees which are used in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our proximity to the Pentagon is something we sold. They now create hundreds of jobs in Greensville County, Virginia. We have that now in Virginia. A third group was another technology, we went to an Air Force base in Israel and the technology they use to keep all their planes up on maintenance and the staffing has commercial applications to hospitals so they’re converting that technology into some commercial application that we might be able to have peak performance, maximum performance in our hospitals with respect to equipment and staffing so I’m actually the one not just talking about it but have done it.

Jan Paynter: You’re the go-to guy.

Brian Moran: I’ve been there, I know exactly what we need to sell in Virginia. We have a lot to sell, there’s a lot of exciting things we’ve been able to do here.

Jan Paynter: Well, I like your confidence, it’s great.

Brian Moran: Hey, there’s a lot to sell. We have every– Whatever it is you want, we have it in Virginia. We have beaches, we have mountains, we have Piedmont, we have wonderful colleges and universities, UVA and tech and so many colleges and universities. We have a strong skilled workforce, we have proximity to the Port of Hampton Roads which is an enormous economic engine. We have proximity to the Pentagon, we have proximity to the federal government. Yeah, we have it all.

Jan Paynter: Cycling back I wanted to ask you again about jobs because as you know in Charlottesville as many places it’s jobs, jobs, jobs. What about the person who can’t get the loan, the bank won’t loan, Bank of America, CitiGroup, whatever it is, BB&T here. How do you help that person, if he’s really about to go under? Let’s say he’s been in business 10, 15, 20 years; he’s been a good—he’s a safe business, there’s no risk there but still he’s not getting a loan and I know lots of these people and they’re not going to be here for long.

Brian Moran: Yeah, yeah.

Jan Paynter: So what do we do?

Brian Moran: Well, it’s a multifold approach. I mean, Charlottesville has approximately 13% to 14% unemployment. That’s too much. There’s—the first thing you do is assist those who are unem—out of work. I was in Martinsville back in 2000 when Tultex got up and left because of NAFTA. They got up and they moved to Mexico and hundreds of workers were out of work. They were terrified. I went there, I heard their stories and saw their faces. They were worried about providing health insurance to their kids, the mortgage, the rent.

Jan Paynter: Yeah, they’re in double digits. Oh, yeah.

Brian Moran: Now they’re 20—over 20%.

Jan Paynter: Oh, yeah.

Brian Moran: We returned to Richmond and fought for increased unemployment benefits and health insurance for those folks on a temporary basis. We passed it in the legislature. Jim Gilmore, a Republican, voted no. That’s why you need a Democrat in the governor’s office.

Jan Paynter: I agree.

Brian Moran: And the next year Mark Warner signed that legislation. This year, this President and our Congress saw fit to help those unemployed workers. They appropriated $125 million for Virginia to retrain those workers and I would have accepted that money. Bob McDonald and the Republicans said no. I would have said yes. We need to have brought those resources into Virginia, retrained those workers, retrain them in fields where there are shortages like the healthcare professions. I grew up in a family of seven kids. Our dad when he was laid off from a big company that got bought out, we lost the family station wagon. It served as the company car that also served as the family station wagon, it was towed out of the driveway with a bunch of kids. That had a lasting impact on our family and our beliefs and the belief is the most important job or the most important social program of all is a job and it’s—I found it to be unconscionable that the Republicans would say no to those resources to retrain our workers cause that’s the first thing we do is get folks who are unemployed, who are terrified of paying their bills back to work.

Jan Paynter: Well, exactly, cause what I keep hearing is, ‘Yes, I believe in infrastructure; yes, I believe in bio-fuels and all the rest of it but right now I don’t have a job and I’m about ready to lose my business and first things first.

Brian Moran: Right. You get them first—first things first is you get them retrained, you get them training skills that are necessary. We have a metro project in northern Virginia, a metro out to Dulles. We have need for 400 welders and I want those welders to come right from Virginia, let’s get them to work. I mean, that’s the first thing you do, get people back to work and then all of the other initiatives that we have of green energy jobs, weatherization money. The President has provided us $160 million. That can provide jobs as well and I would do that for indigent families and seniors who are on fixed incomes who are struggling to pay the utility bills and I would—and prescription drug medicine. I would retrofit their homes cause that achieves the stated purpose of energy efficiency as well as putting people to work and helping those seniors pay the bills. So there are things you can do immediately. For long term it’s an education system, it’s a strong skilled workforce, it’s a broad—broadband—universal broadband.

Jan Paynter: WiFi.

Brian Moran: It’s an infrastructure that’s necessary to make sure Virginia is competitive…

Jan Paynter: For rural areas.

Brian Moran: Yeah, yeah. And I’ll tell you, being in Chi—we were in India as I said. They are graduating 350,000 engineers. China’s graduating 600,000 engineers.

Jan Paynter: You have a very broad program and only in the interest of time would I interrupt you because it’s really fascinating to hear this. I happened to be up in northern Virginia awhile back and former President Clinton was at an event there and he talked about the fact that politics—in politics we often focus on what we do, on who we are. You know, I’m an artist, I’m a teacher, I’m a bricklayer but the how gets lost and so I feel how we accomplish our goals is incredibly important. And finally we cannot always choose who we are, where we live or what we do but—or what happens to us as with Katrina or 9/11 but we can chose the way we respond. As President Clinton describes, ‘That’s where real freedom lies for us. Not who or what we elect but how we move forward I think is important’. And that’s where politics matters. Again, I want to thank you Brian for being our guest today and sharing your thoughts with us. Thank you again. I’m Jan Paynter and this is Politics Matters.