John Bell for Virginia

Manassas News & Messenger

BY JONATHAN HUNLEY - JHUNLEY@INSIDENOVA.COM
Published: September 23, 2009

tinyurl.com/kk7jef

It wasn’t until the candidates questioned each other that the debate got a bit fiery.

John Bell, the Democratic challenger for the 13th District seat in the House of Delegates, asked Del. Robert G. “Bob” Marshall why he has focused on social issues such as abortion, suggesting other matters are more important.

But Marshall, arguably the General Assembly’s most prominent conservative, quickly shot back using a name not thrown around lightly in the Old Dominion.

“Who dealt with the question of right to life?” the western Prince William County Republican asked. “A fellow named Thomas Jefferson. The first right that he talked about in the Declaration of Independence was life — liberty, the pursuit of happiness.”

The candidates differed on issues — including sin taxes, transportation funding and Virginia’s use of federal stimulus money — in a 50-minute debate held Tuesday night by the Prince William Committee of 100.

The nonpartisan Committee of 100, which puts on forums throughout the year, conducted debates for the 13th and 50th House districts at the Four Points by Sheraton outside Manassas.

On the issue of sin taxes, Bell said the state should study privatizing its liquor stores, a move touted this year by GOP gubernatorial candidate Robert F. McDonnell, as a way to pay for transportation projects.

“I believe in free markets,” said Bell, a finance officer during his career in the Air Force. “I believe in capitalism.”

Marshall, however, said taxes should be used for revenue generation, not “behavior modification.”

He said that a proposal this year would have taxed the movies hotel guests watch in rooms.

Because some of those films are pornographic, Marshall said he asked on the House floor if that was really the way the state wanted to make money:“Is this the road to Hell, or the road to, you know, fixing our roads?”

The candidates agreed that fixing those roads would be easier if the state used money allocated for transportation for only that use. Too often, they said, Virginia’s pot of road money is raided for other needs.

“I’ve been stuck in traffic all over the place in this district, and I’m sure you have, too,” Bell said. “This is a problem, and we have to fix it.”

He faulted his opponent, though, for suing a transportation authority that would have generated revenue for Northern Virginia roads.

But Marshall said that unelected groups shouldn’t be able to raise taxes, and the Virginia Supreme Court last year ruled that he was correct.

He said a Bell campaign document said he bragged about killing the creation of transportation authorities here and in Hampton Roads.

“Right,” he said. “It’s illegal. It’s unconstitutional.”

In another money matter, Bell applauded Virginia’s use of federal stimulus funds, while Marshall said the money, considering the global economy, really comes from “Red China, the communists and from the Middle East.”

“I don’t think Virginia should balance its budget with foreign dictators doing it,” he said.

The rivals for the seat that represents parts of Prince William and Loudoun counties did agree on some matters. Those included the merits of privatizing highway rest areas and budget earmarks.

And they even talked fashion after Tuesday’s event. Marshall, sporting a blue Oxford and red tie, told Bell that those colors show up well from the debate stage.

Staff writer Jonathan Hunley can be reached at 703-369-5738.