Del. Mark Cole finds little common ground with opponents in 88th District House of Delegates debate

Sept. 14--Republican Del. Mark Cole did not find a lot of common ground with his opponents during a debate Wednesday night at the University of Mary Washington.

His challengers for the 88th District House of Delegates seat--Democrat Steve Aycock, Green Party member Gerald Anderson and independent Amanda Blalock--took similar positions opposite Cole on topics such as school vouchers, redistricting reform and transportation funding.

But Blalock, who served 10 years on the Spotsylvania School Board, did sound a different tune than the other contenders on gun control and took the strongest stance against Confederate monuments on public property.

About 100 people attended the debate at the Fredericksburg campus.

Blalock said Confederate monuments, a fiercely debated topic in the wake of last month's violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, "don't serve as anything more than an intimidation factor."

"It's time for them to come down," she said of monuments on public property.

Aycock and Anderson said they think localities should have the final say over their Confederate monuments. Aycock, an associate pastor for missions at the Real Life Community Church in Stafford County, did say a lot of the monuments were put up to send racist messages, and "that needs to be dealt with."

Cole, a deputy county administrator for Spotsylvania, said the monuments should be left alone and that taking them down would cost millions of dollars.

On gun control, Aycock and Anderson expressed support for a former Virginia law that restricted handgun purchases to one a month. "I see no reason for them to need more than one gun a month. I can't even see...[needing] more than one gun a year," said Anderson, an adjunct professor at Germanna Community College.

Blalock, however, agreed with Cole that such a law would be ineffective and unfair to lawful gun owners. "A criminal is not going to go through the proper background check to obtain their firearm," Blalock said.

All of the challengers opposed school vouchers that would funnel public money into private schools. Cole favors vouchers, which he said would improve public and private schools by creating competition.

The challengers also expressed support for nonpartisan redistricting reform. Aycock said voters should choose their delegates, not the other way around. "Right now, delegates choose their voters," he said. "You look at our district, and you see that very much."

The 88th District includes parts of Fredericksburg and Stafford, Spotsylvania and Fauquier counties.

Cole, on the other hand, said he did not think an independent commission appointed by lawmakers would reduce gerrymandering, the practice of drawing districts to favor a political party. He said maybe the Virginia Supreme Court could come up with a redistricting plan. "It seems like these judges love to get involved in redistricting after the fact," Cole said. "Maybe we need to get them involved beforehand."

The challengers spoke favorably about offering two years of free community college for students who need it, but Cole said "nothing is for free--somebody is paying for it one way or the other." Cole said he thought an "explosion in college administrators" was driving up the cost of higher education.

Aycock and Anderson took similar positions in support of a higher minimum wage, with Aycock saying he'd like to see it increase from $7.25 an hour to $15. Anderson said he is appalled that some business owners would not pay a living wage, adding: "Maybe they should not be in business."

Blalock said she supports a higher minimum wage, but that lawmakers need to collaborate with small business owners who would be impacted by any changes. "There is a concern about them being priced out," she said.

Cole dismissed a higher minimum wage as a one of those "liberal feel-good things" that does not help the problem.

Aycock and Anderson both favored a single-payer health care system, also known as "Medicare for all." Anderson said the state can also lower health care spending by reducing pollution and providing education on healthier lifestyles.

"Single-payer is good, but you can make a lot of dents into the health care costs by doing other things," Anderson said.

Blalock said lawmakers need to collaborate with business owners to help them offer more affordable health care plans.

Cole said the country needs to roll back some of the government mandates on insurance providers and that he thought a single-payer system would "bankrupt this country."

In addition, the challengers expressed support for a local transportation authority that could impose taxes to go toward road improvements. Aycock said he thought voters would have to approve such an authority.

Cole said he's skeptical "another layer of government is going to solve our transportation problems."

The election is Nov. 7.

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