Asking for Your Vote: Creigh Deeds

My entire career has been focused on one goal: creating opportunity for everyone in all corners of Virginia. I am running for governor to continue moving Virginia forward by bringing opportunity, prosperity, and hope to the people of the commonwealth through the commonsense, bipartisan tradition of Mark Warner and Tim Kaine that has defined my time in public service and made Virginia what is today.

The first job of the next governor is to restore confidence in the economy. I will create jobs and improve our economy in three specific ways: Giving a tax cut to all businesses for every new job they create and supporting work-force training and economic growth; making college affordable by creating the Virginia Forward program to give a 50 percent scholarship to every high school student with a B average who commits to two years of public service; and passing a comprehensive, statewide transportation plan.

There is no quicker way to create jobs and economic development than to deal with our state's transportation issues. Since Gov. Jerry Baliles' 1986 transportation commission, however, all efforts have been unsuccessful.

I will use Baliles' approach -- the only one that has worked in a generation -- and gather a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers and key stakeholders to craft a transportation package that generates new funding with a nexus to usage of the transportation system. I will sign legislation that is the product of bipartisan collaboration and that provides dedicated, long-term funding for critically needed infrastructure and congestion relief, even if it includes new revenues.

Among my top priorities will be building high-speed rail from Richmond to Washington, D.C., with a connection to Hampton Roads, and making major improvements in the I-95 corridor.

To bolster businesses, and especially small businesses statewide, my economic plan will provide a tax credit for every single new job. Create a job, get a tax credit: It's that simple.

My plan also streamlines the permitting process and expands resources for start-up firms, making it easier to open and operate a business. As governor, I will help unemployed workers purchase health insurance, and boost investments in job training, tourism, womenand minority-owned small firms, and green businesses.

Virginia is currently the best state in the nation for business. I will maintain Virginia's pro-business reputation and continue to encourage innovation and new technologies to create jobs and build a strong economy.

To that end, I have developed a plan to attract energy-based research to Virginia. My energy plan will create a virtual research triangle among university and business partners, to be headed by professionals, not politicians. Virginia's energy development will utilize our natural resources from every part of the state alongside our higher educational and private-sector resources to discover and promote new efficiencies, fuel sources, and more. By tying research to energy, we can create jobs in a field that will dominate our national dialogue for not just the next 25 years but the next 100 years.

Because my college education was so instrumental in my life, my education plan creates 70,000 additional degrees in the next 10 years -- an 18 percent growth, and an opportunity to grant access to a better future for every student graduating from a Virginia high school. But, since 2001, the average tuition at our state's four-year colleges has spiked almost 80 percent, making it even harder for Virginians to afford college. Too many talented students get turned away at the door because of cost, and that is unacceptable. College affordability is a necessary key to my education plan -- and a major part of my economic plan, too. Every dollar invested in a student's future is an investment in Virginia's future.

As governor, I will commit to new and expanded investments in financial aid, grant programs, and targeted loan forgiveness for students who teach or work in technical fields and in high-needs areas in the state. In addition, I'll create the Virginia Forward scholarship program, which will guarantee that any high school student who maintains a B average can attend a public Virginia college or university with a 50 percent scholarship, in exchange for committing to at least two years of public service in Virginia after graduation. Every Virginian will have access to an affordable higher education, and students will pay Virginia back several times over by entering the workforce with more advanced skills.

Details on these policies and more are at DeedsForVirginia.com.

I can't promise that all my proposals will be implemented exactly as I would like, but I can promise that I will work in the tradition of Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, and I will be realistic and honest about the problems we face. As I have throughout my career, I will reach across the aisle and bring people together to create long-term solutions that benefit the entire commonwealth and keep Virginia moving forward.
Creigh Deeds is a member of the Senate of Virginia and is the Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia. His campaign Web site is http://www.deedsforvirginia.com.