Candidate Interview: Rex Simmons, Democratic Candidate for House of Delegates

The following is a write up of an interview I conducted with Rex Simmons, who is running for the House of Delegates in the 40th. As I promised yesterday, I will also be putting up a piece on Morris Meyer (his opponent in the Democratic primary) tomorrow. I’d like to thank both candidates for taking the time to talk with me and I hope the information in these pieces will serve as a useful source of information for voters in the 40th and anyone else interested in the race.

Education
When Rex spoke about education, it became extremely apparent about how passionate he is about the topic – both the role it’s played in his life and role it plays in our society as a whole. He spoke fondly of growing up in a small town – Columbia, NC – and viewing education as a means of how he could ensure that he had a bright future. Eventually, he even mentioned that he’d first been exposed to public service when he was twelve years old and helped his father’s campaign to be a member of the local Board of Education. To me, it seemed fitting that a man who valued education so much would get some of his first exposure to public service during a Board of Education race.

As a result of graduating first in his high school class, he was able to receive some scholarships and attended UNC where he received his Bachelor’s Degree in political science. It was while at UNC that he met and fell in love with his wife of over 31 years –Nancy – who was also a student there. After finishing his undergrad work, Rex then moved on to American University where he received a Master’s Degree in public administration; a discipline he decided upon at least partly because he had always been interested in the management side of government.

With the importance education has played in his own life, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Rex also believes education is one of the more important issues that must be addressed by Virginia’s government. Although Fairfax County has always had a top notch school system, he reminds me that we also have to work to ensure that it stays at the top. One of the reasons that Fairfax County Public Schools are so well respected, for instance, is that it has been able to attract extremely talented teachers to its schools. As the cost of living in Northern Virginia has become extremely high, however, one cannot avoid wondering whether our teachers can actually afford to live here.

His time with the GAO
After he finished his Master’s Degree, Rex stayed in the D.C. area and began his long career in public service at the Government Accountability Office, which he liked largely because it allowed him to analyze legislation and help to make recommendations to lawmakers about how to ensure the Government implemented financially responsible legislation. Later in his career, he served as an assistant Inspector General for banking regulatory agencies. Throughout his public service, his duties frequently resulted in a great deal of interaction with the legislative branch and members of both political parties, which he is confident will help him serve his constituents better if elected to the House of Delegates.

Transportation
Like far too many people living in the Northern Virginia area, Rex has faced long commutes –regularly in the range of 1.5 hours. As a result of so many residents of the 40th facing a similar commute time, Rex believes that the traffic situation is one of the most important issues facing Northern Virginia residents. He points out that not only has this left people feeling frustrated while their in their cars, but it has ultimately affected the quality of life in the 40th because so many commuters are forced to wake up before the sun rises in order to drive to work and might not be able to get home until after dark. Furthermore, the large number of hours spent on the road also takes away from time that could be spent with family members or doing something else that provides a positive contribution to our society.

Nonetheless, the Republican controlled General Assembly has frequently promoted a partisan agenda that has created such gridlock in the General Assembly that no true solution to our traffic woes has been found. This is unacceptable because, as Rex mentioned, members of the legislature get paid in order to find solutions and do what’s right for Virginia. Rex believes a proper solution can be found through what he called “the Virginia way,” which calls for putting aside putting aside partisan politics and coming together in order to produce legislation that’s best for Virginians. Furthermore, members of the General Assembly must be willing to work with local leaders in order to form a plan that not only works within the scheme of the entire Commonwealth, but also considers the needs of the individual localities.

The environment
One issue that Rex believes needs to be given more attention is our environment. The Chesapeake Bay, for instance, is resource that people from numerous states (including Virginia) depend upon. It also serves as home to various species of animals and plant life, which serve their role in maintaining a healthy and beautiful environment. The Bay is in need of attention though because it has suffered throughout the years from direct pollution, erosion, and runoff. What can potentially help protect the bay and address other environmental issues such as air quality and global warming, Rex suggests, are promoting tighter emissions controls or more fuel efficient cars. He also suggests looking into creating legislation about development that both protects our environment, but doesn’t handicap developers at the same time. In order to accomplish this, Rex stress, the General Assembly must work together in a bipartisan manner.

Health Care
As the cost of health care has almost doubled in recent years, there are many Virginia families who cannot afford proper health insurance. Rex pointed out that this not only results in the uninsured not getting proper care, but can also have an indirect affect on the rising costs of health care as hospitals are left with unpaid bills from people who don’t have insurance and cannot afford to pay for the care on their own. Rex did mention a few things that can be done in order to help make health care more affordable – taking an initiative to have Medicaid expanded, have the state help small businesses group together in order to provide health insurance to their employees, and looking into potentially requiring all Virginians to have health insurance (kind of like how all drivers are supposed to have car insurance.) It will be a challenge to raise the funds necessary for these programs, but it can be done if there is an effort to make sure funds are spent efficiently and our lawmakers work together in a bipartisan manner.

What I found to be interesting was that Rex then proceeded to talk about how he believed that lawmakers should take the lead in demonstrating healthy lifestyles. Rex, for instance, is an avid runner and even uses “Running for You” as his campaign motto. He believes that it is important for Virginians to exercise and take their health seriously. Obviously, a healthy person will not have as many medical bills as someone who is unhealthy. And Rex believes that our political leaders should strive to be excellent role models to the public on this issue. (It should be noted that he had already gone for a run the morning that the interview took place). While I believe many people take it as a given that our lawmakers should be role models, I find it refreshing to find a politician who actually has integrated that into his platform.

Conclusion
I’d once again like to thank Rex Simmons for taking the time to talk with me about various issues. He appears to be a man who is passionate about public service and is eager to do what he can in order to help his fellow Virginians. I look forward to following his campaign over to course of at least the next few weeks. If you’d like more information about Rex’s campaign you can visit his website at www.rexsimmons.com.