Immigration, transit top 31st District issues
By AMANDA STEWART
astewart@potomacnews.com
Saturday, September 15, 2007


Both Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Prince William, and his Democratic challenger for the 31st District House of Delegates seat, William Day Jr., said that transportation and illegal immigration are the biggest issues in Northern Virginia right now.

Lingamfelter and Day spoke about those issues and others during a political forum hosted by the Prince William Committee of 100 Thursday night.

The Committee of 100 is hosting a series of forums in September and October with candidates for state and local offices. Thursday, in the first forum in the series, Lingamfelter and Day, as well as candidates for the 39th District of the state Senate, debated the issues.

"Tonight we are here to address issues central to this campaign," Lingamfelter said in his opening statement. "First among them is dealing with illegal immigration, while also fighting the threat of higher taxes, more regulation and huge spending increases by a government that has resisted reform."

The questions, submitted by audience members and chosen by members of the Committee of 100's questions committee, covered a broad range of topics, but Lingamfelter and Day's responses often came back to the issues of transportation and illegal immigration.

Day said he thinks illegal immigration can be controlled by enforcing existing laws.

"Other than transportation, illegal immigration is the issue that people are concerned about, that people are worried about," Day said. 'There's a simple solution, enforce the laws."

Day said there are "approximately 12 laws on the books now" related to illegal immigration that are not enforced. He said the focus should be on enforcing laws regulating employment.

"People are coming here for one thing: jobs. That's where we need to start," he said.

Lingamfelter disagreed.

"I'm not sure I agree with that. Jobs are something we want to actually increase," Lingamfelter said.

He said he supported measures to make sure that state and local governments are not using taxpayer money to support illegal immigration. He said he is also in favor of prohibiting in-state tuition for illegal immigration and training jail officials to start the deportation process.

He also said he would like to see Virginia make English its official language.

Lingamfelter said he doubted Day's sincerity in wanting to address the illegal immigration problem. He said that Day mailed out campaign materials outlining his "20-point plan" for Virginia, and that illegal immigration was not on the list.

Other topics discussed in the debate included transportation, education and energy. Day said Virginia does not currently have "a plan for energy conservation."

Lingamfelter said that in the last session, the General Assembly passed a bill requiring Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to develop an energy plan. He handed a copy of that plan to Day during the debate.

Day said he would like to see Virginia become a leader in energy conservation.

At the end of the debate, the candidates were able to ask each other one question.

Day asked Lingamfelter if he supported President Bush's policies. "I think there are some good things and some bad things," Lingamfelter said. "One bad thing is the federal government has totally dropped the ball on illegal aliens. Job one is to secure the borders."

Among the "good things" are the steps Bush has taken in "ensuring that this land is free of attacks by terrorists," Lingamfelter said.

Lingamfelter asked Day to explain how he would pay for some policy changes he supports, including implementing a pre-kindergarten program and replacing all state-owned motor vehicles with hybrids.

"This is the argument I hear often when I try to talk about energy," Day said. "But we need to think long-term. There might be a slight initial cost, but almost immediately there will be savings."


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