Jack Gravely, search medicine of The Jack Gravely Show on WLEE 990 AM, troche partnered with Urban Views Weekly to educate and inform our community of the positions of candidates in the 16th District Democratic primary. We posed the same five questions to each candidate. Rudolph C. “Rudy” McCollum Jr. and Gerry Jeffries Rawlinson replied and answered the questions. Their unedited words are printed on these pages.
Rosalyn R. Dance and Delores L. McQuinn did not respond to questions, order emails, or to telephone messages left on their voice mail.
We thank Rudy McCollum and Gerry Rawlinson for being accessible.
Gerry Jeffries Rawlinson
1. Other than honesty and integrity, what personal trait(s) will you exhibit that will make residents of the 16th District proud that you are their Senator?
I, Gerry Rawlinson, am knowledgeable, loyal, faithful, and committed to the People of the 16th District and to the Democratic Party. I am a logical and steadfast person. When facing hurdles, I do not take no for an answer. However, I do possess the critical thinking skills needed to be able to analyze situations and to proceed to accomplish the desired goals.
2. Under what circumstances, would you support the Commonwealth of Virginia to borrow from, suspend, or cut funding to the Virginia Retirement System?
I would support the Commonwealth of Virginia to borrow from, suspend, or cut funding to the Virginia Retirement System, only for the benefit of education.
3. What type of training programs would you recommend that would improve employment opportunities and advancement of young adults who choose not to attend four-year colleges or universities?
I would support training and programs for:
— specific skills and trades needed for local and statewide industries;
— starting small businesses; and
— assisting individuals to improve their reading, computers, public speaking, time management, self-discipline, problem solving, and management of money skills.
4. Some individuals in communities within the 16th District feel that there is a pipeline running from their neighborhoods to prison. What will you do to help break the prison pipeline?
I will support legislation to improve education, community unity, and fairness in the justice system. I will support legislation that works to accredit the student and not the school. I believe that there needs to be an overhaul in the schools’ methodology in educating children who are at high risk for the “pipeline running from neighborhoods to prison”.
I would support legislation addressing teen pregnancies, and adverse factors impeding economic growth in low income neighborhoods.
5. What would you do to help increase the amount of contract dollars awarded by the Commonwealth of Virginia to Black-owned companies?
I will support legislation which would require that a percentage of contracts and a specific dollar amount be awarded to qualified Commonwealth of Virginia Black-owned businesses. I would require that an oversight committee be appointed to ensure that the state and other parties are in compliance with the requirements. The oversight committee shall have expertise related to the industry.
I believe in free commerce but not to the extent that qualified members of the Commonwealth of Virginia are eliminated from the opportunity to generate wealth for their families. Virginians cannot allow or accept the “trickle down” concept or continue to permit large corporations or special interest groups to control who is able to sit at the table of opportunity.
Rudolph C. “Rudy” McCollum Jr.
1. Other than honesty and integrity, what personal trait(s) will you exhibit that will make residents of the 16th District proud that you are their Senator?
Articulation, concern, courage, commitment, confidence, determination, diligence, leadership, intelligence, professionalism, and tenacity. These traits are critical for success in the state senate and my success is what will make the residents of the 16th district proud that I am their senator. In addition to those traits, I think the skills required, that are important are the ability to work well with my colleagues and also, to challenge them. And also, to provide the ability to interpret the legalities of the General Assembly and I believe that my legal skills, 24 years of which, are of great benefit.
2. Under what circumstances, would you support the Commonwealth of Virginia to borrow from, suspend, or cut funding to the Virginia Retirement System?
Only under the most extreme and dire financial conditions, should the funds in the VRS be used for any purpose other than for the use of paying the retirement benefits. In other words, the fiscal state of our economy should be near devastation before we, in any way, affect those funds which are specifically set aside for the benefit of those retirees.
3. What type of training programs would you recommend that would improve employment opportunities and advancement of young adults who choose not to attend four-year colleges or universities?
Partnership with the private sector and the enhancement of local public and private technical schools to provide greater options for the development of the trades are needed in order to provide viable options for those young adults who choose not to attend four-year colleges or universities.
4. Some individuals in communities within the 16th District feel that there is a pipeline running from their neighborhoods to prison. What will you do to help break the prison pipeline?
Focus on Pre – K education enhancement and focus on skill development during K – 12, as well as creating employment opportunities by bringing more business groups into the area through tax incentives and other measures, will provide the needs to avoid our young people breaking into the prison pipeline.
5. What would you do to help increase the amount of contract dollars awarded by the Commonwealth of Virginia to Black-owned companies?
Creating more opportunities for Black-owned companies by having the opportunities to sit down with me and with the Secretary of Commerce, Morris Jones, to determine what is lacking in our current system that is preventing Black businesses from achieving greater participation and setting in motion the action required, be it legislative, or administrative, to obtain a much greater share of state government contracts, is what I see as a starting point for being able to improve the amount of contract dollars awarded by the Commonwealth of Virginia to Black- owned companies.
