CITY Councilwoman and Charlottesville's Vice Mayor Meredith Richards is the clear choice to represent University students in Virginia's fifth district of the U.S. House of Representatives. Since the 2000 election, our nation has changed as drastically as Congressman Virgil Goode's voting record; we need a new voice to stand up for just causes and a rational thinker, not an individual with an extremely conservative view of public policy that is divergent from the general consensus and the political center. Meredith Richards will provide a fresh prospective to leadership, and she will actually fight to improve the plight of needy families in the fifth district as well as families with college students instead of the empty lip service Congressman Goode has provided for the last six years, when he was first elected as a Democrat.
As students at the University, education is at the forefront of our concerns. Meredith Richards is a strong supporter of the General Obligation Bond that will give over $900 million to Virginia colleges. Goode has not formally endorsed this bond proposal. Furthermore, Richards supports the University student body unequivocally and works with us constantly; she is always a willing participant in any activity that she has been asked to attend. Richards also will be an active supporter of loans for needy students as well as making part of our tuition tax deductible (an idea Al Gore championed in 2000). Goode has proved to have one of the poorest voting records in the entire Congress in regards to helping students and improving education, while Richards has formed a program in Charlottesville to help needy children own and operate computers.
Although Charlottesville is a robust city with a great culture and many job opportunities, parts of the 5th district have unemployment numbers in the double digits. Congressman Rick Boucher in Southwest Virginia has worked to turn around his district, progressing from a coal-based economy to an economy rich with technology-based endeavors. Rather than fighting for funding to improve our community, Goode has spent his time fighting for tax breaks for the Enron Corporation. He is a representative for the powerful; Goode's campaign is funded by corporations as well as by special interest political action committees. Richards supports workers and believes in a living wage. She has stood with University students as an outspoken supporter of working Americans, and she believes that no full time worker should, in the richest nation in the world, live below the poverty line and that economic development is key to the vitality of our district.
It must be acknowledged that our nation has changed significantly since September 11, and this fact cannot be ignored in our first federal vote since the terrorist attacks. On Oct. 11, Congress passed a resolution granting the president war powers to be used against Iraq if diplomatic methods have been exhausted. This act affects University students not just in the abstract sense; at least two University students will not be able to complete their semesters because they have been called up for active duty in the reserves. With war lingering over Grounds, students need calm, rational leadership to represent their views in Congress. Congressman Goode has proved time and again that he is both rash and hawkish toward foreign policy. In January of 2001, Goode sponsored, along with Representative Bob Barr, R-GA, a resolution that nullifies the laws that prohibit federal employees from attempting or performing assassinations. The United States no longer sponsors state-endorsed assassination, and for good moral reason. Yet Goode sought to allow our government to murder in cold blood. This act has not found support in our nation's legislature.
As the smoke was still clearing from the New York City skyline on Sept. 13, 2001, Goode and his old friend Barr teamed up again to introduce a resolution against what Goode called "the spawn of evil" ("The conflict over war," The Washington Post, Sept. 16, 2001). Before information was known as to even who was responsible for the attacks against America, Goode was picking up the proverbial shotgun. Less than 10 of his colleagues joined him in his efforts to declare this "war" against the unnamed enemy. Richards has said on multiple occasions that she will weigh all issues carefully in making foreign policy decisions, and I believe she will represent a view more in tune with national consensus than the divergent extremism presented by Goode. It is time to do as Georgia voters did to his partner Barr -- elect someone new to represent us, and Richards is the right person for the job.
Education, jobs, foreign policy, not to mention the environment -- these are the issues that we have entrusted Congressman Goode to head to Washington and represent us with our best interests in mind for the past six years. He left for Washington a Democrat; he is now an extremely conservative Republican. Goode and his corporate contributors do not care about unemployment or a living wage; the sponsors of his campaign spend their days keeping wages down. Goode does not openly stand for the General Obligation Bond for Education our University so desperately needs. Let University students unite together behind a fresh voice, a leader who actually thinks like most of the fifth district's residents: Meredith Richards. Elect her to office on Nov. 5.
(Ian Marcus Amelkin is president of the University Democrats.)
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