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Putting Main Street Before Wall Street: A Plan to Rebuild Southwest Virginia’s Economy
By Cindy Green, Candidate for Virginia House of Delegates, District 44
Work Boots Built America. Whether you wear work boots as a construction worker, firefighter or police officer, or work shoes in retail sales, as a teacher, nurse, or doctor, or as I still do, I will be the Delegate who promotes economic development that uses your tax dollars responsibly and creates opportunity for our children to build their lives right here at home.
Work boots built America. Work boots built Southwest Virginia. Work shoes built me.
The main reason I ran for Delegate is simple. I want safe communities and safe schools for my granddaughter, for your children, and for your grandchildren. Safety also means protecting our local hospitals and keeping emergency rooms open for the kids who play under those Friday Night Lights.
A close second is economic development. But not the kind that fills the pockets of the already wealthy. Economic development should create real opportunities for our children to stay, live, and raise families right here in District 44, not corporate welfare disguised as job growth.
Too many politicians love taxpayer-funded corporate giveaways. They cut ribbons, smile for the cameras, and talk about partnerships while the companies that need help the least pocket the incentives and leave town as soon as the perks run out. Around here, folks call that rent-a-jobs.
On the campaign trail, I have heard it again and again. Why are we giving million-dollar companies free land, free buildings, and taxpayer-funded infrastructure while regular working people get nickel and dimed for every connection fee, permit, and bill?
People tell me the most profitable business in Southwest Virginia and throughout rural America must be the sign companies. They are the ones changing the names on those empty taxpayer-built industrial park buildings every few years when the last company packs up and moves on to the next set of incentives.
If you have ever heard me speak, you know I talk a lot about my first job at fifteen, working at McDonald’s to buy my school clothes. That job taught me the value of work and the pride of earning your way. So let me be clear. I value every job. Whether it is a small business offering an entry-level position or a company paying six-figure salaries for skilled tradesmen and professionals, every job matters.
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But here is my question. When was the last time the Commonwealth of Virginia or your state offered you any help to maintain or grow your business? When was the last time a small business owner got a grant or tax relief to keep the doors open?
As your Delegate, I want to address what one small business owner after another has asked, what many have practically begged for. They worry about the rising costs of doing business just to stay afloat. They tell me that if they had help reducing electrical rates, insurance premiums, and especially out-of-control workers’ compensation costs, they could not only survive but grow. They could create more local, homegrown jobs for our kids.
That is how you build real, lasting economic development. When we take corporate welfare away from the millionaires and billionaires and use it to help small business owners with their costs, those profits stay right here in Southwest Virginia and in rural America, not shipped out to shareholders and executives living somewhere else.
I will be the Delegate who gets our State Corporation Commission and Insurance Commission to stop being a rubber stamp for rate hikes. Because I do not take corporate campaign donations, I can actually work for you, the voter, the worker, and the small business owner.
As your Delegate, I will fight for Main Street before Wall Street. I will push for real investments in broadband, infrastructure, and small-business lending, not corporate welfare. I will work to expand vocational training and workforce development programs so our young people can get the skills they need and the jobs they deserve.
Our region does not need another photo opportunity. It needs a partner. Someone who will work as hard as the people she represents.
When voters ask me which side I am on, my answer is simple. I stand with the people who wear the work boots and the work shoes, not the Wall Street suits. I will be that Delegate, the hardest working one in Richmond, fighting for our small businesses, our families, and our future. Because if we are going to rebuild Southwest Virginia and rural America, it will be done by the hands of those who built it the first time, the working people who never quit.