Wagner: Valley can expect economic growth if he's elected governor

STAUNTON - For Frank Wagner, the conversation on what he'd bring to the Valley if elected governor starts and ends with economic growth.

"I've worn a hard hat all my life," he says as he settles into his chair at the News Leader office in Staunton — that's what drives his policy.

The Virginia Beach-area state senator (District 7) built up his own shipyard business, where he's been navigating government regulation for years — it's that experience combined with his 25 years working first as a delegate and now as a state senator in Richmond that he says make him the best candidate for the job.

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He points this experience out quickly, along with being a U.S. Navy veteran and native Virginian, as things he thinks set him apart from his two Republican counterparts in the upcoming gubernatorial primary elections, Corey Stewart and Ed Gillespie, neither of whom have served in Virginia state government.

"You come into the governor's [office], and state government's a very complex situation," he said. "If you want to hit the ground running, and you only have four years as governor, I think it's important that that governor have experience."

Something he's noticed in his years of experience? There's been an attitude shift in how government regulators deal with private businesses — “government is at war with business when they really should be working together," he said.

The attitude of government taking an "adversarial role" to industry needs to change from the top-down, Wagner said — "we're here to help Virginia businesses grow."

He supports investing in infrastructure to grow the economy between increased funding for broadband and transportation programs and increasing taxes on gas companies to help pay for it. He's also in favor of constructing the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

“I’m a big fan of it and I’m not going to hide from that," he said, citing a need for natural gas energy as coal plants close and solar energy slots in as "part of the mix, but not the silver bullet that everyone wants to believe."

But what Wagner is most passionate about getting to work on in Virginia to stimulate the economy is reforming the education system.

There's a lack of skilled workers in the job market with plenty of well-paying jobs to be had if the workforce had the right training, he says. Wagner proposes introducing career training starting in middle school as an option for students.

The state would add "Standards of Achievement" tests as another option to Standards of Learning tests (SOLs) for schools to administer as part of their process for maintaining state accreditation.

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“There are plenty of kids out there who aren’t going to pass algebra," Wagner said. “It hardly means that you don’t have a future."

Wagner projects that setting up an academic structure for those students to get career training and inviting industry and government agencies into that process to be able to hire top-performing students would be the exact kind of shift the Virginia economy needs. 

“That’s the thing that gets me up in the morning and drives me," he said.

The primary election is Tuesday, June 13.

Stay tuned for profiles next week of the other two Republican gubernatorial candidates, Corey Stewart and Ed Gillespie, as well as profiles of Democratic gubernatorial candidates Ralph Northam and Tom Perriello.

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