Roanoke Times Praises Ed Gillespie’s Detail-Oriented Campaign For Virginia Governor

As the Virginia gubernatorial race comes to a close, Republican Ed Gillespie’s superior grasp of policies to improve life in the Commonwealth for all Virginians has created a stark contrast with Democrat Ralph Northam. In a new editorial, the Roanoke Times highlighted this difference, claiming “Ed Gillespie has a lot more ideas than Ralph Northam does,” that he is clearly “more detail-oriented than Northam is,” and he would be “a competent chief executive.” While Northam continues to exhibit an alarming lack of depth on key issues such as taxes, still unwilling to release his full plan to voters, Gillespie has shown throughout his campaign that he has the necessary grasp of the issues and thoughtful conservative solutions to serve as Virginia’s next governor.

The Roanoke Times writes:

“OK, somebody ought to say this so we’ll say it: Ed Gillespie has a lot more ideas than Ralph Northam does…

…Gillespie has already released a detailed plan of tax cuts. He says his tax cuts would make it easier for entrepreneurs to start new companies and existing companies to expand to Virginia; Democrats say they’d starve the state of revenue needed to pay for the services that make Virginia a good place to do business in the first place.

The point here, though, is that Gillespie has a plan — and says Northam doesn’t. On the other hand, Gillespie would be a Republican governor working with a Republican General Assembly, so he’d be in a better position to get his plan through. Northam would be a Democrat working with a Republican General Assembly — and, politics being what they are, any proposal he made would probably be dead on arrival. That means it’s in his best interest to avoid specific proposals and instead put together a tax reform commission that might build a consensus.

However, other points are, quite frankly, darned interesting. One is to support “right-to-repair.” What is right-to-repair? This is an issue that has come up with a lot of software — and there’s now a lot of software in farm equipment, software that remains the legal property of the tractor manufacturer. If your tractor breaks down, who can fix it? Some companies insist that only authorized dealers can; a farmer might want to rely on his local mechanic. Hence, the “right-to-repair” movement. That’s not an issue that’s going to light up the airwaves, but it does matter to a certain group of voters. Somebody on Gillespie’s staff has done some homework to even know this issue exists…

For instance: Back in the summer, Gillespie rolled out an eight-point plan on how to grow “the outdoor economy.” There’s nothing in there that’s particularly partisan. Show it to a Democrat and they’d probably think it came from one of their own. A lot of it is feel-good stuff — “convene Virginia’s first ‘Summit on the Summit’ as an annual day for Virginians to get outside to reach the summit of their chosen mountain. Ed and Cathy will summit Bluff Mountain near Buena Vista!” On the other hand, Gillespie’s proposal “to add 50 new river, stream and water access points on government owned lands” is pretty specific. So is ordering “a comprehensive report” on the maintenance needs of state parks…

Still, if you’re making a list of other differences between the two candidates, one big one is that Gillespie is a lot more detail-oriented than Northam is. If you’re a Democrat, that’s hardly a reason to vote for the Republican, but it does suggest that Gillespie would a competent chief executive. Whether you’d like the things he’d do, well, that’s another matter. All we can say for certain is that if you intend to read the two candidates’ policy positions to compare and contrast, you’re going to be reading more on Gillespie’s website than you are on Northam’s.”