May 9th, 2009

Bedford County man seeks to unseat Putney     

roanoke.com/politics

A Bedford County businessman announced Tuesday he will attempt, for the second time, to unseat the longest-serving member of the state House of Delegates.Lewis Medlin, a Democrat, will challenge Lacey Putney, I-Bedford, for the 19th District seat — held by Putney since the Kennedy administration.The district includes the city of Bedford and much of Bedford and Botetourt Counties. In 2007, the 59 year old Medlin ran agaist the 81-year-old incumbent. Putney took three of every four votes cast in that election.“I would not do this if I did not think I had a chance to win,” Medlin said Tuesday, shrugging off the suggestion that Putney is planted in the seat. “Isn’t that what they said about Virgil Goode?”Medlin said his platform will center on education and employment, health care and a reduction in the real estate tax for seniors to ease the burden of shrinking retirement packages.He added that he expects Democrats will win the House in the upcoming election, a power shift that would make a Democrat a better representative for the district.Medlin and his wife, Karen, live in Stewartsville and have four children. He works at E-Z Mount Bracket Co., the Montvale business he founded with his father in 1978.Medlin also leads the Bedford County Democratic Committee and the Montvale Rescue Squad.The Democrat planned to formally kick off his campaign Tuesday evening at the Thaxton Community Center, with an event that included live music and flatfooting. Putney, who was first elected to the House in 1962, announced last week that he would seek another term.– Pete Dybdahl

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May 9th, 2009

Medlin to challenge Putney

By John Barnhart

Lewis Medlin announced last week, at a gathering in Thaxton, that he’s making another run at the 19th House of Delegates seat as the Democratic Party nominee.

     He lives in Stewartsville and is vice-president of E-Z Mount Bracket Company, located in Montvale, which he co-founded with his father, Lewis B. Medlin Sr. The business has a 10,000 square foot facility that makes 23 different bracket designs used primarily by the electrical industry. The company has 15 U. S. patents.

    This will be Medlin’s second run at this seat. In 2007, incumbent Delegate Lacey Putney defeated him, receiving 72.56 percent of the vote.

    Medlin’s platform covers five major areas. One of them is education.

    “We are going to cut the [state] budget for the next three or four years,” Medlin said.

    When cutting the budget, Medlin said that it will be important to be careful about what  these cuts do to schools.Along with being careful about cuts to public schools, Medlin would like to add something new – pre-kindergarten. Furthermore, he said that all Virginians should be able to afford the cost of a college education.

    Medlin would like to see Virginia offer a tax credit for businesses that hire new part-time workers. This would be a $500 tax credit and Medlin believes the additional jobs this would create would generate enough tax revenue to make up for what would be lost through the credit. The state could also create jobs by expanding and upgrading roads, he said.

    He also would like to see low interest loans made available to small businesses for either business start-ups or expansions.

    “By getting business going, you get the jobs,” he said.

    Medlin proposes freezing real estate taxes on the homes of elderly people. He said many have seen a decline in their retirement packages and his campaign literature states that many are on low or fixed incomes.

    “It’s time to give Virginia’s elderly a break by freezing their real estate taxes now,” he said.

    According to Medlin, 80 percent of Virginia’s energy comes from coal, nuclear power and dams. He would like to see more come from renewable sources, but believes the General Assembly shouldn’t try to do everything overnight. He suggested, as one step that could help, is that developers could put solar panels on the roofs of new construction.

    His campaign literature also states that Virginia is too dependent on foreign oil and calls for energy independence.

    Health care is an issue for Medlin.

    “We need to increase access to health care,” he told last week’s gathering.

    Delegate Putney, who Medlin is challenging, has been in the House of Delegates since 1962 and has seats on several influential committees. This past session, he chaired the House Appropriations Committee which, along with the Senate Finance Committee, shapes the state’s budget. He is also typically one of the House conferees when House and Senate versions of the budget are reconciled.

    Medlin believes that the 19th District won’t be adversely impacted by replacing Putney with a new delegate. He said that the Democrats now control the Senate and will control the House after the November election.

    “I will have more power in the House of Delegates than Lacey does,” he asserted.

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Buchanan issues boil notice after water contamination

April 9th, 2009

By Neil Harvey and Courtney Cutright | The Roanoke Times

Buchanan, the small town beside the James River in Botetourt County, has issued a boil water notice due to contamination of one of the town’s three working wells.

Mayor Tom Middlecamp said today there’s no quick fix to the water woes. The 1,200-person population town needs a $1.4 million filtration plant to treat the water from two of its four wells. The town government is seeking federal stimulus funding to pay for the project but the plant is needed whether the funding is approved or not, Middlecamp said.

That means Buchanan residents could be boiling drinking water for as long as a year.

The boil notice issued Wednesday includes Buchanan Elementary School. All water needs to boiled at least 10 minutes and cooled before using as a drinking source. Fountain drinks are not flowing at the town eateries and citizens are ringing the phone off in the Buchanan town office, Botetourt View community journalist Cathy Benson reported this morning.

Jesse Mayhew of the Virginia Department of Health said there will be a public meeting at 6 tonight at the Buchanan Theatre, 19778 Main St., Buchanan.

Assistant School Superintendent John Busher said the water is safe for hand washing and flushing toilets at the school but bottled water has been provided for drinking.

For more, visit The Botetourt View’s notebook blog at http://blogs.roanoke.com/rtblogs/botetourtview.

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Unemployment Insurance

April 9th, 2009

Jared Leopold, Communications Director for the Democratic Party of Virginia, released the following statement regarding Wednesday’s House vote to reject federal stimulus funds for unemployment insurance:“Unfortunately, Virginia families will pay the price for today’s political decision by Virginia Republican leaders to block federal stimulus funds.“Yet again, House Republicans have chosen to play political games rather than deliver results for Virginians who are suffering through this tough economy. Bob McDonnell and the Virginia House Republicans have made it clear that they would rather see federal stimulus money go to other states than to Virginians who have lost their jobs.“We applaud Governor Kaine and the members of the House and Senate who stood up today for Virginia’s working families.”

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Signing on…..

March 31st, 2009

Hello 19th District, The “19th District Blog” is on line.

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