Republican George Allen, former Virgnia governor and U.S. senator, stopped in Blacksburg this weekend to support Morgan Griffith’s campaign for Congress.
Allen attended the 12th annual Obenshain-Dalton dinner Friday night, which celebrated local Republican figures as well as Griffith’s bid for the House of Representatives against incumbent Democrat Rich Boucher.
Griffith has served in the Virginia House of Delegates since 1994 and is currently the majority leader of the Virginia House of Delegates.
The event, hosted at Custom Catering on Patrick Henry Drive, brought together members of the Montgomery County Republicans, the College Republicans at Virginia Tech and local supporters.
Speakers included Del. Dave Nutter; Griffith, currently a member of Virginia’s House of Delegates; Virginia state Sen. Mark
Obenshain, whose wife, Susan Obenshain, sits on the Tech Board of Visitors; and Allen, who is currently promoting his new book, “What Washington Can Learn from the World of Sports.”
The event also featured a live auction of various items, including a copy of Allen’s book.
The proceeds went to Griffith’s campaign.
Griffith, who characterized himself as a fighter and as someone who would “shake things up” if elected, spoke out against the current administration in Washington, Boucher and against the EPA, and cap and trade.
Griffith also advocated for more jobs for Southwest Virginia.
“We can bring good-paying jobs to Southwestern Virginia,” Griffith said during his speech. “The way to bring jobs is not to vote to cap and trade.”
Allen also spoke against cap and trade and the “unelected bureaucrats in the EPA” who regulate carbon emissions.
He accentuated Griffith’s points about wanting to bring more jobs and business to Southwest Virginia.
“It’s important we have more people like Morgan Griffith,” Allen said, “to protect the right to work.”
Allen remembered the anniversary of Sept. 11 and asked all veterans in the room to stand.
“We all believe America is the best country in the world,” he said.
Many of the speakers stayed in Blacksburg and tailgated with the College Republicans of both Tech and James Madison University before Saturday’s football game.
Griffith plans to return to Blacksburg on Sept. 23.
According to his website, he will hold a reception that night at 6:30 p.m. at 3956 S. Main St.
A version of this article appeared in the Sep 14 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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Oh, yes... "Shake things up." For a Republican that means returning to trickle down economic policies. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class disappears.
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Actually, "shaking things up" means not voting for job killing policies like cap-and-tade. It could also mean actually not spending money we don't have, and not wasting it like in obama's stimulus bill...but thats just me.
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Matthew, if you look at the details, Representative Boucher worked to weaken the cap and trade bill to the advantage of coal mining companies.
Coal won't last forever and mountain top mining is extremely detrimental to the environment. Investing in less destructive sources of energy makes sense for Virginia in the long term.
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If you look at the FACTS, you will first off see that we have enough coal in this country to last us as many as 300 years. But that's besides the point. And speaking of details, if this bill were to pass, there are at least 4 business in my town that would fail because of the taxes imposed from this bill (these companies deal in the coal industry). Cap and trade would kill jobs, raise taxes, and raise utility bills. Every other developed country in the world realizes this and will not pass a cap and trade bill. The only way to protect the coal industry would be to vote against cap and trade, plain and simple.
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Sorry, Matthew, I have little sympathy for an industry that pollutes the world with greenhouse gases, creates nasty byproducts like fly-ash, and destroys our beautiful Virginia mountains and waterways while mining. Imagine the harm that 300 more years of using coal for energy will do.
Now imagine the new industries and new jobs that will be created as we phase out coal. Virginia should be a leader in the development and application of clean energy technology, not stuck in the past with an ever dwindling product that will only get harder and more expensive to mine.
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Sorry that the fact that using coal for energy has become a lot cleaner in the past years and continues to do so doesn't please you. I'm also sorry that you don't care that losing coal will cause us to lose more jobs than will be created in alternative energy. With that said, if you want the government to control our natural resources and trump the free market (which by the way has given this country the most powerful economy on the planet) then try moving to a country ruled by socialism. Oh wait, we're starting to have that with your president.
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