Thursday, July 30, 2009
Campaign notebook: Democrat Shannon outlines priorities
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roanoke.com/politics
The Kiwanis Club of Roanoke has hosted two statewide candidates in eight days.
Last week the club heard from Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell. On Wednesday it was Steve Shannon, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, the job that McDonnell won four years ago.
Shannon, a former assistant commonwealth's attorney who represents a portion of Fairfax County in the House of Delegates, is running against Republican state Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, also of Fairfax County.
Shannon told the club that he initially entered public service to help institute an Amber Alert system in Virginia. From there he became a prosecutor who focused mostly on crimes involving children.
He said the children he worked with didn't care about his political affiliation but whether he would fight for them, exercise good judgment and deliver results.
"Every time I start feeling like things are getting way too partisan in Richmond, I try to think back to those kids, those kids I represented in the courtroom," Shannon said. "I try to think back of what they expected of me as a prosecutor. That's been the way I try to conduct myself in Richmond, and that's going to be the way I'll conduct myself should I be elected your next attorney general."
Shannon said he would focus his statewide campaign on three themes:
n Issues emerging from Virginia's shift from an industrial to a technological economy, including Internet-based crimes such as child pornography.
n Gangs and drug problems, especially those that span across local jurisdictions.
n Economic crimes, including market frauds and scams.
Shannon said he would also push to keep Virginia friendly for business, mainly by keeping taxes low but making "wise" investments in public education, safe communities, transportation infrastructure and the state's universities and community colleges.
Shannon's stop at the Kiwanis Club was part of a swing through Western Virginia on Wednesday that also included Lexington and Harrisonburg.
Cuccinelli also has made a number of visits to Roanoke this summer, appearing at Virginia Sen. Ralph Smith's "Lendy's Again" event in late June and the July 4 Tea Party in Elmwood Park.
-- Mason Adams
