Del. Danny Marshall discusses jobs, economy at tele-town hall

Delegate Danny Marshall, R-14th District, discussed job creation, energy and the economy Monday night during a town hall phone conference with constituents.

Marshall, who is running for reelection in November against former Danville Mayor Seward Anderson, took questions and spoke about his work on the Tobacco Commission.

“We’ve got a lot to do here in Southside,” Marshall said. “I know people are hurting in this area.”

Governor’s Opportunity Fund

Marshall said he voted to cut funding of the economic devel-opment tool because last year there was $6.2 million left over.

“My opposition does not quite understand (the fund),” Marshall said. “Why would you want to put additional money in the fund if we’re not spending all the money that’s there now?”

Anderson said in a phone in-terview that the money should be available should the governor need it at any time.

“If the money’s not there, you’re at a definite competitive disadvantage,” Anderson said.

On energy

Marshall said he supported drilling for natural gas off Virginia’s coast because it could lower costs and increase tax revenue. On uranium mining, he said he was “a doubting Tho-mas” and feared the environ-mental impact on the community. Marshall also supported the local projects, partly funded by the Tobacco Commission, to research and develop alternative fuels.

Enterprise Zones

Regarding enterprise zone funding — an economic devel-opment program that has been underfunded since 2004 — Marshall noted that Gov. Timo-thy M. Kaine trimmed $1.25 million from the funding in the statewide budget cuts this month.

Marshall other local legislators recently met with a local representative of the program to discuss solutions.

“We are working on that so we can try to fix that for next year,” Marshall said.