Prince William Reporter interview release

[GREGORY]

QUESTIONS

• What motivated you to run for the House of Delegates in the 21st District?

When I realized my legislator wasn’t going to help me, I said” I’ll be the legislator.”  There is only so much a citizen can get accomplished from the outside and after talking with my representatives, Josh Thomas and Danica Roem I realized they naturally have agendas that drive them, my issue wasn’t on their agendas.  I saw there was no one committing to run for the Republicans in the Virginia House District Delegate contest and I began the process to get on the primary ballot.  I’ve been active in this district since I moved here in 2000. 

See VoteGorham.com for an introductory letter I sent to primary voters, I won my primary in a three-way race with more than 66 percent of the vote.

• What key issues are driving your campaign, and how do they reflect the needs of your constituents?

I think my constituents want to see accomplishments, not party line platitudes.  Data center sprawl is the main issue capturing headlines today in HD21 and I have been active in that area since successfully pushing to censure our republican county supervisor before he resigned in 2022.  There are underlying issues like supporting law and order which is very broad in scope.  One primary legislative issue I back, which received the second most positive response in our internal polling is restoring states power by constraining federal government overreach, imposing federal fiscal responsibility and addressing term limits.  These are federal issues the states can lead to impose solutions on the federal government.  See my web site VoteGorham.com for more information, I have a resolution that calls for amending the US Constitution by any means in Article 5, and legislation to establish guardrails on how these changes can be debated and perhaps eventually ratified by 38 states as US constitutional amendments as we have amended the same constitution 27 times to date.

In my introductory letter I describe what things I have accomplished in this district with my neighbors, my future constituents, over the last 25 plus years as an example of what I can do once elected as delegate.  I want to help my constituents by pushing power from the federal government to states and to the localities most impacted.  A delegate has a fraction of the number of constituents to represent than a US congressman or US senator.

• How do you differ from the incumbent in terms of policy priorities and leadership approach?

The incumbent was allowed the one bill on data centers to get to the governor’s desk and Governor Youngkin vetoed it with changes.  The incumbent and his party chose to allow that bill to pass and they also chose to reject the veto changes.  He chose politics over solutions.  The proposed changes to the bill could have accomplished some good but he chose to not make progress and rather use the veto to make points against the governor.  The failure Thomas made and seems to continue to make is he doesn’t demonstrate he understands there is no one-size-fits-all solution to the data center problem.  Some areas of Virginia would love these problems. The governor’s changes of “shall” to “may” could have given localities the tools they need to make local decisions better.  There are many other ways to force data center developers to make better proposals by making it more expensive not to make smarter proposals.  Smarter tax laws, target industry tax overlay districts, choice of residential power suppliers, better environmental ordinance tools for localities to choose from, taking control from Richmond, need to be implemented. I would have accepted the veto changes and possibly negotiated the two sessions requirement to get a partial win from a weak bill.

The incumbent now is proposing additional state level taxes on data centers that might be redirected back to Virginians.  I propose giving localities better tools to tax, make it expensive not to be responsible neighbors and mandates to redistribute locally.  The key difference here is a local choice that will have a better chance of passing where a statewide dictate that can be misappropriated by unscrupulous legislators will not. (I want to define what the perfect data center looks like and how much it will negatively impact profits from taxes if they fail to meet those “perfect” standards)

There are other very significant differences between me and the incumbent who has lived in this district only long enough to get elected in 2023.  I know the history of the district especially the battlefield issues like traffic in the park and how we need to support this historic and economic treasure.  The Manassas National Battlefield Park will be here for hundreds of years and the sooner we implement fixes the better.

There are the “social” issues, the 80-20 issues like men in women’s sports, DEI mandates in Virginia code where we obviously disagree and those votes will likely go along party lines.

I want to restore and protect election day.

I’d support repealing the meals and car taxes.

I will propose legislation that outlines the framework to mimic the “Kalamazoo Promise” in Virginia.  The benefit is building vested interest in our schools and the government is not involved at all, it is all locally funded.  Virginia can follow the lead of other states like Louisiana and Mississippi who have passed us in literacy scores by recommitting to phonics and holding students to these standards.

There are many more differences that would not be easily laid out in a short answer here.  I’m happy to go into more if you have specific issues in mind.

In general, I will work on bills that give localities power where the incumbent will repeat trying to force controls from Richmond over all Virginia where agreement is impossible.

• What personal or professional experiences best prepare you for this role?

I’m a retired IT professional; I understand technology which will help me with issues like AI and data centers.  I have been an elected board member and past president of a condominium board in Annandale, Virginia.  I have served as a magisterial district representative on the Ag and Forrest Advisory Committee.  I have a civic resume that I’ll share if interested.  See my introductory letter to voters on VoteGorham.com for more about projects I have participated in things that required a level of tenacity most people do not have. 

I have deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq 27 months as a contractor and while not directly related to being a delegate it is an example how I have ability to “live the dream life” and make significant contributions as evidenced by earning an award from NGA Director Long.

• If elected, what would be your top legislative goals in your first term?

A delegate can only patron 15 bills in odd number years.  For 2026 I have a list of 24, so far, possible bills or resolutions to submit.  One of those issues includes addressing the Richmond legislative gridlock voters despise.  I want my party leadership to make rules changes or maybe legislation that allows a delegate to patron more bills if they also patron the repeal of several obsolete laws and those additional bills must be bipartisan.  This would force legislators to work together rather than operate in lockstep with party leadership.  Beyond data center sprawl legislation tools for localities, I’d like to patron an “Innovative Medicine Act” in Virginia to enable as other states have done with strong bipartisan support, allowing provisioning of stem cell treatments.  I’d expand that to hyperbaric oxygen treatment, peptides, ozone, and lay groundwork for future innovations as they arise all based on solid informed consent guides and stricter reliable controlled sourcing of the treatments.  This is another example of bringing power back to the states.  I’d like to consider making gold and silver legal tender as other states have recently done.  I’m happy to share this draft wish list.

• What else would you like voters in the 21st District to know about you and your campaign?

I’ve lived here for over 25 years, I’ve accomplished a lot with neighbors many would never try, let alone accomplish.  I think constituent Josh Thomas has a lot he wants to offer and I will listen to his issues as he listened to mine.  I will work with Senator Danica Roem on issues we have agreement on, our districts overlap significantly geographically and the bipartisan partnership can break through party barriers. 

A side note, the redistricting in 2023 encouraged me to run because the new map closely aligns with the Gainesville Magisterial District map.  Had that change not been made and half this district was still in Fairfax County I wouldn’t have the network, familiarity with issues in that divided two-county area.  I believe the incumbent used that map change that removed an incumbent as his reason to move here to run where he knew very little about the area.