Davis: We Need Bold Leadership for Virginia in 2017
by Delegate Glenn Davis
We are halfway through the 2017 General Assembly session and it’s more clear than ever what Virginia needs. Virginia needs bold leadership. Bold leaders have a history of bold actions, not just bold talk. Bold leaders achieve what others have not, because they are willing to do what others will not. Bold leaders aren’t bold sometimes, they’re bold all the time; it’s in their DNA.
Bold is:
- Losing your job six weeks before Christmas and deciding to start a company out of a one-bedroom apartment, turning it into one of the nation’s fastest growing IT companies a few years later.
- Acquiring the assets of a publicly traded technology company and taking it private after attempts by much larger competitors had failed.
- Running for Virginia Beach City Council against a 24-year incumbent and wife of a democratic state delegate.
- Joining a team to create and grow a local public charter school with an IB curriculum and deciding admission based solely on a lottery system without deference to past grades.
- Pushing large tax reform initiatives as a freshman delegate, earning the freshman legislator of the year award from the Virginia Chamber of Commerce.
- Flying to MIT at one’s own expense to examine new technology around the use of coal in electronics, and to open discussions for partnership with Virginia universities.
- Traveling to Estonia at one’s own expense to create opportunities for Virginia related to personal delivery drones.
- Creating an opportunity to ship Virginia coal to Estonia to attract manufacturing opportunities around graphene.
I’ve done all this and more. My success is because while most people just see the “black and white,” I see the gray area; that area where unique opportunities exist, but require more effort and determination to achieve them.
I’ve gotten to know my colleagues in the race for Lt. Governor very well. I consider them friends. They are both good people who truly desire to create the best opportunities for Virginians. But Virginia needs something more. Strong desires and good intentions don’t kick start an economy. Running ads declaring the need for tax reform and business growth doesn’t make up for one’s lack of interest in the past, nor does it give one the knowledge to actually do it.
Virginia was #1 in the nation for business and job growth in 2011. Five years later we have fallen to #13. We can’t wait 5 years to benefit from the jobs and economic opportunity that come with getting back to #1. Too many Virginians are hurting.
Virginia needs leaders who have a history of being bold and creating policies to help grow small businesses and ensure our children are ready for a 21st century global economy.
How do you know a leader will continue to be bold? It’s simple. We don’t know how to lead any other way.
Delegate Glenn Davis (R) represents the 84th District in the Virginia House of Delegates. He is a candidate for the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor in 2017.
