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Sime challenges Hanger as Libertarian candidate
BY JAMES JACENICH • STAFF WRITER
 | | Arin Sime |
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MONTEREY - "When we talk about the issues, we find a lot in common," said senate candidate Arin Sime of his visits with voters in Highland County.
Sime is running for state senator from the 24th district, which includes Highland County, Augusta County, parts of Rockingham, Greene, Albemarle and Rockbridge counties, and Waynesboro, Staunton and Lexington.
"The lifestyle and community are unique and very attractive," Sime said of Highland. "There's a natural beauty. Beyond that is a real sense of community, volunteer spirit, knowing your neighbors, relying on your neighbors. The swimming pool volunteer funding is an example of community spirit.
"A lot of the issues are common around the district - property taxes, keeping those manageable so that longterm residents don't feel like they are being forced out of their homes. Highland County does a relatively good job of doing that. Highland County is one of the few counties to try to cut the tax rate to prevent the total amount of taxes from going up."
Tax reform
Sime intends to put property taxes at the top of his priorities, if elected.
"Property tax reform is definitely something I would like to focus on in Richmond," said Sime. "I'd like to see property taxes on an acquisition basis versus assessment basis. That prevents (local government) from using increasing market assessments as a shield for increasing tax payments. Things like that we could change.
"Property value increase is good, but it only has true value when you sell it. Incremental advances toward this goal are what I am for. No one is carrying this issue on the Senate side; some are carrying it on the Delegate side. We need leadership; one person in the Senate can provide that leadership. You start creating motion and momentum."
Sime is running for senate as a Libertarian. He said a Libertarian believes the core function of government is to "protect life, liberty and property - at the federal level that is all it should do. As you go down, you should do that as much as possible - keep government at local level, accountable to local people," he explained.
Sime said government should be open and accountable. Senate subcommittee voting is not recorded and he would like that to change, he said. "To a certain degree, you want an efficient government; more than that, you want an accountable government. Practically, there is no great burden to record who voted and in what way they voted."
He added that non-recorded ballots might also be a way for elected officials to limit public debate. "As an activist myself, I have heard stories from people that the lack of recorded votes was also being used to quietly kill bills too controversial to go to a public vote," he said. "It works against everyone. Grass-roots advocates are hurt most, volunteers - they can't stay (in Richmond) long. Paid lobbyists can see every committee meeting and watch everything."
Agriculture Sime supports family-owned farms. "I want to encourage small family farms, farmers' markets, local food production. There are all sorts of good reasons to encourage local food supplies, environmental issues. Store food travels on average 1,500 miles to get to you, that's a lot of fuel," he said.
Wind energy
Sime said industrial wind turbine power projects are a local issue. "What a state senator in Virginia Beach thinks is totally different from what a state senator in Highland County thinks," he said. "It's easy for people in Richmond or Northern Virginia to say what a great idea a wind turbine would be in Highland County, but they don't live in Monterey."
"For better or worse, the ultimate redress you have is at the ballot box," said Sime, of county voters opposed to the project. "It is not wise for the state government to try to step in and overrule what was decided at the local level. That invites more state control over local issues."
Local governance
Some in Highland have said a three-member board of supervisors is not adequate to assure a diversity of opinions on the board. What can state government, which wrote the rules governing the number of supervisors a county is required to have, do about that?
"I would want to study it, but I would be open to changing the board structure, because I could definitely see an argument that it makes local government more accountable and increases diversity of ideas. It improves the process and improves accountability."
But, in general, Sime opposes new regulations from the state. "More regulations make it harder for small family farms," he said.
Sime supports the concept of local government at the county level. School boards, boards of supervisors, town councils - encourage self-reliance and volunteerism, he said.
Unfunded mandates from Richmond and Washington, D.C. must end, he said. "If there is something that really has to be mandated at the state level, then they should either fund it or not mandate it. To pass unfunded mandates is not responsible. I'm not going to vote for them," he said.
"Where government needs to play a role is at the local level - (local government) knows things that may hurt their neighbors. The problem we have at the federal and state level are people who want to apply one set of rules for everyone, like No Child Left Behind (the federal law that sets goals and standards for public education). They don't fund (the requirements at the state level) and that causes a lot of burdens at the local level. Keep government close to the citizens ... The longer people stay in Richmond, the more they tend to forget the values that brought them there. They work hard and have good intentions, but it's an exclusive club; it changes people. It is a natural human tendency to listen to colleagues more than the people back home.
"That's why I believe in term limits in the house and senate. That would go a long way toward increasing competitiveness in elections. There is very little competition in Virginia. More than half of the seats are uncontested. I pledge not to serve more than two terms.
The power of incumbency is strong and hard to challenge, said Sime. "That's why (the party not in power) won't bother trying," he said.
Another factor working against competition is the way district boundaries are drawn ensuring dominance by one party or another. "Creigh Deeds' district has an awful shape," said Sime.
"All citizens suffer from a lack of competition in ideas and leadership," he added. "This leads to citizen apathy. One of the exciting things to me is the positive and open reception I have received as a third-party candidate. People are glad to see someone else running. If we increase competitiveness, voting participation will go up."
About the candidate
Arin Sime was born in Portsmouth in 1975. He is married, the father of two boys, and lives in Crozet.
Sime is the co-founder of VirginiaPropertyRights.org, a Web site devote to changing Virginia's constitution to protect homeowners from eminent domain abuse. He is a member of the Virginia Independent Consumers and Farmers Association and Web master for Virginians Over-Taxed on Residences, a group advocating caps on Virginia property tax increases.
Sime owns two businesses - Donor Town Square provides fund-raising tools and Web site design/hosting services to non-profits, political groups, charities and churches; and Sime Development LLC is a software development-consulting firm.
He has a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia, 1997. He graduated from Stonewall Jackson High School, Manassas, in 1993.
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