Wittman prepares for election

Editor’s Note: Last week, the Stafford County Sun ran a feature on candidate for Congress Bill Day. This week, a story will focus on his competitor, U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, R-1st District.

STAFFORD — Congressman Rob Wittman has been working on Capitol Hill for the past 10 months. This month, as the position of representative for the First Congressional District in Virginia is up for re-election, he has been quite busy.

Wittman was voted into office in a special election held on Dec. 11, 2007 to fill the position left by the late Jo Ann Davis.

Virginia’s First District includes Stafford, Caroline, Fauquier, King George and Spotsylvania counties, and the city of Fredericksburg.

Wittman and his wife Kathryn live in Montross in Westmoreland County, where Kathryn is an elementary school teacher. They have a daughter, Devon, son-in-law Daniel Gooch, son Josh, and a new granddaughter, Morgan.

In order to stay in touch, Wittman drives the 80 miles to and from Washington, D.C. every workday. That way, he “knows what issues are affecting his district,” according to campaign manager Casey Werderman.

After earning a bachelor of science degree in biology from Virginia Tech, Wittman went on to receive a master’s in public health degree in Health Policy and Administration from the University of North Carolina, and a Ph.D in Public Policy and Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

Wittman has spent more than 20 years working for the state government. After spending several years as an environmental health specialist for local health departments in Virginia’s Northern neck and middle peninsula regions, Wittman rose in the field, eventually becoming the Field Director for the Virginia Health Department's Division of Shellfish Sanitation.

He has also spent over 20 years working in the government. In 1986, Wittman was elected to the Montross Town Council. He remained a part of the Council for 10 years, including four as mayor of Montross.

As mayor, Wittman helped to “build a municipal sewer system and developed a computerized tax billing system that cut burdensome paperwork, saving the taxpayers money.”

In 1995, Wittman was elected to the Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates as a representative of the 99th Legislative District in 2005.

While in office, Wittman wants to “work to prioritize spending and expose the waste, fraud and abuse in Washington.” He feels that “it is time to return to the conservative principles of controlling spending and holding the line on job-killing tax increases.”

He wants to begin a spending reform that will “require members of Congress to fully disclose all earmarked funding or targeted tax benefit requests on their websites,” as well as not allow members of Congress to “request any earmarked funding or targeted tax benefit provisions that do not serve a federal interest.”

Wittman’s spending reform will also not allow members of Congress to “request any earmarked funding or targeted tax benefit provisions that would be directed toward a specific private entity that were not requested by an agency” his campaign notes.

Casey Werderman, Wittman’s campaign manager and voting member of Virginia’s First District, stated that, “Rob is in it for the right reasons. He’s not in it for his own self-interest or motivation. He’s in it for the people in his first district. And that’s what inspires people throughout the district to support him.”

Werderman stated that the district’s support for Wittman has been inspiring. “People all over the district, Republican, Democratic, and Independents, have been showing their support. When they don’t have money, they’ll come up and ask if they can volunteer.”

“He’s a real guy. He’s the same guy that he was 20 years ago, when he was first elected to town council, the same guy that he was when he was elected to the Westmoreland County Board, to the House of Delegates, and because of that, people trust him.”

Werderman added, “I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of Rob Wittman.”

Megan Sweeney is a contributing writer at the Stafford County Sun.