From community organizations to gubernatorial candidate

Brian Moran has worked hard in community organizations, the House of Delegates and, now, running for governor, fighting for the issues he considers important to the community.

By Samantha Downing

Education. Economy. Environment.

Brian Moran, one of the men in the race to be the Democrat candidate for Virginia governor, believes these three issues are of great importance.

“I grew up with parents who really instilled in us a belief that you have an obligation to leave the world a better place than you found it for your children,” Moran said. “It’s always been engrained in me.”

Because of what his parents taught him, Moran has been involved in the community for many years. He volunteered for a multitude of community organizations – many of them dealing with children.

“One thing led to another,” he said. “One evening 15 years ago [Governor] Mark Warner suggested I should run for the House of Delegates.”

His involvement increased in the legislature. Moran was Chairman of the Virginia House Democratic Caucus for several years. He worked closely with Warner and Governor Tim Kaine, and wants to continue their legacy of progressivism in Virginia.

Kaine’s changes to the budget and the effect on schools have some students at Virginia Commonwealth University concerned about what the future will bring.

“I hope that we get more funding to VCU,” said Stormy Holt, a mass communications student. “There’s a lot of budget cuts going on right now.”

Holt said she doesn’t want any more classes to be cut or majors to be discontinued.

Britt Smith works with VCU Students for Brian Moran, and he has confidence in Moran when it comes to education.

“Brian has put an extreme amount of importance on educating youth – just in the most general terms – because that’s where it all begins,” Smith said.

“If you give people that firm foundation and throw the money at the schools and do what you need to do…then you will, in a sense, produce the most viable next generation.”

Moran said he understands what college students go through, and he wants to set their minds at ease.

“We have to make sure our colleges are affordable for all incomes in Virginia,” he said. “I worked at a lot of jobs – gas station attendant, construction, work-study programs – all to afford college. So I get that.”

Moran said he knows the apprehension families face when considering the present economy. He has plans to create green jobs to boost the economy and improve the environment at the same time.

“There’s some wonderful research being conducted at colleges and universities,” Moran said. “We need to coordinate that.”

As a result of this research, Moran said, technology would improve and jobs would be created. In addition, the new technology could be exported from Virginia, which would also help improve the economy in this state, Moran said.

Moran said he wants to make it easier for homes and businesses to implement cleaner forms of energy – such as solar power.

“I want to make it more affordable for folks to put panels in the homes and give them tax credits to do that,” he said. “I also want to use the $160 million we’re receiving from the government to weatherize homes of low-income families and schools.”

In addition, Moran is the only candidate who opposes offshore drilling, emphasizing that he believes we should not continue to rely on nineteenth century fossil fuel.

“It poses an environmental hazard to Virginia Beach,” he said. “The U.S. Navy opposes it as well.”

His energy plan says he “understands that offshore drilling would continue our dangerous dependence on foreign oil.”

How exactly would offshore drilling continue this dependence?

“I don’t know,” Moran said.

Moran has strong opinions about some other issues that have been prominent in recent weeks, such as gun control.

“I would oppose legislation that would allow guns to be in bars,” he said. “I support closing the gun show loophole.”

His campaign is using a social networking site the campaign created, Organize Virginia, to inform people about Moran and what he stands for.

Moran said that now is the time for college students to start getting involved in the community and support the causes they believe in.

“It’s imperative that you commit yourself to the community to try to improve it,” he said. “One person can make a difference.”

Why Moran?

Virginia Commonwealth University is a large campus in Richmond with over thirty thousand students. As the election for the next Virginia governor draws closer, students must decide who they think is the best candidate. Britt Smith, a member of VCU Students for Brian Moran, explains why he believes Moran is the best choice for VCU students - and college students in general.

Reaching out to undecided voters

Phone banking is a popular way for volunteers to help with a political campaign, especially with today’s technology allowing flexible hours.

By Samantha Downing


In the evening of almost every day of the week, the political action committee Virginians for Brian Moran holds a phone bank in Northern Virginia.

The volunteers call phone numbers obtained from lists of registered voters and explain why they support Moran for governor.

“There’s actually nothing more important in a campaign than reaching out to undecided voters,” said Jesse Ferguson, communications director for Virginians for Brian Moran.

Etenesh Brown, a junior at Virginia Commonwealth University majoring in religious studies, helped with President Barack Obama’s extensive phone bank last year, making calls to women in the Midwest.

“The Web site made it very easy to answer their questions,” she said, adding that the Web site had detailed talking points and a structure to follow. “‘If they say this, click here and say this. But if they say this, then thank them for their time and end the conversation.’”

Brown thinks that the way phone banks function now, through the Internet and cell phones, is much more efficient than the way they used to function.

Virginians for Brian Moran is using today’s technology to its full advantage.

“We do phone-from-home programs where students or any voter can work with our campaign,” Ferguson said.

Volunteers can sign up to participate in Moran’s phone bank via the committee’s Web site. Because of the use of cell phones and phone-from-home programs, they don’t have to meet at a set location. This makes it possible for more people to participate.

“Any volunteer can help out whenever they can, even if it’s only a few minutes a day, making a few calls a week,” Brown said.

Brown said the ability to use cell phones is not the only advantage to phone banks.

“I think one of the benefits of phone banks is the opportunity it gives the receivers to talk to a real person about any concerns or questions they have,” Brown said. “These volunteers are dedicated enough to this candidate that they will call a stranger. That itself says that this may be something worth at least hearing.”

Ferguson said that is the reason their phone bank has been so successful.

“People like to know…that the people who are reaching out on behalf of the campaign aren’t an army of paid staff,” he said.

Susen Wilcox, who worked with Dave Weldon’s campaign in Florida, said a big advantage to a phone bank is the ability to contact so many people in a short amount of time.

“You have the ability to speak to more people than you would if you were just going door to door,” she said.

In addition to the phone bank, the Moran campaign is actively seeking support in other ways, including through a social networking site called Organize Virginia.

“We are truly building a grassroots campaign,” Ferguson said. “That’s how we’re going to win.”