In the article on the Virginia governor's race, the captions for photos of Fairfax County residents Jeff Murphy and Alan Norris were transposed.
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Va. Voters Seek Jobs, Candor
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Harrell said the candidates need to talk frankly about how they would help the Southside region compete for the same kind of high-paying jobs that are being created in Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties.
"We need money for education. We need money to fund Medicaid," he said. "We need money to prime the pump for the areas of the state that are an albatross around the neck of the rest of the state."
Mike Eades is all too familiar with that albatross. Two months ago, he moved from South Carolina to South Boston to be the director of the Halifax County Industrial Development Authority. It's his job to find new jobs.
But to succeed, he said, he needs help from the next governor.
"It's important for the candidates to tell us how they are going to lead Virginia in the creation of jobs and improving the economy," he said. "The governor has to be the leader. They have to be out front, beating the drum. If they are not, you are going to be left behind in the dust."
Currently, the largest private employer in South Boston is Halifax Regional Hospital, which employs 900 people. But Chief Operating Officer Thomas S. Kluge said that success won't last unless the next governor addresses chronic Medicaid shortfalls across the region.
"I get back to jobs," he said. "If there are no jobs, people will have to access Medicaid. You need to think now for things down the road."
In Suffolk
Crystal Brown, 33, is also concerned about health care: for herself and her children.
A single mother of two, the rising cost of health insurance has gobbled up the small pay increases she receives at her job as a medical technician, she said. A governor who could help her would earn her vote, she said.
"I can't put my kids on my health insurance through my job because, if I do, it takes up my whole check," Brown said. Instead, her children are enrolled in the state's health insurance program for the poor.
Suffolk is one of Virginia's fastest-growing communities. Once a sleepy city in the middle of Tidewater, Suffolk is becoming part of a sprawling suburbia. Jobs are not the problem here, said James and Shirley Yehl: It's traffic jams and crowded schools.
The couple live in Suffolk and work at the naval shipyard in Portsmouth. It takes them 45 minutes to get to work, but that commute can become two hours if there's a single accident.
