The Prince William-Manassas Family Alliance invited both candidates to respond to our questionnaire. Only challenger Rich Anderson chose to respond. Here is his response, Survey Response from candidate Rich Anderson (Viewing the file requires Microsoft Word or Microsoft Word Viewer. Free download is here.).

Note that on the hard copy Anderson said the following about the questions where he answered “Undecided.”

I responded with an “Undecided” on several questions, simply because I have not yet heard vigorous arguments from both sides and am disinclined to make a policy decision based on partial information.  Instead, I prefer to make a fully informed judgment after hearing all arguments and will tackle that task in early November.  I understand why you can’t print explanatory narratives in the voter guide, but I wanted to give you this explanation.

Our questionnaire includes 39 questions.  Thus, the candidates who respond trust us (the voters) with a considerable amount of information about their views, much more than we can provide with our condensed voter guide.

Delegate Paul Nichols did not choose to respond to our questionnaire. So we researched his position on each issue.  Our voter guide shows what we were able to uncover.  What follows shows the sources we discovered online.

• Issue:  End abortion on demand, if permitted by the Supreme Court.
  Position:  Opposed.
  Source:  Nichols is endorsed by NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia  (here) and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia (here).  The September 28, 2007 Potomac News article that our voter guide references is no longer online.  However, some blogs still recall what the Potomac News had to say.

  There’s no question about who’s the conservative and who’s the moderate in the 51st House of Delegates race.

  ****

  Faisal Gill is the pro-life, non-apologetic Republican. Paul Nichols is a pro-choice, self-described “regular guy” on the Democratic ticket.  (from here)

• Issue:  Train state police to assist in enforcing immigration laws..
  Position:  Supports.
  Source:

  Voted for HB 623 Immigration laws; Governor to enter into memorandum of agreement with Immigration and Customs.  The bill passed the House, but failed in the Senate.

• Issue:  Add “sexual orientation” to state’s nondiscrimination in hiring law.
  Position:  Support.
  Source:

  Copatroned HB 2385 Discrimination; prohibited in public employment based on race, color, religion, etc.

• Issue: Give transportation priority for new dollars in general fund budget.
  Position: Opposes.
  Source:

  In addition, Nichols criticized GOP gubernatorial nominee Robert F. McDonnell’s transportation plan, which he said would result in less money for education.

  McDonnell’s proposal would shift money away from the state’s general fund, nearly half of which goes toward schools. (from here)

• Issue: Tax credits for private elementary and secondary school tuition.
  Position: Supports.
  Source:  Statement at October 11, 2007 Bar Association’s candidate forum.

On the following issues, we were not able to find a position statement by Delegate Nichols.

• Repeal Marriage Amendment that defines marriage to be between one man and one woman.
• Prohibit employers from requiring workers to join union.
• Repeal one-gun a month law.
• Increase the gasoline tax to pay for transportation improvements.
• Make illegal aliens eligible for in-state tuition rates.
• Fund universal preschool for 4 year-olds.