Last Wednesday, late afternoon showers caused a question-and-answer session featuring Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-11th) and members of the Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association to be canceled at the Merrifield Garden Center in Gainesville.

However, the Times caught up with Connolly later that evening in Gainesville at the Prince William headquarters for John Bell (D), who is challenging Del. Bob Marshall (R-13th) for his seat in the House of Delegates.

Immigration

"Clearly, H-2B and H-1B are inadequate," said Connolly, discussing the laws that govern foreigner workers entering the country. "If you had the same conversation with high-tech companies, you'd have the same conversaton. They're not getting the high skill workers they need for their industry."

According to VNLA president Duane Shumaker, Virginia landscapers have been particularly interested in legislative updates regarding health care and immigration. Health care reform is the political hot item on Capitol Hill as a bill is supposedly due out of Congress by October. President Barack Obama has suggested immigration reform will follow health care, which likely means Congress will start debating the issue in earnest early in 2010.

Shumaker explained that immigration reform can directly impact the horticulture industry because immigrants make up a large percentage of the landscaping workforce.

Landscapers have been particularly interested in raising the number of workers allowed to enter the United States from foreign countries because they are having problems finding enough legal workers to do manual labor like pulling weeds, planting trees and mowing lawns for $10-$15 an hour, even in a tough economic climate where unemployment rates are the highest they have been in over 25 years.

As an example, Shumaker cited a posting by his own company in central Virginia stating that 100 seasonal workers were needed for various projects. Fifteen applicants responded, leaving 85 spots unfilled.

Connolly supports a so-called comprehensive immigration reform that addresses both illegal and legal immigration. The predominate alternate view recommends that the southern border be completely secured first before addressing other aspects of immigration reform.

Past policy clashes between the former Fairfax Board of County Supervisors chairman and his PWC counterpart Corey Stewart (R) are well-documented, with both men spending years sniping at each other through the media. In essence, Stewart accused Connolly of being soft on illegal immigration and Connolly in turn would accuse Stewart of demogoging the issue.

However, the two actually share a number of items in common with regard to what the federal government should do about illegal immigration.

"It means expanded ICE [Immigration Customs Enforcement], it means securing borders (and) it means revamping our immigration system which is terribly broken to make sure it works," said Connolly. "I think 287(g) is probably a necessary element for any kind of immigration program that's going to work. But again, it has to be in a context. You can't only focus on the border. That might make for a nice soundbite by a talking head on, you know, Fox television, but it doesn't solve the problem. In that sense, it has to be a comprehensive approach."

He added, "I think a majority of the [PW BOCS] wants the federal government to do its job so that the burden doesn't fall on localities and I totally support that point of view as somebody who spent 14 years in local government."

Health care

On health care reform, Connolly said he supports the much-debated public option, which would allow the federal Department of Health and Human Services to offer health insurance coverage as a form of competition with private insurers. However, a bill missing the that provision is not a deal-breaker for him.

"I support the public option but I don't want to draw lines in the sand," said Connolly.

A lack of universal coverage for pre-existing conditions by private insurers is one of the driving factors for supporters of the public option. Numerous federal documents and media reports state 45 percent of all insured Americans have at least one severe pre-existing medical condition.

"That is devastating if you're a diabetic or if you've got some other kind of chronic ailment. People are worried about catastrophic illnesses. In my district, 1,430 families filed for bankruptcy last year because of medical costs," Connolly said.

He added, "So you could be healthy as a horse and life looks great, but if you come down with a catastrophic illness, and now you can't work anymore, you can't pay for the house, you can't pay for the mortgage payments, you've lost that income, and instead of the affluence you've enjoyed, you're something else."