Glade Hill, VA, November 4, 2011 – Senator William M. “Bill” Stanley, Jr. (R-Franklin) commented today on the latest unemployment report from the U.S. Department of Labor.

“This is just another in a long list of disappointing reports,” Stanley lamented. “If we are going to get our economy back on track we must do much better than this. The policies of the Obama administration, enthusiastically supported by Roscoe Reynolds and his liberal friends, continue to hurt the economy across the nation and to devastate our already struggling region.

“We must reduce regulations that strangle our businesses and kill our jobs. We have to reduce the tax burden and offer incentives for investment and innovation. Demonizing businesses, demanding higher taxes, and over-regulation have never benefited individual citizens or the companies they work for and depend upon. These are the tools of the unchecked and out-of-control Obama Administration supported by my opponent.

“We cannot complacently accept this type of bad news. Sadly, too many of our friends and neighbors have. Over the past fourteen years Roscoe Reynolds has built an ‘accomplishment-free’ record that is unacceptable. His approach to our challenges have made too many dependent on government for their basic needs. The citizens of Southside and Southwest Virginia deserve better.

“Some of Roscoe’s supporters attempt to defend his long and lacking record. They say a state senator doesn’t have the ability to change things. That is simply not true. Senators have the ability to offer real ideas, and produce legislation that moves them forward to create a regulatory and tax structure that would allow individuals and businesses to create jobs and innovate, grow, and prosper. Roscoe has simply failed to do this.

“The situation in the Virginia General Assembly is very similar to that in Washington, DC. The Virginia House of Delegates is a conservative body, similar to the United States House of Representatives, and has sent many good bills to the senate only to watch them die quickly in the Democrat-controlled committees, never making it to the Senate Floor for consideration. Roscoe Reynolds has been complicit in this since 1997. This must change if we are going to move our Commonwealth and our nation forward. The opportunity to make that change is next Tuesday, November 8th.

“For the past four hundred years, Virginia has been a national leader. We can be again. By rejecting the bloated government offered by Barack Obama and his supporters like Roscoe Reynolds, we can send a strong message to Richmond and to Washington. We need new ideas and new leadership to limit government, and to once again empower individuals.”