Age: 54
Address: 1885 Darke Lane, Kearneysville, W.Va.
Occupation: Owner and operator of Town & Country Nursery and farmer.
Party: Democrat
Top issue: Achieving equity for the Eastern Panhandle, whether it's fairness in property taxes for residents or increasing pay for state workers like teachers, state troopers, and health and human resource workers, he said. High property taxes and low pay for state workers in the area have been ongoing issues. "We just have a different dynamic here in the Eastern Panhandle compared to the rest of the state," Tabb said.
R. Earl Wilbourne
Age: 51
Address: 4828 Summit Point Road, Charles Town
Occupation: Minister and small business owner.
Party: Republican
Top issue: Wilbourne said it comes down to getting the "local share" for the Eastern Panhandle. Local share could be regional pay for public school teachers or increasing the homestead exemption for senior citizens so they can get tax relief, he said. Getting property tax relief for seniors affects counties very little but goes a long way to help elderly property owners, Wilbourne said. "I think I'm really up to date on these issues," Wilbourne said.
57th House of Delegates
John Doyle
Age: 64
Address: P.O. Box 1607, Shepherdstown, W.Va.
Occupation: Real estate sales and radio talk show host
Party: Democrat
Top issue: Doyle said his top issue is winning fair treatment for public school employees and state employees in the Eastern Panhandle. Specifically, Doyle said he wants some type of locality pay for the local workers and supports whatever plan would be the easiest to pass in the Legislature.
Bob Murto
Age: 57
Address: 887 Cherry Run Road, Harpers Ferry, W.Va.
Occupation: Retired from the U.S. Postal Service
Party:Republican
Top issue:Murto said there are a number of issues important to him, like elimination of the food tax, but he said he is concerned about the plight of teachers in the Eastern Panhandle. Murto said he is troubled by the number of teaching vacancies in local schools because of teachers going to other states for higher pay.
58th House of Delegates
Locke Wysong
Age: 33
Address: P.O. Box 772, Charles Town
Occupation: Apprentice real estate appraiser
Party: Democrat
Top issue: Continuing efforts to boost funding for education in Jefferson County. Wysong said progress has already been made in the area when current-year state funding was increased to offset increased enrollment in local schools. Wysong said his focus now is to rework the school aid formula to increase funding for areas like teacher salaries and service personnel salaries.
Bob Adams
Age: 36
Address: 261 Falcon Ridge Drive, Charles Town
Occupation: Small business owner
Party: Republican
Top issue: While Adams said his campaign encompasses an "overall theme of change," he said one of his top issues is elimination of the state's food tax. Adams said the idea of taxing people for the food they eat is "repugnant, prehistoric." Adams said the state has enough of a budget surplus to offset the state funding that would be eliminated through the cutting of the tax.
