What made you decide to run for County Commission?
I want to keep our natural beauty and high quality-of-life in Jefferson County. My wife and I have three young children, and we want the next generation to be able to enjoy hiking, hunting, and fishing in Almost Heaven, West Virginia. Right now, unfortunately, we’re not headed in the right direction. We’re seeing residential development and industrial solar at a scale and speed that is just too much for our county. Instead of massive housing developments and industrial solar, we need to shift toward the tourism industry. Tourism will bring commercial development that will help
us grow our tax base to pay for emergency services. We need ambulances, we need firefighters, and we need the police. But we have to pay for these critical services. I don’t support raising taxes, so the only other way to fund our services is through commercial growth. Tourism provides a path forward for us to balance the budget and keep Jefferson County beautiful – without raising taxes.
Why should residents trust you with governing Jefferson County?
I’m not a professional politician. I have a successful, full-time career as an executive for a large non-profit dedicated to conservation. I’m volunteering to serve as Commissioner because I’m a conservationist and I want to see Jefferson County maintain its natural beauty. I have held other elected positions on a part-time, volunteer basis because I believe in public service, and I believe local government has the biggest impact on quality-of-life.
Voters can trust me to keep taxes low and to act with integrity and professionalism. I don’t call people names or attack their character – not in meetings, not online, and not through my friends or political allies.
Finally, with a law degree I have the training to follow the law and conduct county business legally. I won’t pull stunts that put the county in jeopardy. Voters can trust me to be professional.
What specific experience and expertise do you have that is relevant to performing the role of County Commissioner?
I fought reckless growth on a town council for six years – and won. I volunteered for public office in Northern Virginia where our biggest problem was rapid, residential growth coupled with insufficient commercial growth. (Sound familiar?) As a Republican in Northern Virginia, the odds and the politics were stacked against me, but I was nevertheless successful in stopping an irresponsible plan for high-density, luxury housing to replace local mom-and-pop shops.
As your representative on the commission, I can do the same for Jefferson County. If we don’t get development in Jefferson County under control, we’re going to end up just like Northern Virginia: overcrowded with high taxes and low quality-of-life.
Also, I’m a conservationist who believes in valuing nature. I believe in clean air, clean water, hunting, hiking, and fishing, and I support government policies that value nature. Locally, that means valuing our natural beauty and promoting tourism instead of housing mega developments and industrial solar.
What changes would you make to how the Commission conducts its business?
Do you know why these solar farms are so in-your-face, towering over Kabletown Road? Former commissioners met privately with solar industry lobbyists and then changed our zoning ordinances to accommodate their requests. What a disgrace! I joined the commission after the solar ordinance was written and I’m appalled by the unethical behavior by some former public officials. Voters should know that this was easily preventable and it happened because public officials wrote these lax rules into our zoning ordinance after private meetings.
I’ve never met privately with industry lobbyists and I never will. All of my meetings are in public with full transparency. Unfortunately, former commissioners got us into this mess, and then decided to pass the buck and blame others for their poor judgment.
Though some candidates will say more town hall meetings and public input is needed, the truth is that every commissioner is free to be fully transparent and always has been. It’s easy!
I’ve held multiple town halls, met with thousands of constituents, and I’ll continue to do so. I believe that’s my responsibility as a commissioner.
At the end of your term, what is the one thing that you would hope people remember most about your service on the Commission?
My hope is people will say I led the commission in changing our path from Northern Virginia like development toward responsible development that values our natural beauty. We have to act now or we’ll slip into the same mistakes that Northern Virginia and Southern Maryland have made. In ten years, it’ll be too late.
Candidate info:
Age: 41
local residency – Harpers Ferry
Volunteer experience: Republican commissioner, Republican volunteer, former town councilman, current board member for conservative environmental organizations
Work experience: executive for conservation non-profit, former Republican staff for U.S. Senate
Education / Military / Other experience: – Duke University, George Mason Law School
Website: none
Facebook: Pasha Majdi for West Virginia
Email: PashaforWV@gmail.com
More election coverage at ObserverWV.com/elections-2024.
By Staff Contributor