QUESTIONNAIRE: Marcus Adam Garcia
Candidate for Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors - Lee Hill District
Questions
FXBG Advance: Have you previously run for office?
Garcia: No
FXBG Advance: Have you previously held office?
Garcia: No
FXBG Advance: Have you ever been convicted of a felony?
Garcia: No
FXBG Advance: Briefly explain the experiences you would bring to this office should you be elected.
Garcia: As a degreed Mechanical Engineer with deep experience in the electric & gas utility industry, as a retired 24-year Naval Officer, and holding a Masters in Business Administration and an MA in National Security and Strategic Studies, I have the academic I have served as one of the four senior Senators on the Student Government at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs (UCCS). I have also been a State level officer (Colorado state Secretary) of the American GI Forum of the United States in Colorado. These experiences have offered me a broad spectrum of professional and personal experiences in management, decision-making, interfacing with members of the public and senior level leaders. I have served as a Front line and mid-level manager of people and projects. As a 14-year engineer within a municipal utility company, I am familiar with local governance in a city much like Spotsylvania where the City Council also served as Utility Board. My 3 years on student government at the University of Colorado offers me the temperament and procedural knowledge to serve on a civil board ideally comprised of good-faith elected members of the public. In a variety of roles and contexts, I have dealt with the pressure of attempting to make decisions with complex consequences and tradeoffs. I have dealt with the unpleasantness of knowing decisions made today will impact the future, sometimes positively and often times, adversely. I am comfortable with this pressure and 'comfortable being uncomfortable.'
FXBG Advance: Briefly explain two issues that are most important to you as a candidate.
Garcia: While military service brought me Spotsylvania County, my son's mom and her family are life-long Spotsylvania County residents. I have "become Spotsy" in the last 7 years. I first began following Spotsylvania County government as a new father in 2018 when my only son was born at the UMW hospital. As a 2nd generation Hispanic American, I was first generation in my family to attend university and that makes me unwaveringly committed to education. A quality, diverse, and robust education is the great equalizer for all societies ensuring the rungs of the economic ladder and upward mobility is a possibility for ALL that seek it. I became very interested in the great public education system here in Spotsylvania County. My primary focus is ensuring the defense of upward mobility through good public education. In recent years under the previous School Division Superintendent, we saw book bans, ill-advised firings, poor management, and a complete lack of servant leadership. We now have a superior public school leader as I have seen as a member of the Strategic Planning Committee.
Secondarily, I want to be a voice of reason for all Lee Hill residents and Spotsylvania residents as the world changes. Located between the National Capital and the State Capital, Spotsylvania is growing-this is undeniable. Starting with this premise, the board should be making decisions that ensure the tradeoffs of this growth are managed properly and not landing disproportionally on a subset of less-affluent, less privileged residents. Our local budgets should reflect our priorities. Currently I've seen local leaders refuse to accept the growth is inevitable and our budgets will necessarily need to grow as well. We should be ensuring businesses and jobs WANT to come to Spotsylvania as part of the growth or we will LOSE out on the growth opportunities to other counties and other states. This is evident in recent discussions about public schools, public libraries, and traffic management, public safety and many others. Virginia calls itself a 'Commonwealth' and every Board of Supervisors needs to keep this North Star in mind when carrying out their policy making responsibilities.
FXBG Advance: Briefly explain why you would be a good fit for the office you are pursuing.
Garcia: With a strong history of public service, and as a strict adherent to the Constitution, I am fully committed to acting ethically and as a signatory to the Board's Code of Conduct. As a recently retired Naval Officer having completed tours-of-duty in eight different countries, I want to bring a voice of wide-ranging experience to our community. I am an avid reader, a voracious consumer of podcasts, lectures, and documentaries on topics as diverse as National Security, international relations, engineering, and law. I am an energetic supporter of public libraries, public universities, and individual liberty as envisioned by our Founders and subsequent leaders of good faith. I have served in Emergency Management planning positions, operations positions, advisory roles, and on managing boards of Veterans groups and student groups. Never satisfied, I am constantly and incessantly seeking new knowledge on a broad range of topics that impact the lives of Americans and others.
I have served the Nation and my communities proudly for all of my life and now seek to bring my experiences, my education, and my passions to serve Spotsylvania County. I can and will listen to voices of dissent, constituents who may hold a differing opinion, but will always rest on the premise that given the same facts, reasonable people will come to similar conclusions and decisions.
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