‘Cyber’ candidate’s focus is bringing fiber optic to Rappahannock
Democrat Laura Galante’s number one issue in her campaign for state delegate arguably resonates with Rappahannock County residents, regardless of political stripes: bringing high-speed internet access as far as gravel roads will carry it.
“I bring a tech background where I’m not going to take easy bad answers on why we can't get internet done across this district,” Galante says in an interview.
“I think for far too long there's been a real bipartisan failure, frankly, in Richmond. That's because we haven't had someone really championing what good infrastructure looks like — in this case internet and cell coverage across rural Virginia. And that will be my focus. I think that underlays everything we need to do next.”
With a dozen days to go before
Election Day, Galante spoke to the Rappahannock News at her Marshall campaign headquarters, which given its sizeable staff and enthusiastic volunteer effort leaves the impression the cybersecurity expert and 4-H leader is running for a larger seat.
Not that the state delegate’s seat, filled for four terms by Republican Michael Webert, is any less crucial.
Galante, who lives with her husband and son on a Marshall farm, points to polling data showing the 18th District, which includes all of Rappahannock County, has trended more Democratic with each recent election, shifting seven points more favorably for Democrats since 2016.
Couple that reality with a new Washington Post poll showing that in these final days of 2019 campaigning voters support Democrats over Republicans in the House of Delegates races 49-42 percent.
Whether the 6 out of 10 voters who say in the same poll they are “certain” to vote in this off-year election will actually cast ballots remains to be seen. One thing is for certain: the 18th has 52,000 registered voters, and Galante — who downplays politics at every turn, preferring people vote for the person over party — has personally introduced herself to a good many of them.
“We’re looking at probably 21,000 voters” going to district polls on Nov. 5, predicts the candidate, and “getting 51 percent of that is very doable. It’s one door at a time, neighbor to neighbor.”
“I’m energized,” she continues. “We have so many volunteers, so many people out there who have said things like, ‘I never cared about politics, but this doesn't feel about politics, this is about the community.’”
And about what the community wants.
In Rappahannock County
“it’s keeping the viewshed — Rappahannock’s favorite term, right?” says Galante. “Keeping the viewshed in Rappahannock clear, and making sure that we don't become exurban sprawl.”
She is confident, however, that Rappahannock’s unparalleled vistas — and equally rare internet access and cell phone coverage — can not only co-exist, but combined will lead to a healthier economy, business community and school system.
“It’s about making sure we can have a world class education in our small school systems… it’s how we promote small businesses, which are the backbone of our economy… 85 percent of the businesses have fewer than 5 people... even more so in Rappahannock, and their main priority is internet access.
“You can see the direct impact that good internet access can have on economies, and on tourism, and on the lifeblood of rural counties. You need… in Richmond someone who can hold Verizon and Comcast to task on this. And if they're not going to hook up these less profitable areas [like Rappahannock] then we need to look at how you open up the ‘dark fiber’ that’s all over — the real fiber optic cable that's all over this district — to the more profitable smaller providers, who do see the last mile as something they can hook up and serve.”
Given Galante’s in-depth background in tech — from a cybersecurity standpoint she advises governments on how to prevent hacking and intellectual property theft — she understand dark fiber more than most.
“It’s the guts of the internet,” she educates. “The absolute irony of our internet conundrum in this [18th District] is that the real backbone of the internet goes right through our district. That’s the pipe, if you will, that is serving the East Coast, that’s serving D.C., that’s serving a lot of the classified facilities of which we have plenty…
“So you look at the dark fiber mass and it’s sitting there, right? This is truly a last mile — or last gravel mile problem — in many cases.”
Galante doesn’t hesitate to criticize Gov. Ralph Northam, a fellow Democrat, for abolishing the office of Secretary of Technology, Virginia being one of the first states to create the position. “I think that’s a real miss,” she says.
Which leaves rural areas like Rappahannock and their small often volunteer-run governments in the lurch when it comes to attracting internet providers.
“The providers aren't going to go and put a huge capital outlay on this with a subscription model that’s not going to pay for it. It’s that simple,” Galante explains. “That’s why I really think a serious discussion with REC [Rappahannock Electric Cooperative] to look at how you use the existing right of ways to run the actual fiber optic cable in the ground is a big piece of this.
“Now, cell coverage is another question. There is a topographical challenge that you have in Rappahannock, worse than even in Fauquier, but the answer isn't to simply throw up two towers and call this a day,” she says. “But this isn’t that hard. We’ve done this for electricity, right? We’ve solved problems of this magnitude before.
“But it actually takes effort, and you can’t keep pushing it down to county supervisors, who frankly don't have the power to negotiate at the state level that Richmond does with the Comcasts, Verizons and the utilities of the world… . I was at a broadband summit for the state... and Comcast and Verizon run every panel, and it’s all these supervisors from across the commonwealth sitting here from rural counties listening to how Verizon and Comcast won’t be able to make any money, so this just isn’t going to happen and we need to look to other solutions.
“And when that’s the power imbalance you have in the commonwealth that’s when something’s wrong. So I really want to address this.”
Galante says her plan is to start with a “simple” map of Rappahannock County, one that currently doesn’t exist.
“We need actual mapped data about where the dark fiber is… who owns what, and what the actual uploaddownload speeds are in places,” she says. “So get an actual map — and this is quick and cheap — that’s not relying on census blocks for upload-download speeds.
“Two,” she continues, “let’s have some serious talks with current providers in the state, and look at some of the models” in other rural areas of the United States, such as Texas and Minnesota, that have been successful in attracting internet providers and services.
All the more reason, she says, to put politics aside.
“People behave like independents out here,” Galante says. “The reason I think we’ve have a different race here than in previous races… is we’ve never had a fully operational campaign here that… had a message based on listening to people, and where their policy priorities are, and that has come across as apolitical, which is exactly what I think we need out here.”
Galante: “I think for far too long there's been a real bipartisan failure, frankly, in Richmond. That's because we haven't had someone really championing what good infrastructure looks like — in this case internet and cell coverage across rural Virginia.”