By: Lou Emerson The need for better internet access unites Virginia's diverse 5th Congressional District, which stretches 180 miles from Northern Fauquier to the North Carolina line, according to Democratic candidateJane Dittmar. "What kind of country would we have if had electrical service that went only to cities?" Ms. Dittmar said Wednesday in Warrenton. A professional mediator and former Albemarle County supervisor, she formally secured the Democratic Party nomination, without opposition, last Saturday. Republicans will select their candidate Saturday, May 14, at the district convention in Nelson County. Four candidates seek the GOP nomination. Rep. Robert Hurt, a Republican from Chatham, will step down at year's end after three terms. Ms. Dittmar will focus on job creation in her campaign. Technical and workforce training and expanded broadband internet service support economic development, she said. The Democrat explained that she learned about the extent of the "digital divide" after winning a 2013 special election to the board of supervisors, when Albemarle set out to extend fiber optic lines to all its schools and she got appointed to the Governor's Broadband Advisory Council. She noted that the Federal Communications Commission collects fees that fund grants for broadband expansion. "It's hard to get access to a federal agency without help from your representative in Congress," she said. "In nine of our 23 localities, many businesses and more than 50 percent of the population live with insufficient access to their homes," Ms. Dittmar said. "We must improve access throughout the district so that we don't leave our families and rural economies behind." She described the 5th District as five different regions: The Northern Piedmont (including Fauquier), the Charlottesville area, the Lynchburg area, the Farmville area and Southside (including Danville). The district includes 16 of Fauquier's 20 voting precincts. (Bealeton, Catlett, Lois and Morrisville are in the 1st Congressional District.) Providing constituent services in the sprawling district, with different needs in each area, represents a significant challenge, Ms. Dittmar said. A Democrat can win in the district, despite its configuration that has favored Republicans, she added. "It's less about party than jobs and the future." Ms. Dittmar, who served eight years as president of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce and soon got elected to chair the board of supervisors, suggested she has a history of building collaboration. Rep. Robert Hurt "believes government is something to be starved . . . . But, government is us," she said. It will take $1 million to wage a successful campaign through the Nov. 8 election and she already has raised about one-third of that amount, Ms. Dittmar said. She has lived in Virginia since age 6, when her parents moved from rural Illinois to Arlington. She announced her candidacy in September. "I don't like rhetoric that doesn't address solutions," Ms. Dittmar said of what she sees in Congress.

By: Pat Fitzgerald Jane Dittmar speaks after receiving the Democratic nod for the 5th Congressional District nomination at the district convention in Nelson County. Republicans this Saturday will pick their 5th District candidate for the November general election to replace Robert Hurt as Democrat Jane Dittmar officially received her party's nod last Saturday in Nelson County. Dittmar, a former chairwoman of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, talked with the Greene County Record last week about her connection to this county and her economic message. Dittmar, the former president of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, works as a professional mediator. "I have worked with Greene County for years as president of the Regional Chamber," she said. "The Greene County Chamber and our chamber are associates with each other. I have worked with [Greene] businesses and community leaders for years." Part of her pitch includes calling for more infrastructure, especially Internet, for the 5thDistrict. "Local government can't afford to pay for it all," Dittmar said, noting that the lack of infrastructure can hold back a county. "That's part of the reason why I grew interested in representing the district. "Even Albemarle County, which arguably has a larger budget than Greene, found itself not able to deploy Internet to our rural area," she said. "Businesses in Greene have to be suffering the exact same depravation/digital divide that keeps them from growing and a digital divide that prevents new employers from trying to relocate." Greene County has "so much promise for quality development," Dittmar said. "That Congressional seat, if it's used well, can be amazing at convening opportunities for communities that know what they're looking for. One of my interests in running is my strong economic development background. "If you get a good mix of commercial and perhaps some light manufacturing to help with the tax base, that money could go directly to the schools. … You can't rely totally on residential property tax," she said. While on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, Dittmar was among those supporting the decision to kill the U.S. 29 Bypass around Charlottesville in favor of the "Route 29 Solutions" project currently under way. "In the early part of 2014, the Federal Highway Administration sent a letter to our governor that said basically, "we're pulling the funds from the bypass.' Unless you can show us how you are going to use these funds, we're going to take this money elsewhere,'" she said in defending her decision that will inconvenience Greene County commuters and shoppers heading south. State and local officials from Warrenton to Danville came up with a plan to keep the money here, Dittmar said. "It will improve two parallel roads on 29 to take local traffic off 29," she said. "It included helping with the bottleneck at Ashford Boulevard [between Target and Polo Grounds Road]. It included money to make that four lanes the whole way, it included adding a second entry onto the 250 Bypass by Best Buy and it included a new train set to go to Washington. "There was one piece that we were told had to be part of it … and that was some solution at Rio," Dittmar added. Starting later this month, Rio Road cross traffic will be closed and daytime lane closures on U.S. 29 are expected throughout summer until University of Virginia students return to classes. "That part is going to be frustrating for all of us, and then it will be over," Dittmar said of the Route 29 Solutions project that includes $230 million for area highway projects. "[It's] a little pain for a lot of gain." Dittmar was born in Illinois and moved to Virginia at age 6 when her father began working with the John F. Kennedy administration, according to a campaign news release. She has lived in the Charlottesville area since attending the University of Virginia, where she earned an economics degree, the release said. While Dittmar has been able to gear up way ahead of the general election Nov. 8, her four Republican opponents have had to fight it out at mass meetings throughout the district's expansive territory, hoping to draw delegates their way. The 5th Congressional District stretches from Pittsylvania and Brunswick counties on the state's southern border up to Fauquier County. The Republican nominee is scheduled to be picked at a convention this Saturday at Nelson County High School. Sen. Tom Garrett Jr., R-Buckingham, former congressional security advisor Joseph Whited, Bedford-area developer Jim McKelvey, and technology executive Michael Del Rosso are seeking the nomination. Dittmar didn't address the differences between herself and her potential opponents last week. "I will be better able to answer that once the Republicans choose their nominee," she said.

By: Alex Rohr When Jane Dittmar was knocking on doors during her campaign for Albemarle County supervisor in 2013, a future constituent asked about her stance on the Internet. At that point, Dittmar had no idea about students in the Scottsville area being driven 30 minutes into town to do their homework at night or people who could not apply for jobs because of a lack of reliable and affordable home Internet service. "That was when I went. "Whoa, that's not fair, because now we're choosing by address which kids are going to be able to do their homework, which kids are going to be able to do well in school,'" Dittmar said Monday in an interview with The News & Advance. The "last mile" broadband issue -- the point at which Internet providers say customers are too scant to make investing in infrastructure worthwhile -- became a focus of her supervisor stint and is now a major plank of her campaign for Virginia's 5th Congressional District. The Democrat released her "Jane for Jobs" plan Monday, commencing a press tour as the district party's nominee, made official Saturday in Nelson County. She will face off in the Nov. 8 General Election -- a race likely to be influenced heavily by the presidential race -- against the winner of this Saturday's GOP convention at Nelson County High School. Sen. Tom Garrett, R-Buckingham; Bedford-area developer Jim McKelvey; Charlottesville-area technology executive Michael Del Rosso; and former congressional security advisor Joseph Whited are vying to pick up local delegates ahead of that convention. Dittmar, a member of Virginia's Broadband Advisory Council, said she wants to draw federal dollars to rural Virginia through existing programs as part of a three-prong plan to boost jobs and the economy. The plan includes directing Pell Grant money toward workforce training -- mirroring a recently passed Virginia bill carried by Del. Kathy Byron, R-Bedford County -- and expanding and relocating local businesses. She said a range of federal money is already available, including the Federal Communications Commission Connect America Fund and U.S. Department of Agriculture funding. She wants to try public-private partnerships first to see if they work. "There's plenty of money to do it, we just have to have someone go and help get it, and that's actually what brought me into the race," Dittmar said. Dittmar described the 5th, Virginia's largest district stretching from the state's southern border to just shy of Maryland, as several regions grouped together with varied economic development goals. "The Lynchburg area might want light manufacturing, and Danville, Southside might say "Jobs, just jobs, please,'" Dittmar said. "It's a matter of knowing what your regional and local values are for targeted industry, and then helping them locate that and relocate that." In April, Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced an unemployment rate of 3.9 percent for March compared to a 5 percent national rate, showing overall declines, although many Republicans contest that ratio is the appropriate measurement. Despite the numbers indicating economic recovery, Dittmar referenced the Timken Company plant's expected closure in Altavista and the recently announced E.A. Clore and Sons Inc. furniture manufacturer closing in Madison County as examples the district has not recovered. "Our particular district is weighing down the average," Dittmar said. "If we took our district alone, only Charlottesville and Albemarle look healthy with regard to unemployment rate, so we have to do something about that."