Interview: Dem LG Candidate Victor Salgado
The interview covered topics including Salgado's background, ethics reform, campaign finance reform, casinos, "right to work," and "skill games."
This evening I spoke to candidate for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, Victor Salgado, for a little over an hour. We jumped from topic to topic, so I’ll include both standalone block quotes from him below, as well as his answers to some of my specific questions.
Salgado’s Background
I’ve always been interested in fairness and clean government. I’ve always had a rejection of bullies with power. I’ve always felt that punching up was the right thing to do when not doing something means others got hurt.
I'm familiar with dictatorships, because I've lived a few years abroad, so I've always had that interest in the back of my mind from as early as 13/14 years old. When I got to college, I specialized in development economics. I got a Bachelors of Science in econ. I did a lot of the hard econ, if you will, you know that's heavy in mathematics and econometrics and graduate work as well. I always knew that I wanted to go to law school, but, one thing that that Econ journey revealed to me in a very real way was the importance of, or rather the impact of corrupt governments and behavior and development and how that ties into our institutional development. And how institutional development sort of correlates to economic growth and social development and justice.
Q: When did you leave [your recent job at the U.S. Department of Justice Public Integrity Section]?
I put in my notice right before Thanksgiving after the election. I knew that the world had changed, Josh. A lot of people were in denial - I wasn't. Given the perks that I've had for the last 10 years of dealing with some of the folks that I've dealt with, who are now back in power - you get to a pretty scary yet convincing place that you know the world is going to turn dark, after the election that is. And so that's why I left, because I knew that they were going to come after my section. We had a bullseye on the back. And that turned out to be true…one of the first things that that the Trump Administration did at the DOJ was remove the chief of my section.
Something that hadn't been done or had only been done once in the history of the Section…You know, historically political appointees were hesitant to influence the Public Integrity Section because they didn't want to be perceived as politics driving the prosecutorial decisions in the political space, in the campaign finance space. So the Public Integrity Section operated with one of the most impressive degrees of autonomy of units within the U.S. Department of Justice.
Ethics Reform in Virginia
I think ethics, campaign finance reform or rather clean elections and clean government - I would call them essential to our democracy. I would call them central to the proper functioning of government because the the lack of transparency and clean elections leads to a loss of trust in our institutions, a loss of faith in our institutions, and I think ultimately that leads to people like Trump in the office…the highest office.
Q: How would you characterize the ethics regime in Virginia government right now, to the extent there is a regulatory schema?
I think as far as ethics goes, the federal standard is the gold standard. As far as any government in the world…including when compared to the states. So you know it's a little bit unfair to compare any one state to the federal government's practices and protocols. But this is ethics we're talking about, so we should do that. We should always, you know, try to aim for perfection. Even if we fall short. And when you do that, Virginia just falls woefully short of that standard.
Campaign Finance Reform in Virginia
Q: So what do you think about the campaign finance system [in Virginia]?
Our system is garbage. You can quote me on that. It’s terrible. We don't put caps on individual contribution. We don't put caps on corporate contributions. We don't prohibit foreign contributions. We don’t prohibit conduiting.
Q: Is your campaign accepting corporate contributions?
No, I haven't taken any corporate money and I think I want to keep it that way. I would take PAC money that's mission driven, but I want to do a little bit more studying on some of the contributions that I'm seeing. I want to identify patterns before I start opining in a very direct way. Because understand my position, Josh: I'm not just the candidate, but I'm a former corruption prosecutor. So everything that I say could be, would be, will be scrutinized in a way. And by the same token could mean or could be imbued with additional meaning and value and significance… so I'll be very careful about that.
Gambling Interests in Virginia
Q: How do you feel about the so-called “skill games”?
First of all, I refuse to call them “skill games.” I mean, come on now…I'm not gonna buy into some cheap marketing. To answer your question: I'm against them. There's no societal net plus value here. If anything it's the opposite. You have readily accessible games of chance with potential payout, staring at individuals as they as they go buy coffee…and we don't need it. We don't need it. And the contributions from the gaming industry, the “skill gaming” industry, are all over the lieutenant governor’s race. You can look for them; they’re easy to find.
Q: Do you support a casino in Fairfax County?
I’m totally against that one. I was very surprised to see Senator Hashmi vote for it…
You’re out of your mind if you think that I, who has investigated corruption, money laundering, trafficking at casinos all over the country - and sometimes outside of the country - I mean, these are white collar crime scenes! There is no need for us to bring that stuff here.
On top of the the societal impact of it…they prey on poor folks, folks who don't really need to be spending their money on this. And third, this was going to be a full-blown complex. It wasn't just the casino. It was gonna remake Tysons Corner. And we had already thriving businesses that had recovered from COVID or had been established post-COVID. Why are we gonna put a vortex, a suck up, in the form of this casino?
And lastly, they're telling me that Steve Wynn is gonna run the casino and that somehow that's a good thing? The dude who was the vice chair of the RNC Finance Committee, the Steve Wynn who's challenging the First Amendment, petitioning the Supreme Court to change our First Amendment jurisprudence to erode our defamation laws? No.
…The politics of it all, the electoral dynamics are fluid right now. I think the fundamentals of November are pretty strong in favor of Democrats. But I thought that, setting aside the coattails argument that whoever the LG nominee is is just going to ride coattails and get elected by the strength of Abigail, I do think that it was political malpractice for LG candidates who need to carry Northern Virginia, especially when you have Pat Herrity on the other side of the ballot…and for them to vote against the interests and the wishes of Northern Virginia…was just political malpractice.
It’s not just bad policy, it’s bad politics.
Repealing Virginia’s “Right to Work” Law
Q: You support repealing it, right?
Yeah. And I would actually go a step further, something nobody’s articulated in this race. I want us to enact criminal penalties for employee misclassification which is a predatory practice that leaves everybody worse off. The Commonwealth in terms of tax revenue collection, localities, the buyers, neighbors of a project, the employees. It leaves everyone worse off except the bottom line of the contractors who use the practice. There’s wage theft, there’s tax fraud, it’s a societal loss, and we need to remedy that problem.
Ranked Choice Voting
Q: How do you feel about ranked choice voting?
I'm pretty data-driven. This is going to sound like a punt to you completely, but I just haven't seen enough data on how ranked choice voting would impact our elections and our democracy. Obviously, in the abstract, there are arguments for and against it. You're left with more cordial and civil elections where people are nicer to each other…I just haven't seen enough data to make up my mind one way or another.
10,000 Petition Signatures for Ballot Access
Q: How do you feel about the 10,000 petition signature requirement to get on the ballot [for LG], understanding it's only 5,000 required for president?
We need reform. It's a waste of time, a waste of resources, a waste of attention…That said, you know, I did enjoy meeting the voters. But at some point it became overkill, and you know, I would start by asking: why 10,000? Why not 40,000? Oh, that’s too much? Why is that too much, and why isn’t 10,000 too much?
An Independent Watchdog Agency
We need an independent watchdog that's well funded…with subpoena power, the ability to collect and gather evidence, the ability to place individuals under oath if they're conducting a deposition - so that you know, any lies made to them could actually be prosecuted for obstruction or false statements. That requires creating a regulatory/prosecutorial apparatus that would police the hygiene of our campaigns and elections, and ultimately…the government.
Abolish the LG Position?
Q: Does Virginia even need the lieutenant governor as a position in the first place?
100%…We are home to some of the most important three letter agencies and federal agencies in the country and the federal government. We we have so many different types of equity stakeholders. It's just a big job to be governor.
And I actually think this might be somewhat controversial. Take what we've just been talking about in terms of policing our campaign finance activities, policing our elections. I just described to you that we need reform and part of that reform involves or includes growing the Commonwealth’s public footprint by establishing this independent watchdog…
The governor’s job is a big one as it is. We need a lieutenant governor not only to support the governor but also to explore some of these areas of growth that I think should exist.
…I think even as it stands right now, the lieutenant governor's office has powers that have been underutilized. Folks have used the office as a stepping stone. They've been more of show horse lieutenant governors rather than workhorse lieutenant governors.
I'm not running for this position to be a show horse, I’m running because I do believe that there is a fight to be fought in the era of Trump 2.0. And I know how to fight that fight, and I know how to use the lieutenant governor's office and its powers - previously underutilized - for that purpose. I'm here to help Abigail Spanberger. I’m here to help the Democratic AG whoever that is. And I’m here to help Abigail Spanberger especially if we don’t have a Democratic AG. That’s why we need someone very effective, experienced, committed - above all someone with integrity - in the lieutenant governor’s office.
This interview was a breath of fresh air