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CHELYEN DAVIS

A Spotsylvania County real estate agent and animal activist is on the ballot to run against Del. Bobby Orrock, R-Caroline.

Kimbra Kincheloe is making her first bid for political office as an independent.

She's been a member of the county Economic Development Authority since 1998.

Kincheloe also is the director of LionHearts, an organization she and her mother founded to provide low-cost spaying and neutering for cats and dogs. She manages the Virginia Kincheloe Spay/Neuter Clinic.

Kincheloe said she decided to run for the House seat because otherwise, Orrock would be running unopposed, and she believes there should be more competition in politics.

"To keep a political system going, we need competition, we need choice, and people don't have it. That's part of the reason of apathy," Kincheloe said. "The people are ready for a choice."

But she also was upset with Orrock for his handling of animal activists who came to Richmond last winter for a subcommittee hearing on animal legislation. Orrock chaired the subcommittee, and Kincheloe said he chastised animal-rights supporters who had e-mailed or called him to communicate their feelings about the legislation.

"The whole audience was expecting to receive a pat on the back for being a good citizen and participating in government," Kincheloe said. "I was taken aback [by] his disdain for the citizen input. Don't tell the citizens, 'don't communicate with you.'"

Kincheloe also opposes the entire subcommittee system in the House of Delegates. A couple of years ago, House Republican leaders began encouraging a system in which bills would be heard by small subcommittees and, if the bills didn't get much support there, were rarely heard by the full committee. Subcommittee votes are not recorded, and a move by Democrats last session to make those recorded votes was killed.

Kincheloe said if she's elected, she would support the recording of subcommittee votes.

As an independent, Kincheloe said she would seek bipartisan solutions to problems. Her top issues include an emphasis on students and teachers in education; a transportation system that focuses on moving goods and people in addition to cars; and health care that focuses on wellness, not profit.

"My politics is nonpartisan. How I will look at an issue is based on the merits of the issue, based on what good ideas can be brought to the table to resolve an issue, whether it's transportation or education," she said.