Incumbent Republican John Wiles has represented this west Cobb district since 2004, and is the managing partner of Wiles & Wiles, a Marietta law firm. Lindsey Tippins has 40 years of business experience as the founder of Tippins Contracting Co. and previously served three terms on the Cobb school board. Barring an upset from an independent, the primary winner will likely take office as there is no Democratic candidate.

Q. Do you favor extending MARTA rail lines into Cobb?

Wiles: No. I spent four years serving on MARTOC, the legislative committee tasked with overseeing MARTA. Frankly, I wouldn't trust their management to wash my car. While mass transit is certainly part of our long term traffic solution, I don't believe that MARTA, as it is currently structured, is an organization Cobb County should be involved in.

Tippins: No.

Q. Are you in favor of light-rail lines for Cobb? If so, where?

Wiles: I favor bus rapid transit which uses lanes that can also be used for other traffic such as car pools and vanpools and buses. It is much less costly than light rail, and can be put into place much more quickly.

Tippins: I think the discussion of light rail may be premature. The proposal on the table is 14 miles of light rail connecting Town Center and Cumberland/Galleria at a cost of $2 billion to be operational in late 2019 at best. The state owns the W & A railroad right of way from downtown Atlanta to Chattanooga. It is currently leased to CSX and that lease will expire in December 2019. This track goes through four of Cobb's six cities, is regional in nature & would pass through Bartow and have connectivity to Cherokee by NGRR, both counties being major sources of congestion for I-75. We need to explore using this as a vital piece of the mass transit puzzle. This is not an either/or issue of railroads or commuter trains but can very logically be both to the benefit of all parties at a much reduced total cost than the current proposal which has no cost effective connectivity on either end.

Q. Do you think Cobb's light-rail lines should link up with MARTA trains? Where?

Wiles: It is putting the cart before the horse to even discuss where to link up these lines when light rail is still far in the future and MARTA's future is uncertain. Again, I would focus on bus rapid transit now because we can get it done and it would start to alleviate traffic with fewer costs.

Tippins: If the proposal above is seriously considered, the CSX track runs adjacent to Cumberland Mall where there is a surface Marta connection and the CSX line also runs to downtown Atlanta where there would be multiple points of connectivity. The greatest benefit would be avoiding the continuing cost of perpetually being part of Marta & subsidizing their losses.

Q. Do you favor adding or converting Interstate lanes to toll lanes?

Wiles: I do not support turning existing lanes to toll roads. If additional capacity is added using public private partnerships I do not object to toll roads.

Tippins: In concept that would seem to make sense but a realistic cost evaluation must be done first that would take into consideration additional right of way requirements and their associated costs plus construction costs plus inconvenience costs in an area already overloaded during peak hours. This may be cost prohibitive in light of other alternatives which may be less expensive.

Q. Do you support adding reversible lanes to I-75 through Cobb?

Wiles: I support expanding capacity on I-75. If reversible lanes are sufficient to add capacity during rush hour I would support them but I would need to review traffic studies as I understand two reversible lanes will not meet the capacity demands of travelers on I-75.

Tippins: I have seen reversible lanes being used very successfully in California and in other states and I believe this should be a valuable consideration both on I-75 and other congested roads. It is a more effective means of utilizing existing lane capacity at peak use times at reduced costs which just makes good business sense.

Q. Should reversible lanes be built before or after light rail lines?

Wiles: Additional capacity should be added to I-75 before very expensive light rail is considered.

Tippins: Go back to my answer in question 2. I believe exploration of and cost benefit analysis of reversible lanes and utilization of existing state owned rail right of way needs to happen concurrently. If the plan in #2 can be worked out successfully, true regional traffic relief may be achievable earlier than expected up the I-75/575 corridors so that any highway reconstruction would have lesser traffic interruption during construction while building more future capacity. The current lease on the W & A/CSX rail line doesn't expire until 2019, but there is no reason that these discussions cannot take place immediately to see if a workable solution can be formed that is mutually beneficial to all participating parties with a huge break to the taxpayers in not having to subsidize another public transportation system which continually operates at a loss.

Q. Do you plan to vote to approve and fund the Transportation bill in 2012?

Wiles: I was proud to vote for the new transportation bill and if the projects proposed by the roundtable address the traffic problems of our area I would vote to approve the referendum.

Tippins: The voters in each of the 12 respective districts will either vote the initiative up or down in each district. The funding will be locally approved and funded by an additional sales tax initiative. It would be my opinion that the voters in any one county would need to look at the schedule of approved projects and then make the determination whether if it is in their best interests to approve the plan. If there is a disproportionate difference in the tax that a county generates and the benefits that it receives, the individual voters would have to make a value judgement. I believe passage will depend on the projects put forward and the equity of the value of relief received.

Q. Do you favor more restrictions on lobbyist gift to legislators? Exactly what type of gifts and what amounts would you ban?

Wiles: We took a big step this session on ethics. Although Georgia was ranked in the top ten among states for having the toughest ethics laws, we passed an omnibus ethics reform legislation that establishes the "Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission" and provides for more stringent reporting requirements on all officials and lobbyists in addition to new provisions that limit the abuse of official power, conflicts of interest, improper conduct, and sexual harassment. This was real, substantive change and we need to see how these major reforms work before we make additional changes.

Tippins: As far as I am concerned, they can all be banned. I have a job so I don't need someone else to buy my lunch or give me presents.

Q. Do you favor legislation that would deny admission to state universities to all illegal immigrants, even those who graduated from a Georgia high school?

Wiles: Yes. It is already against federal law to provide a public benefit such as university education to illegal aliens. No Georgian should be denied an education to provide space for illegal aliens.

Tippins: Yes.

Q. Would you vote for an immigration law similar to the one recently passed in Arizona?

Wiles: Yes. I am currently working with other members of Senate leadership studying this issue, and I will introduce a similar bill with modifications necessary for Georgia's needs if the voters of Cobb re-elect me.

Tippins: Yes. I have no problem with the intent of the law itself. There are pending legal issues that have been raised and must be settled and the litigation process will probably be very expensive. The legal issues of reasonable suspicion, probable cause and racial profiling will probably have to be settled by the Supreme Court and I would rather another state foot the bill on that costly litigation. Meanwhile, there is no reason that we cannot fully enforce all current laws without pending litigation problems and I would be in full agreement to do that.

Q. Do you favor a state law that would outlaw furlough days for teachers in the future?

Wiles: No. I think we need to allow local school boards to make decisions on how to deal with their teachers and other employees.

Tippins: Yes. We cannot continue to balance the budget on the backs of classroom teachers and students.

Q. At what point would you consider increasing taxes in Georgia?

Wiles: Never.

Tippins: None that come to mind.

Q. If Georgians elect a governor from a party that is not your own, do you think you can work constructively with that governor?

Wiles: Yes. I have served under Democratic and Republican Governors, Democratic and Republican Lt. Governors, and Democratic and Republican Speakers. While I hope that our next Governor shares my conservative philosophy, I will be able to work with whomever the people of Georgia elect.

Tippins: It's imperative that both sides of the aisle in the legislature and the governor, whomever that may be, work together for the solution of the huge problems facing us all. I don't believe that the challenges arising from a severe economic downturn come clearly marked as Republican or Democratic in nature. While I am absolutely Republican, it is always better to try to work together with people to solve common problems than to dig in, be a political isolationist and never be able to get anything done. We must work with the other party, if possible, to come to common solutions to common problems. That way, the whole state will benefit.

Q. What do you think will be the biggest issue facing the General Assembly in 2011?

Wiles: Jobs and the economy will likely continue to be the biggest issue in 2011. While I believe we did a good job closing the largest budget shortfall since the Great Depression without increasing taxes, we must continue to find ways to reduce wasteful government spending. We also need to revamp our tax code to make sure that government encourages job growth in the private sector.

Tippins: Our greatest challenge will be dealing with dwindling revenue sources and the subsequent harmful effects that they have on our ability to adequately deliver constitutionally mandated services to the public.