By
giving in to Democratic and Republican legislators
concerned more about their coming reelection
campaigns than fiscal coherence, Warner tarnished
the integrity of his plan for state spending, a
budget that for the most part had been scrupulously
fair in spreading the pain.
Warner
also confirmed for the whole world the open secret
of divided government at the state Capitol in
Richmond -- even the mere threat of retaliation by
the General Assembly's Republican majority is enough
to spook this Democratic chief executive into doing
Republicans' bidding.
The
Virginian-Pilot’s
Margaret
Edds also looked at the big picture:
It
is easy to see why Gov. Mark Warner would want to
punt on pressing for new directions in the current
session. Every move he has made toward higher taxes
has been rebuffed.
But
Warner is going to have to separate the truth from
the babble quickly in all the talk. From taxes to
tax restructuring, if he does not come up with a
clear, straightforward agenda for Virginia's future,
there will be none. It is not the nature of a
bicameral legislature to define broad statewide
policy options on matters of this magnitude. That
job belongs to the executive.
Bob
Gibson
of the Daily
Progress reviewed the fate of numerous bills,
including the 22-0 defeat of a measure to abolish
tenure at universities.
Jeff
Schapiro of the Richmond Times-Dispatch provided
a useful glimpse into the machinations surrounding
renovating the Capitol and other downtown Richmond
structures.
What
Would Martin Luther King Do?
Two
Richmond
Times-Dispatch columnists, Michael
Paul Williams and Mark
Holmberg, thoughtfully pondered Dr. King’s
legacy against the backdrop of local controversy.
An African-American, Chesterfield County
School Superintendent, Billy Cannaday Jr., has
ordered the King Holiday to be a school make-up day,
despite protests and boycott threats from civil
rights groups.
Hunting,
Fishing and Punditry
Virginia’s
pundits are not just found on the op-ed pages.
Outdoor columnists Bill
Cochran
of the Roanoke
Times and Garvey
Winegar of the Richmond Times-Dispatch have
strong opinions on legislation before the General
Assembly. “Legislators have submitted some really
weird bills this session when it comes to the
outdoors,” according to Winegar. Cochran reviews and rates most of them.
Both writers oppose a proposed merger of Game
and Inland Fisheries with the Marine Resources
Commission.
Metaphor
Man
Last
week, it was the General Assembly as a horse race.
This week, Preston
Bryant of the Roanoke
Times compares the state budget to an onion.
Who
is Gary Jacobsen?
Last
week, Virginia Pundit Watch implicitly criticized
regular Potomac News columnist Gary
Jacobsen for not revealing anything about
himself beyond “lives in Woodbridge.”
Jacobsen occasionally writes about military
issues. When he does, he is identified as a military
veteran with combat experience.
Why does the Potomac
News seemingly have a higher standard for
military opinions than for opinions on the
performance of state delegates?
Flame-Thrower
Award
This
week’s award for overheated commentary goes to Jim
Spencer of the Daily
Press. Proposals
to abolish the estate tax are a “cheap trick”
and reflect “elitism.”
Delegate Bob McDonnell, R-Virginia Beach, is
“Taliban Bob” for questioning the performance of
Newport News Circuit Judge Verbena Askew.
Of course, Spencer’s commentary appears on
an editorial page
that describes McDonnell’s position as
“idiotic.”
Without
debating the merits of positions held by Spencer and
the Daily Press, whatever happened to just calling something a “bad
idea” supported by “Delegate X?”
Gordon
Morse, a member of the Daily
Press editorial staff, managed a more measured
piece on the estate tax and McDonnell for the Washington
Post.
Suck-Up
of the Week
Reginald
Shareef
of the Roanoke
Times defended editorial page editor Tommy
Denton from charges that he is “too high brow”
and “too intellectual.”
Old
Virginia Reference of the Week
Richmond
Times-Dispatch
columnist A.
Barton Hinkle, railing against
“Procrustean” discipline policies in the Old
Dominion, wrote:
Heaven
knows Virginia is slow to change - yet after 227
years one would not expect that simple common sense
would still seem revolutionary.
--
January 20, 2002
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