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issue of the week in Virginia was easily the fallout
from the General Assembly’s denial of
reappointment to Newport News Judge Verbena Askew.
Former Governor L.
Douglas Wilder penned a stinging rebuke in the Richmond Times-Dispatch of just about everyone involved in the
fiasco. He
singled out Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine for admonishing
Senator Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, saying, “Kaine
was wrong for interrupting and interfering with her
presentation.”
Barnie
Day
of the Roanoke
Times called the treatment of Askew a figurative
“lynching.”
Delegate Preston
Bryant, R-Lynchburg, also in the Times,
defended the Republicans for being “rightly
insistent on accountability being brought to
Virginia’s judiciary.”
Del. Brian
Moran, D-Alexandria, writing in the Washington
Post, detailed the “extraordinary” treatment
that three female judicial nominees had to endure.
Roger
Chesley of the Virginian-Pilot
called for revamping the system of selecting judges.
Hugh
Lessig and Terry Scanlon
of the Daily
Press detailed how the General Assembly is
“cranky,” with “things getting testy.”
One source of crankiness among Democrats was
Governor Warner’s absence from partisan battles,
according to the Washington
Post’s R.
H. Melton.
In
other punditry, Jeff
Schapiro of the Richmond
Times-Dispatch profiled the lonely tax code
modernization crusade of Senator Kevin Miller,
R-Harrisonburg.
Elisabeth
Muhlenfeld, president of Sweet Briar College,
also in the Times-Dispatch, defended Tuition
Assistance Grants, pointing out that students at
private colleges in Virginia are not predominantly
“rich kids.” Melanie
Scarborough, in the Washington
Post, railed against the proposal to make
failure to wear a seat belt a primary offense.
In a bit of hyperbole, she equated it to a
pro-choice position: “Keep your laws off my
body.”
Pundit
v. Pundit
Kerry
Dougherty
of the Virginian-Pilot
applauded the General Assembly for not offering
wrongfully convicted criminal Earl Washington, Jr.
one million dollars. Margaret
Edds, editorial writer and also a columnist for
the Pilot, took Dougherty to task for her views, even as she expressed
reluctance to engage in a “catfight.”
Edds is writing a book on Washington’s
case.
The
Company He Keeps
The
Post’s R.
H. Melton reported on Governor Warner’s
interesting social calendar:
In
recent weeks, Warner has invited well-known
Democrats -- a former governor, a legendary
ex-legislator from Roanoke, two partisan newspaper
columnists -- to the Executive Mansion for
brainstorming lunches. Some said they were struck by
his venting about how helpless he felt, given the
party's emaciated condition down the block at the
General Assembly.
Earley
Returns
Former
Attorney General Mark
Earley wrote a heartfelt tribute to mentoring
young people in the
Richmond
Times-Dispatch.
One could not help but sense that the failed
gubernatorial candidate, now president of Prison
Fellowship Ministries, has found a calling that
combines his faith and passions.
Odds
‘n Ends from the Roanoke
Times
From
the state newspaper that prints the most diverse
viewpoints as op-eds:
According
to Bob
Egbert of the Sierra Club, some of the best
environmental legislation in the General Assembly is
being proposed by conservatives … Joe
Santos, identifying himself as a Democrat,
charged that he and his father received threatening
post cards after his letter critical of syndicated
talk radio in Roanoke was printed in the Times … A
resident of
Christiansburg,
Jeffrey
N. Fawcett, shrilly criticized Governor Warner
for cutting funds to Virginia Tech’s Corps of
Cadets and took a gratuitous swipe at VMI, too.
Yiddish
Pundit
Governor
Warner was handed a plate full of schmutz,
according to A.
Barton Hinkle of the Richmond
Times-Dispatch, and at times has been both a
schlimazel and a schlemiel.
Carry
Me Out of Tax Heavy Virginny
Virginian-Pilot
columnist Dave
Addis tackled one aspect of debate over the
“death tax”:
Among
the more amusing arguments for doing this -- and
there are good arguments for killing the estate tax
-- is that if Virginia doesn't repeal the tax at
this very moment, its multimillionaires might flee
and take up residence in locales that already have
killed the tax.
Yes,
in the minds of your lawmakers, failure to take
immediate action on the death tax would lead to
scenes reminiscent of the Joad family's migration
from the Dust Bowl in "The
Grapes of Wrath,'' with miles of highways leading
out of Virginia clogged by multimillionaires on the
flee.
Silk
mattresses and Louis XIV armoires strapped to the
fenders of chauffeured Lincoln Navigators. Granny
perched precariously on the roof in a Chippendale
rocker. Fox hounds and thoroughbreds trying
desperately to keep stride while lashed to the rear
bumper.
--
February 3, 2002
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