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The
imbroglio over
Kay
Slaughter
’s
nomination to the Water Control Board and its
relationship to a backlash against GOP anti-abortion
politics and judgeships was succinctly covered by Bob
Gibson of the Daily
Progress. Jeff
Schapiro of the Richmond
Times-Dispatch went deeper, exploring the
difficulty Speaker of the House William Howell,
R-Stafford, confronts in controlling members of his
party dedicated to “hot button” social issues.
Barney
Day,
writing in the Daily
Press, used an old West metaphor to explain
Governor Warner’s role in the flurry of partisan
activity:
Republicans
slapped him around last week like he was some dude
rancher who had gotten lost and wandered into old Abilene.
Before the week was over,
Del.
Vince Callahan and the boys whipped their pistols
out and made him dance like a city slicker.
Del.
Preston
Bryant, R-Lynchburg, writing his weekly column
for the Roanoke Times, was a lonely voice in defending the Republican
budget, claiming, “House and Senate Republicans
have improved Warner's spending plan.” Del. Bryant
was hospitalized this past weekend and we wish him a
speedy recovery.
This
‘n That
Reginald
Shareef
dissected Roanoke racial politics in his Roanoke
Times column … General Assembly anti-abortion
measures won’t hold up because he said so, if you
believe Gary
Jacobsen of the Potomac
News … Engineering executive T.
Howard Noel argued for I-73 in a Roanoke
Times commentary … Senator George Allen
intervened to spare budget cuts for a UVA
climatologist who doubts global warming, according
to Bob
Gibson.
Outdoor
Pundit Update
Mark
Taylor
of the Roanoke
Times updated sportsmen on their issues this
week. The
General Assembly’s tabling of a proposed merger
between the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
and the Marine Resources Board was a big relief.
Garvey
Winegar of the Richmond
Times-Dispatch proved that whining about Virginia’s state
rank in spending is a sport the outdoors crowd
plays, too.
Partisan
Advice
Former
Democratic delegate Barney
Day, writing in the Roanoke
Times, had some advice on appointments for the
majority Republicans:
Cut
the crap about "judgment" and
"appearances of a conflict of interests."
What? You think we're stupid? We know you don't have
to justify squat. Ram it down our throats. That's
what we would have done.
Day
predicts a rocky road for the nominations of former
Sen. Warren Barry, R-Fairfax, to the ABC Board and
Sherry Crumley to Game and Inland Fisheries.
Askew
Madness
After
almost daily blasts over his handling of the Verbena
Askew nomination, the Virginian-Pilot
gave Del. Robert McDonnell, R-Virginia
Beach, a chance
to respond. Of course, they blasted his
response in an editorial
adjoining it. Former
Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, whose column on Askew was noted
here last week, offered a different
version for the Richmond
Free Press and the Daily
Press. This
one invoked Rev. Martin Luther King and was even
more critical of Democrats.
Seat
Belt Madness
Columnists
not obsessed with Judge Askew continue to be
obsessed by seat belt legislation.
Kerry
Dougherty of the Virginian-Pilot
argued that Virginians should be able to do stupid
things, like not wear seat belts. Marc
Fisher of the Washington
Post, in a column withheld for several days
after the Columbia
disaster,
wrote about the “strange world of the Virginia
legislature” where seatbelt wearing is a
“communistic infringement of individual
freedom.”
Kilgore
Bashing
In
a Roanoke
Times commentary, David
Cox, described as a “controller with a
manufacturing facility,” noted that members of the
Kilgore family hold a number of top jobs in Virginia
and Scott
County. Lacking
any evidence that Jerry, Terry, et.
al. are
not qualified, he writes, “I don't want to sound
jealous, but I seemingly would have a much better
chance to obtain or be appointed to public office if
my last name were Kilgore.”
It’s
the Good Ol’ Boys, Stupid
Marc
Fisher went online
again and offered another forum for slamming the Old
Dominion. This time, state residents took a turn.
From the People’s Republic of Arlington:
I
love my state, I really do, but I fear its
government. I guess Mark Warner is a classic example
of why business types fail in government situations,
even if they have solid ideas. Until you get rid of
these good ol' boys from below Northern
Virginia,
nothing is ever going to change.
--
February 10, 2003
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