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Bob
Gibson of the Daily
Progress didn’t use those words exactly, but
his intent was clear as he reviewed the
anti-abortion records of contenders for the Attorney
General nomination in 2005, Del. Robert McDonnell,
R-Virginia
Beach, and “upstart” Del. Richard Black, R-Loudoun.
In
the Richmond
Times-Dispatch, Jeff
Schapiro used a confusing antecedent “he” to
suggest that Sen. John Chichester, R-Fredericksburg,
might want Democrats to win the seats of Senators
Frank Ruff, R-Mecklenberg, and Nick Rerras,
R-Norfolk, thereby maintaining a “moderate
course” for the Senate.
“Tough
decisions may have to be made in
Richmond
in the years
ahead. This is no time for government to be captive
to ideologues of any stripe,” was Margaret
Edds’ assessment in Virginian-Pilot
after ticking off the budget woes and responses of
other states.
R.
H. Melton of the Washington
Post had a discouraging look at the prospects
for tax reform in Virginia, after Gov. Mark
R. Warner, “with the General Assembly safely out
of Richmond,” broached the
subject:
The
overheated Republicans who immediately denounced
Warner's statements were not the experienced and
more moderate-leaning leaders who actually want to
improve things in
Virginia
and take the long view about addressing state needs.
But
true tax restructuring will never happen -- because
no one really wants it to.
Warner
certainly does not. However passionately he decried
the sorry state of
Virginia
schools, Warner has no real stomach for what would
arguably be the toughest fight of his political
career.
Headline
of the Week
Speaking
of Virginia
schools, UVa
economics Professor William
Johnson, writing in the Washington
Post, used statistics on funding to show the
decline of the
University
of
Virginia
compared to its competition. The
headline? “Lawn
of Averages.”
New
Business
Only
Ray
McAllister of the Richmond
Times-Dispatch noted the announcement that
Philip Morris was moving its headquarters to
Richmond:
Every
dignitary who was anyone seemed to be on hand for
Tuesday's announcement, from the governor to
legislators to the local congressman to the city
mayor to the county supervisors.
Richmond
Mayor Rudolph C. McCollum Jr., after admitting he
was giddy over the announcement, told Philip Morris'
large CEO, Michael E. Szymanczyk: "Smoking
obviously doesn't stunt your growth."
Any
time you can make jokes about health risks, it must
be a good day.
Government
Business
Senator
Walter Stosch, R-Henrico, offered an op-ed in
the Richmond Times-Dispatch where he first compared the General Assembly
to a business, then zeroed in on a key difference:
“In private business, goods and services are sold
at a price to cover their cost plus a small profit
margin. Price tends to limit demand. The opposite is
true with government services.”
Of the 2003 General Assembly, he wrote: “I
believe we have done the best we can this session,
under the circumstances.”
Lobbyists:
Who Needs ‘Em?
The
late Mike Royko of the Chicago Tribune famously
wrote the lobbyist’s lament: “I
wept because I had no Guccis, until I met a man with
no Florsheims.” Virginia
lobbyists may
have a new lament, if Patsy
Starnes of Vinton, writing the Roanoke
Times, has her way.
Reacting to a news story about
Roanoke
County
hiring a lobbyist in
Richmond
, she wondered,
“Why does
Roanoke
County
need a lobbyist? Aren't these elected officials from the
Roanoke
Valley
enough?”
Governor
Pothole and the VDOT/DMV Blues
Ray
McAllister of the Times-Dispatch
reacted to Governor Warner’s announcement of a
“war on potholes” by wondering, “Doesn't this
cost something? Thanks
to the weather, Virginia's
road care budget is already $76 million in the hole
- as it were.” McAllister
had some creative suggestions. … Last week, Dave
Addis got so much mail in response to his Virginian-Pilot
column about budget cuts for VDOT Freeway Response
Teams that he followed up with information on how
readers could notify their representatives in the
General Assembly. Addis’
V-P
colleague, Kerry
Dougherty, visited a DMV office and compared it
to a Soviet-style factory: “Don't believe
everything you've heard about the interminable lines
and surly staff at DMV. It's much worse.”
--
March 10, 2003
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