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Ground
zero for pro-tax advocates has been the editorial
pages of the Richmond
Times-Dispatch.
While its unsigned editorials bravely
suggested trimming state spending here and there,
its commentary pages were crowded with high-minded
advocacy of increasing taxes along Gov. Warner-Sen.
Chichester lines. The
list of worthies who counseled digging deeper into
certain pockets included:
-
Buford
Scott, Chairman of Scott & Stringfellow,
Inc. Scott
wrote, “With the Governor’s plan we have the
chance to preserve and strengthen Virginia’s
competitive position among the states.”
-
Charles
H. Foster, Jr., Chairman and CEO of
LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc.
“Revenue enhancement is unavoidable if
we desire to truly address the Commonwealth’s
critical needs.”
-
Walter
Craigie, former Secretary of Finance.
Craigie didn’t support any particular
tax plan, but his warnings against using “easy
fixes” to solve budget problems didn’t leave
much doubt about where he stood.
Additionally,
education advocates like Virginia Community College
Chancellor Glenn
DuBois, Old Dominion University Provost Thomas
Isenhour, and youth political action advocate Jesse
Ferguson either praised the glories of funding
education or warned darkly of
danger if funding does not rise.
Supporting
the pro-tax op-ed parade was Margaret
Edds of the Virginian-Pilot.
She found fault with the Republican tax
analysis of former Reagan Administration official
Jim Miller, but pro-tax studies by the Thomas
Jefferson Institute for Public Policy and an
organization call Global Insight were “prudent.”
Sniping at the anti-taxers was her colleague,
Patrick
Lackey. He
invoked Benjamin Franklin, the Founding Father who
would “dismiss a man who never changed his
mind.” Those
anti-taxers, of course, have their ways “set in
concrete.”
Apparently,
Franklin doesn't mind the pro-taxers that never
change their mind about the state needing more
revenue.
Demo
Memos
Bob
Gibson of the Daily
Progress wrote a puff piece on a rising
Democratic star, Del. R. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, an
“all-but-announced candidate for attorney general
in the 2005 elections.”
Despite his rural roots, Deeds has statewide
“electability,” according to former
Charlottesville Mayor Tom Vandever.
Gibson lists Roanoke Del. John Edwards as
Deeds’ major competition, ignoring another rising
star and potential candidate: Del. Brian Moran of
Alexandria.
In
the Washington
Post, Gordon
Morse, ruminated on the potential revival of the
Virginia Democratic Party after witnessing their
Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner.
He sees “pragmatism and practicality” in
the party, along with Democrats' role as “tribunes
of the commonwealth’s fiscal honor” as possible
keys to ta return to power.
Morse quotes Del. Moran on the party’s
future: “‘We have to have a moderate, mainstream
agenda. Falling
on our sword for liberal causes isn't going to give
us the apparatus of government.’"
Outrage
to Follow
Among
the major pundits, only Bacon’s Rebellion contributor Barnie
Day has written at length about the passage of
House Bill 1357, a bill exempting the legislature
from the Freedom of Information Act.
Washington
Post columnist Marc
Fisher gave the bill his “Nay of the Week”
in an on-line chat, but not a single comment about
the bill was submitted by readers.
Expect a flurry of pundits to sign on to the
essence of Day’s critique.
Diversions
If
the tax obsession of this year’s General Assembly
is wearing thin, turn to Hugh
Lessig and Terry Scanlon of the Daily Press.
They’ve got news on midwives, inadvertent
candor, cutting jokes, and, best of all, hazing
hijinks directed against freshman legislators.
How’d
I Do?
In
my February 2nd column, I made predictions
about the Virginia Democratic Presidential Primary
held on February 10th.
On the plus side, I predicted a big win for
Sen. John Kerry, mediocre voter turnout, and the end
of General Wesley Clark’s campaign.
On the minus side, I over-estimated the
residual support for Gov. Howard Dean, picking him
to finish ahead of Sen. John Edwards for second.
Edwards was second, Clark third and Dean
fourth. I failed to pick Rep. Dennis Kucinich to
finish ahead of Sen. Joe Lieberman.
Professor
Larry Sabato has nothing to fear.
--
February 16, 2004
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