Bacon's Rebellion

In case you haven’t seen it plugged already on Commonwealth Conservative and One Man’s Trash, there’s a new blog that should prove to be worth watching: The Virginia Cost Cutting Caucus blog set up by Del. Chris Saxman, R-Staunton, chairman of the House cost cutting caucus.

The blog creates a forum in which citizens can engage in constructive criticism of Virginia’s state budget. Such public scrutiny would have been impractical only a year ago, but the latest online version of the budget provides greater detail than ever before. The guiding philosophy of the blog in Saxman’s words: “We believe that a more transparent, accountable and competitive government will yield better services at a lower cost to the taxpayers.”

Late last year, linking to the same budget documents, Bacon’s Rebellion urged readers to “Blog the Budget” — to little avail. Perhaps we picked the wrong time of year, right before Christmas. With Saxman behind it, I suspect that the Cost Cutting blog will prove more successful. The Staunton delegate has invited “several people” to contribute to the blog, including Norm Leahy at One Man’s Trash. We wish the new blog the best of luck.

Former Gov. Jim Gilmore has run a thoughtful piece on educational reform in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star. He makes the point that there is only a loose correlation between per-pupil spending in and educational outcomes. In particular, he focuses on the “Standards of Quality,” an arcane funding formula that drives educational spending significantly higher when the standards are rebenchmarked every year.

Virginia could do better, he suggests, if the state replaced the SOQ formula with a simple, per-pupil funding allowance. Citing research by the Herndon-based Claire Booth Luce Policy Institute, Gilmore says that “a $6,000 per pupil amount–and $7,200 for students with limited English proficiency, living in poverty or having learning disabilities, and $11,400 for severely disabled students–would generate more state funds for all but 13 Virginia school systems.”

He continues: “Changes such as this would free local school systems to have more flexibility in providing educational opportunities based upon actual student needs rather than out-of-date mandates that tie the hands of local school boards and administrators.”

Gilmore also champions school choice, proposing changes to the law that would allow the creation of more Governor’s schools, more charter schools and tuition assistance for private schools.

Discussion of these ideas is way overdue in Virginia, a supposedly “conservative” state that allows pitifully little school choice.

OK, policy junkies, there’s a cool new data source online: The “Commonwealth Data Point” maintained by the state Auditor of Public Accounts. This website collects a number of interesting data series and makes them available from a single Web page.

State and local revenues… state and local expenditures… the state budget… population… food stamps… income… workforce… schools… and more. All presented in a common format, covering fiscal years 2003, 2004 and 2005. The goal is to accumulate 10 years worth of data. I’m not sure what the logic was for selecting the particular data series that appear on the page, but are all are potentially useful for anyone studying policy issues in Virginia.

Thanks to Sen. Walter Stosch, R-Henrico, who sponsored the legislation making the data publicly available. Huzzah! Three cheers for transparency in public data!

House Speaker William J. Howell has proposed raising money to fund transportation improvements in Virginia by selling off chunks of the Interstate to private investors who, presumably, would be allowed to recoup their investment by imposing tolls. Howell has not said (at least not in print) how he would invest the proceeds of such sales, but there is no denying that the strategy could raise substantial sums of money. And if anyone in the Virginia press corps would inquire, Howell’s ideas about privatizing Interstates are part of a broader re-thinking of the role of state government in providing transportation solutions.

Personally, I don’t know if I’m comfortable with the idea of privatizing Interstates, but I’m willing to hear the Speaker out. Apparently, Michael Hardy and Jeff Schapiro with the Richmond Times-Dispatch have already written off the idea as a “scheme” — in contrast, say, to raising unspecified taxes by some $1 billion to $4 billion a year to continue the Business As Usual policies that created the transportation crisis in the first place. Here’s how they chacterize the Speaker’s ideas in an article about Gov.-elect Tim Kaine:

Kaine is not keen on such House Republican proposals as flipping highways and other commuter links for quick cash from investors. Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, has suggested such privatization schemes, saying they could generate billions.

“I don’t like the idea of selling assets,” said Kaine. He is, however, favorably inclined — if the deal helps the state — to consider selling income streams from tolls when proceeds are used for transportation projects.” (My boldface.)

Everybody clear on the distinction? Selling highway assets outright amounts to a “scheme” for “flipping” them for “quick cash.” Merely selling the highway income streams for 30 to 50 years — which also would raise up-front cash for the state to spend — is an idea respectable enough to warrant no such invidious characterizations.

These gems were passed along by Joseph West to ponder as the General Assembly convenes.

“Anyone taken as an individual, is tolerably sensible and reasonable – as a member of a crowd, he at once becomes a blockhead.”

— Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805), leading German 18th-century dramatist, poet, and literary theorist and an intellectual contemporary of Hamilton and Madison.

“In all very numerous assemblies, of whatever character composed, passion never fails to wrest the sceptre from reason. … Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.”

— Alexander Hamilton and James Madison (Federalist No. 55, 15 February 1788)

This just in from Virginia Tech (4:47 p.m.):

Virginia Tech quarterback Marcus Vick has been permanently dismissed from the Hokie football program due to a cumulative effect of legal infractions and unsportsmanlike play. Virginia Tech had suspended Vick in 2003.

The university provided one last opportunity for Vick to become a citizen of the university and readmitted him in January 2004, with the proviso that any future problems would result in automatic dismissal from the team.

Bravo for Virginia Tech!

Let us hope that Marcus Vick is not a scape goat. Let us hope that this action represents the beginning of a new standard of sportsmanship that will be enforced across all Virginia colleges and for all sports — including those that don’t appear on national television.

Now, let’s see how long it takes for Vick to go pro.

After clearing out ineffective and inefficient boards and commissions in Virginia, Gov. Warner is creating new ones with noble and lofty purposes. The latest is the Motorcycle Advisory Council:

The group, comprised of state and local officials, state agency representatives, and motorcycle enthusiasts, will work to promote motorcycle safety, tourism, and business development in Virginia. The Council is the next step in Governor Warner’s “Motorcycle VIRGINIA!” initiative created in 2004.

“Virginia has worked to expand its tourism markets in so many areas – and motorcycle tourism is a great opportunity for us,” said Governor Warner. “As an example, the annual Gold Wing Road Riders Association state rally in Roanoke generates over $320,000 each year for the Roanoke Valley; and we know motorcyclists are generous with their time and resources in raising hundreds of thousands of dollars each year for charities in communities across the Commonwealth. Additionally, as the Commonwealth grapples with the transportation challenges of the next decade, motorcyclists need to have a voice in that debate.”

Until the creation of this council, I had not realized that bikers had no voice. I can only hope they will use it to tie transportation to land use planning and to lobby for changes in human settlement patterns.

It’s an impressive group of Virginians that Warner named to the council–many are affiliated with existing motorcycle groups or own their own machines. They’ll be able to ride their Harleys to meetings, weather permitting. I must admit disappointment that the list of state agencies represented did not include my own. I’ve had five or six calls over the last three years from individuals wanting to start chop shops or become motorcycle dealers/repair centers. Now I can refer them to the council and they should receive special business development assistance.

Thankfully, the Alcohol and Beverage Control Board is represented. We know intuitively that motorcyclists have special needs when it comes to alcohol.

In our column this week “The Devil’s Dance” at https://www.baconsrebellion.com/ we cautioned against expecting positive results vis a vis mobility and access (or anything else) from the 2006 legislative session. In a Wednesday, 4 January posting on this blog (“The Governor and Mobility”) we considered the Governor-Elect’s potential to improve mobility and access.

Right on cue, Governor-Elect Kaine named Mr. Homer as Secretary of Transportation. This assures citizens of the Commonwealth that traffic congestion will continue to grow and the long-term prospects for prosperity, security and sustainability will continue to erode.

This sort of a slap in the face happens to the good-government / community-responsibility / conservation organizations and their supporters after every election. They endorse the lesser-of-two-evils candidates. That candidate wins and then the newly elected office holder turns around and takes actions that support the Business-As-Usual / private-rights / consumption goals of the candidate that the voters turned down. It is clear that enough citizens who would not have voted or would have voted for Woody Woodpecker voted for Kaine because of his pledge to relate transportation to land use (aka, create functional human settlement patterns.)

Mr. Homer’s land use / transportation credentials are clear. He is best known for his cheerleading role for Disney’s American and Nissan Pavilion (nee, Cellar Door) in Prince William County. These are two of the greatest land use / transportation disasters to ever face the R=20 to R=35 Radius Band in the National Capital Subregion. He won one out of two and hundreds of thousands of citizens have been inconvenienced on many summer days since Nissan Pavilion open its gates.

In an interview with WAPO he cited two reasons why the detractors of his nomination (who had been supporters of Kaine) were wrong. Homer said that he had worked to raise money for shared-vehicle systems as well as roads. That completely misses the central point that roads or rails in the wrong location create dysfunctional human settlement patterns and cause long-term immobility. The clincher, however, is that Homer cited his work to support the badly defeated sales tax referendums. In tune with the the real world?

The best anyone has had to say about Homer is that he plays well with others, especially the groups responsible for the growing gridlock and that he understands the need to raise private money to build the wrong infrastructure in the wrong locations. We will address these two issues in future posts.

EMR

NBC-12 in Richmond has just reported that Richmond and Kansas City have been eliminated from consideration as potential sites for the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Richmond’s team, with Josh Lief at the helm, gave it a good shot.

Update: The Friday morning Times-Dispatch story is here. No reason was given by NASCAR, but they claim they did the organizers a favor by not “stringing them along.”

Potomac ExecutiveBiz has published an interview with Aneesh, Chopra, Tim Kaine’s new choice for Secretary of Technology. (Registration may be necessary.) The 33-year-old Northern Virginian seems an unconventional choice.

On his professional background: “I am a managing director at a think tank with a focus for the health care industry. … A big portion of my professional background has been studying ways that technology can fundamentally transform the healthcare industry in particular.” (These and other quotes below in italics are all mine.)

On why he accepted the position: “I fundamentally shared Governor-Elect Kaine’s passion for his policy agenda. He stated some pretty big goals that I believe technology can play a pretty significant role in. The top among them for me is his desire to lower the uninsured rate in Virginia, lower health care costs, which will improve small businesses and access to health care, which will also hopefully do so in a way that is cost efficient across the government to use so we can actually make better use of the government dollar where appropriate. Those are the things that really drove me. His agenda resonated, and I thought that the technology piece would be a big factor in achieving those policy goals.”

His top priorities: “My first priority would be to nurture the continued success of VITA. Second priority is to work very closely with my colleagues in the Cabinet to identify the most leveraged areas where technology could improve government service. Third, I want to continue to support the technology industry across the Commonwealth.”

Reading between the lines: Chopra wants to apply technology to improving the efficiency and quality of health care — including, possibly, the state Medicaid program. If I’m right, that would prove to be a most interesting direction for the new Secretary of Technology to take the job.

Washington Post Metro columnist Marc Fisher now has a blog, Raw Fisher. He bills it “The Gold Plated Cadillac of the Internet.”

Pretty soon you’ll be nobody until somebody sees you blogging.

Update: Some VA bloggers welcomed Fisher and he noted that an article he wrote about blogging will appear soon on the American Journalism Review site.

I haven’t been outgoing Technology Secretary Eugene Huang’s biggest fan, but in this letter to the editor of the Daily Press, he shows a little “attitude.” He gets a good zinger in at the end, not that I think he has the better argument.

The City of Manassas has suspended its enforcement of the controversial zoning provision affecting extended families. There goes half of Bacon’s Rebellion‘s content ….

He could have ducked the questions, but Governor-elect Tim Kaine made his feelings known about the nationally televised unsportsmanlike conduct of Hokie Marcus Vick at Monday’s Gator Bowl. Good for him. I hope he’ll continue to speak out, even more strongly if necessary, against bad behavior of all kinds that brings dishonor to Virginia. A Governor ought to exert some moral authority when necessary.

Over at SST, die-hard Hokie fan Old Zach has his thoughts on Vick’s inexcusable stomp on the leg of a prone Lousiville player.

I’m with Old Zach. Vick should be dismissed from the team–for good, this time.

The Manassas Journal Messenger reported this afternoon that the ACLU is prepared to file a lawsuit challenging the local ordinance that redefines who counts as “family” when it comes to who can live together in a single family home.

According to the Messenger, Kent Willis, executive director of the ACLU, said in a press release issued today:

“No one is saying that Manassas can’t reasonably regulate the number of people living together for health and safety purposes,but the government has no right to tell me that my aunt or nephew can’t live under the same roof with me.”

Willis is reported to have gone on to criticize the ordinance as a violation of substantive due process rights and for its “purpose and effect” of breaking up Latino families.