Bacon's Rebellion

In today’s Bacon’s Rebellion, Doug Koelemay contributes his insights to Gov. Mark R. Warner’s plan to pump $550 million into state university R&D programs. As a follow-up, he suggests creating a “Governor’s Technology Opportunity Fund” to help recruit R&D facilities. There’s more at stake than most people realize, Koelemay contend:

Consider, for example, the tug-of-war now growing over the future of federal R&D agencies — the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Army Research Office — now located in Northern Virginia, specifically in Arlington County. While its recommendations about Master Jet Base, Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach have gotten a lot of attention, the Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) also recommended moving 20,000 jobs out of Arlington County. Potentially more important than the empty office space that results in Crystal City may be the empty minds if DARPA, now in a building in Ballston that does not meet new security requirements, moves not to another location in Ballston, but to Maryland. What if other federal research agencies followed?

This blog recently addressed Gov.-elect Tim Kaine’s proposal to make pre-K schooling universal. A column by Chris Braunlich, published today in Bacon’s Rebellion, questions the utility of expanding the program from the 18,500 tots who already receive subsidized pre-school to all 78,000 four-year-olds in the state.

Although there seems to be agreement that poor children benefit from pre-K, the same does not apply to middle-class children. Apparently, the pre-K schooling makes up for deficits in the poor munchkins’ home life. The same does not appear to be true of their middle-class counterparts.

If Braunlich is right, Kaine’s proposed $300 million initiative would seem to be a solution in search of a problem — and an unnecessary expansion of an entitlement.

For details read Braunlich’s column, “Does Universal Pre-K Work?”

The December 12, 2005, edition of Bacon’s Rebellion can now be viewed online.

Came back from CA on Friday and didn’t check the news carefully. Saturday, I was at a CHRISTmas party and heard from a local GOP unit chairman he had been contacted by an Allen staffer that Sen. Allen had fixed his position on including homosexual behavior as a protected class of persons in a hate crimes amendment to a crime bill. Today, I find the news in Virginia blogs and at Newsmax (dated Friday). Here is the piece.

Friday, Dec. 9, 2005 9:58 p.m. EST
Sen. Allen Withdraws ‘Hate Crimes’ Support

This article by Jeff Johnson originally appeared at CNS.com

Republican U.S. Sen. George Allen will no longer support “hate crimes” legislation that includes “sexual orientation” as a protected status, even if the proposal is identical to a bill he voted for in 2004. The Virginia senator acknowledged Friday that such legislation could be used by federal courts to extend civil rights protections to homosexuals and to squelch free speech.

“Senator Allen is going to vote against adding ‘sexual orientation’ to federal ‘hate crimes’ laws,” Mike Thomas, Allen’s state director, told Cybercast News Service Friday.

Thomas said Allen has two serious concerns after monitoring how the federal courts have applied similar laws.

“The first is, he feels that those changes to hate crimes laws could have a chilling effect on First Amendment rights,” Thomas said. (Editor’s Note: Click on the comments button below to read the rest of this article.)

——————————————————–

Sen. Allen’s position helps him with his Right Flank during the 2006. But, frankly, I am surprised and pleased to see this movement when the conventional wisdom is to moderate, mush, weaken, pander, pacify and wimp Conservative positions to run for President in 08.

Hooah x times.

Hate crimes are thought crimes. Protected classes of persons are anathema to the Republic. Homosexuals as a class of persons protected from hate crimes (including ‘hate speech’) is a stealth assault on the First Amendment free speech and free exercise of religion against Evangelical Christians.

Two articles in today’s Washington Post highlight upcoming debates on spending priorities at both the state and local level. There is a connection.

Bill Turque surveyed Washington Metro localities in the wake of slowing growth for their golden goose:

Despite signs of a cooling real estate market, most area homeowners will see hefty increases in property assessments when notices go out early next year, leaving them once again with fattening equity but bigger tax bills, officials said.

… officials increasingly are looking at what would happen if the housing market flattens so significantly that it no longer provides enough tax money to underwrite steady growth in spending. Some have instructed their staffs to craft proposed budgets that cap expanded spending.

A cap on spending? The reaction to that will be telling.

At the state level, reporter Maria Glod examines the chances for Governor-elect Tim Kaine to get the funding he seeks for universal pre-kindergarten. Lawmakers say pre-K will compete for funding with transportation and other priorities that constituents say are more pressing.

This might be deal-breaker in light of the possibility that localities will cut spending:

Kaine’s plan will build on an existing state-funded program that serves about 11,300 children.

State officials said 25 localities didn’t seek funds for the program this year, largely because there was no space for classes in public schools or local governments didn’t provide required matching funds.

It’ll be tough to cut spending, or even keep it flat, if a massive new program is imposed. Of course, since Georgia and Oklahoma have pre-K, expect to see the “shame on Virginia” card played.

Riffing off an essay in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, “Conservative Blogs Are More Effective,” Virginia Blogger Lowell Feld (“Raising Kaine“) has analyzed the impact of the “conservative” and “liberal” wings of the blogosphere in Virginia’s elections. His conclusion: The conservative blogs are more numerous, more active and better organized. But the Democratic blogs in Virginia more than held their own through the power of their ideas.

Feld’s thoughts stirred some observations on the part of Norm Leahy (“One Man’s Trash“): The Kaine campaign, he notes, reached out to the blogging community more aggressively than the Kilgore campaign did. Wrote Leahy: “While there were more, and more active, GOP blogs, the Kilgore campaign had no strategy that I can tell for including, networking or otherwise engaging the people willing to blog on their behalf.”

Both posts are worth reading. I would add only one note. The NYT Sunday Magazine piece attributed the power of the conservative blogs to their ability to plug into the “right-wing media infrastructure,” primarily talk radio. No such right-wing media infrastructure exists in Virginia as it relates to state-local issues. There are conservative talk shows — the Mac Watson show on WRVA in Richmond is the one I’m familiar with — but none are statewide in reach. There is nothing analogous to Rush Limbaugh. Furthermore, based on the limited airtime that I’ve heard, Watson doesn’t draw his material from blogs.

WRVA is counter-balanced here in Richmond by the local National Public Radio station, which works in some local content, including weekly interviews with Times-Dispatch reporter Jeff Schapiro. The content, from my limited observation, is less overtly opinionated. The only other radio station that airs local political content is the local “Indy” radio station, WRIR, which is inclined to the liberal/progressive viewpoint. Momentarily taking leave of their senses, the producers invited me for an interview. But the market share for that station is tiny. I have not yet encountered one person who heard that interview.

Local talk-radio appears to be animated in Northern Virginia — conservative commentator Linda Chavez interviewed me once, but I know nothing more than the fact that she hosts a talk show. Are there other talk-radio shows around the state that address state-local issues? Are they liberal or conservative? Are they plugged into the blogs? Can my fellow bloggers enlighten me?

Overall, it seems safe to conclude that the “conservative media infrastructure” that exists nationally has no counterpart for exploring state/local issues in Virginia. Thus, the critical transmission belt for migrating ideas from the blogosphere to the public consciousness is still missing. Virginia’s blogs remain on the periphery of public opinion, though, given the incredible progress we’ve made in 2005, that may well change.

The story was buried on page B-4 of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, but don’t underestimate its significance. Gov. Mark R. Warner has proposed investing $27 million to expand the modeling & simulation industry that has sprung up in Suffolk and environs. The money would come from the $550 million research fund, preivously discussed on this blog, that the governor wants to set up.

Modeling & Simulation entails the use of supercomputers to run highly complex scenarios. The technology has been pioneered by the military, which uses it to run war games, but it is spilling over into health care, transportation and other private-sector arenas. Hampton Roads is emerging as a national center of M&S expertise, with the U.S. Joint Forces Command, defense contractors and local universities all getting into the act. Regional planners estimate the industry employs about 4,000 people in Hampton Roads.

Warner would stimulate the growth of this sector in two ways: (1) by providing funds to support more local university R&D, and (2) enabling the extension of Lambda Rail, a super-fast Internet connection that allows supercomputers in different locations to work together. (Secretary of Technology Eugene Huang has told me that he regards Lambda Rail as one of the most important, though unsung, accomplishments of the Warner administration.)

There is one more thing that the state can do: Focus its industrial recruitment activities on the Modeling & Simulation industry. In other words, position Hampton Roads as a leader in the M&S field and make the case that every business who wants a piece of M&S action (that’s “M&S”, not “S&M”) has to maintain a presence there. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership may be doing this already, but if it is, it hasn’t been reported. If it isn’t, it needs to begin right away.

In the highly competitive economic development arena, the VEDP can go after two kinds of companies: (1) those it entices with financial incentives, which benefit primarily the targeted company, or (2) those who are drawn by unique assets possessed by the community, be they a critical mass of employees with special skills; the presence of vendors, suppliers and potential partners with unique capabilities; or the existence of specialized infrastructure like Lambda Rail.

It makes sense, I would argue, to invest scarce state resources in building capabilities, as illustrated by the Modeling & Simulation sector, that will reside in the community even if a particular targeted business, for whatever reason, packs up and leaves.

The Kaine administration will be required to submit an economic development strategic plan within a year of assuming office. Let us hope that the new plan builds on the cluster building initiated by the Warner administration.

Another “nationwide search,” another applicant right under their nose. When will state and local governments stop this expensive charade?

Something may be rotten in the County of Prince Edward. Blogger Will Vaught is all over a land deal that raises a lot of questions.

After an initial flurry of interest in Governor-elect Kaine’s transportation town meetings, coverage has declined. Even with my powder dry, I think it’s a mistake to pay less attention to meetings outside the Richmond-Tidewater-NVA triangle.

Our friend who comments as subpatre attended last week’s town hall and he filed these observations, which I quote in their entirety:

Just got back from Tim Kaine’s ‘Town Hall’ in Staunton, at the center of the Valley. The Governor-elect started with a brief speech on his views, saying he had two priorities: education was first, and transportation was the next. Of the two, transportation had an “urgency” to it (effectively dismissing educational issues) and needed immediate attention.

Kaine spoke of his view favoring regionalism, brought about by his unique (for a Governor) prior position as a Mayor. Using his Richmond experience, he cited the cooperation of the city, county, state and federal jurisdictions in filling transportation needs; that roads were regional transportation and needed regional planning.

Before opening the floor to questions and comments, Mr. Kaine criticized the current transportation ‘lockbox’ funding, then offered his three criteria on making transportation decisions:

1. Improved (VDOT) performance – within budget and on schedule

2. Improved planning – “linking land use decisions with transportation”

3. Expanded transportation choices – cars, trucks, trains, bikes, air, etc.

Audience comments were roughly divided into three areas: miscellaneous (5), elected officials’ (6), but dominating the forum was concern over I-81 expansion. Star Solutions had run a huge newspaper ad; the Sierra Club and Rail Solution distributed literature before and after the event, and representatives for other special interest groups were there.

The Governor-elect used the time well and called on as many people as possible. Contrary to insinuations about other such meetings, nothing suggested any planted or staged questions. Coincidentally, I personally knew all but a couple of the Valley speakers, and there were only a few who came west over the Blue Ridge.

Tim Kaine offered no hints about his own solutions or approach to the problems. ‘Regionalism’ may be a fine solution for centrally located Richmond, but the I-81 corridor is a 325 mile long string of counties in five Planning Districts.

Of all the speakers, only the Augusta Supervisors tied into Kaine’s introduction by citing their land use and transportation decisions at the local level; using Incremental Financing for development roads. Another speaker asked that the Governor create a ‘Virtual Planning District’ and use state IT resources for elected officials to electronically meet about the corridor issue. The rest of the comments were supporters of one pre-packaged outcome or another.

Although one advocacy group had resolution support of a couple county governments, they and all the others are independent special interests. This presents the dilemma to Mr. Kaine that, although they might be regional, they aren’t officials and they’re not responsible to the public.

This highlighted another diverting feature of the forum. The Governor-elect opened with his emphasis on regional cooperation of local governments; yet almost all the speakers were urging Mr. Kaine to impose a top-down specific result on the Valley. Perhaps I’m mistaken that it’s rude to address a Virginia Governor with “We heard you, but assume you’re lying, so please do this”.

At the end, our new Governor gave no hint of either decision or of direction. No mention was made of broadband alternatives to transportation, nor did Mr. Kaine offer a clue as to what “tying land use planning to transportation” mean to him. The question remains as to whether local Valley governments will have any say in their own destiny.

Thanks to subpatre for offering this report.

I complained yesterday about a study grant that didn’t really do anything “real,” so in fairness I should mention today’s Community Development Block Grants announcement. Virginia is getting $5.2 million from the Federal government for 8 projects that will help create 140 jobs and connect 180 people to clean water. None of the 8 projects received more than $1 million.

The announcement will be here on Governor Warner’s website soon.

Prince William County wants the General Assembly to allow them to raise the fines for “overcrowded homes.” The county is asking that the fines against landlords be increased from $100 per day to $2500 per day.

“It is a reflection just in general of housing prices in the region and a lack of rented space,” Chairman Sean Connaughton (R-at large), said on Wednesday. “We’d like to see higher penalties when violations are uncovered.”

Isn’t that a mean-spirited way of dealing with the lack of affordable housing?

The Trust for America’s Health has given Virginia its highest score among all states, tied with Delaware and South Carolina, in an evaluation of preparedness for major health emergencies. The report, “Ready or Not? Protecting the Public’s Health from Disease, Disasters, and Bioterrorism,” awarded federal response efforts with a D+.

Said Gov. Mark R. Warner in a press release: “Virginia has again been recognized as a national leader for its commitment to preparing and protecting our citizens from public health emergencies.” Virginia was one of only two states that received points for “plans, incentives, or provisions to ensure continuity of care in the event of a major outbreak.”

The Senate’s START group on transportation has gotten more attention, but the smaller and less ambitious House Transportation Subcommittee No. 4 met for the final time yesterday, and Delegate Leo Wardrup (who chaired the sub and the full committee) used the “other business” section to send up a few signals on his priorities for the coming session.

He started by downplaying some of the talk about 2006 being “the” transportation session and said while he is chairman transportation will remain a major topic every session. Then he starting ticking off items he expected to see introduced. He did not explicitly say they are House Republican priorities or consensus items. He also didn’t say it was a complete listing.

1) Additional fund for local revenue sharing programs, as mentioned in the Athey release a couple of days ago.

2) Some changes in the composition of the Commonwealth Transportation Board. He didn’t say they would be legislative appointments, but I kinda doubt they want to give that power to, say, the roadbuilders or even the Piedmont Environmental Council. I expect some effort to require legislative appointments along with the gubernatorial seats, and it has some legs in the Senate, too.

3) Making it easier to use design-build, increased maintenance outsourcing (the word mandatory slipped his lips) and continued revisions and tweaks to the Public Private Transportation Act.

4) Vague references to new revenue, and/or the dedication of existing revenues. The only thing he mentioned specifically is the return of the “abuser” bill that imposes added civil fines on driving infractions and directs the money to the transportation funds.

5) An even more cryptic reference to some additional form of legislative oversight of the transportation effort in Virginia.

One popular fix with many legislators — at least at election time — got another dose of cold reality. Delegates William Fralin (Roanoke) and Tom Rust (Fairfax) reported that their working group on the funding formula would be recommending no changes. Only about one in five transportation dollars goes through the traditional highway formulas anyway. “We’re not going to reformulate our way out of the transportation problems,” Fralin said.

Gee, we’re not going to tax our way out, pave our way out, reformulate our way out. Despite all the utopian dreams we’re not going to railroad, broadband, bus or land use plan our way out, either. We need a new anti-whatever catch phrase by session.

For some folks, any new state spending is always a pitiful drop in the bucket that just barely begins to address the massive problems caused by chronic underfunding.

Governor Warner’s announcement of $255 million in university research matching funds elicits that reliable response from a Roanoke Times editorial.

Governor Warner has the “right idea,” but …

Virginia needs to spend still more on higher education.

The state’s investment in R&D, as in instruction, is lagging.

Virginia has some catching up to do.

Base funding for higher education … remains woefully low.

Dedicating a half-billion dollars for research is only a start.

All these unmet needs, not to mention transportation and cleaning up the bay. Raise my taxes now as a “start.” My taxes surely are “woefully low” compared to those utopian states, like Michigan, a Times example, where research flourishes.

Please note I’m not even mentioning their shot at Republicans who seek “instant gratification.”