Bacon's Rebellion

My Democratic friends have been telling me for so long now that Jerry Kilgore’s “hick” accent would turn off sophisticated Northern Virginia voters that I started believing them. So it comes as a surprise to see that the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s political action committee has endorsed Kilgore for governor. I blow off most endorsements as either meaningless or predictable. But the TechPAC announcement, which comes at a time that Kilgore’s lead in the polls has shriveled to nothing, could give him a significant lift in the final weeks of the campaign.

States the Kilgore campaign press release:

“After careful deliberation, NVTC TechPAC determined that Jerry Kilgore is the better choice when it comes to sustaining and growing Northern Virginia’s vibrant technology industry, and he takes stronger positions on several of our key issues,” said John Backus, Chairman of TechPAC and Managing Director of Draper Atlantic. “Kilgore has a record of substantial achievement on issues important to our industry including the strengthening of Virginia’s anti-spam and anti-phishing laws, initiatives he championed as Attorney General.”

While Attorney General, Kilgore successfully pushed for the nation’s toughest anti-Spam law and used it to obtain the first-ever felony Spam conviction in the United States. Additionally, he improved the computer crimes statutes to make “phishing” – using e-mail to lure victims into providing personal information – a crime. Kilgore also toughened laws against using computers for child pornography. He was the first Attorney General to appoint a Deputy Attorney General to specialize in technology issues.

The Oct. 3, 2005, edition of Bacon’s Rebellion is now online. In addition to our usual keen political insight, we offer two perspectives on the racial turmoil at the University of Virginia:

UVa Under Siege — from Within
Racial incidents at the University of Virginia last August were all too real. But the administration’s over-reaction needlessly fed black students’ fears and alienation.
by James A. Bacon

Separate but Equal at UVa
The University of Virginia must work to overcome Virginia’s legacy of discrimination — but supporting the self-segregation of black students is not the way to do it.
by Conaway Haskins

No, I’m not talking about the under-representation of sheep in Blacksburg, as opposed to cows and ducks.

Virginia Tech will hire a “multi-cultural-program” director and reorganize several offices to help improve “campus diversity,” the Associated Press reports. The move comes in response to an eight percent decline in applications from black high school students since 2001. Campus race relations have been tinged, the story notes, by a series of incidents over the years, including one last year in which someone scrawled “threatening messages” on the door of the local chapter of the NAACP.

I have some questions: What is the purpose of “campus diversity?” Presumably, the goal is to make African-Americans feel more comfortable on campus in the hopes that more will apply and decide to stay. How, then, does one go about achieving that goal? Does making a fetish of “diversity” and the differences between people help African-Americans blend in? Does the systematic cultivation of group identity encourage whites (and others) to interact with African-Americans on a color-blind basis as individuals?

We can look to the University of Virginia to see what “diversity” has wrought. Conaway Haskins, publisher of the South of the James blog, and I will bring different perspectives — one black, one white — to the state of diversity at UVa in Monday’s edition of Bacon’s Rebellion.

I’ll pass on any close commentary on the most recent Rasmussen Poll. I’ll read it more closely with the rest of you. The comfortable lead Kilgore showed in a recent Washington Post poll (of the most likely voters) has yet to be confirmed in any other published poll. Mason Dixon will be out again, soon.

Pamela Stallsmith with the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Mike Porter with NBC12 have queried Tim Kaine, Jerry Kilgore and Russ Potts on the major issues of the gubernatorial campaign, filmed the responses and posted the video clips online.

Line up the candidates side by side and see what they have to say about the major issues, from taxes and education to transportation and illegal immigrants. The clips here are short and succinct. It beats reading those boring op-ed pieces on the campaign websites. (By the way, when I describe the clips as “campaign issues for dummies,” I’m not being insulting. It’s nice to have this stuff condensed to a palatable format.)

A tip of the hat to Chris Smith for leading us to this resource.

Jerry Kilgore has fleshed out the details of his transportation plan. Kilgore (or someone on his campaign staff) has devoted a lot of thinking to it, and it deserves more attention than it’s gotten so far from the political journalists covering the campaign — especially when it’s entirely foreseeable that transportation funding will be one of the top issues of the 2006 General Assembly. I have been critiquing the Kilgore plan piece by piece over on the Road to Ruin blog. Here’s what we’ve published so far:

Kilgore on Transportation: Demand Management
Kilgore on Transportation: There’s Something New About This?
Kilgore on Transportation: Privatize Maintenance
Kilgore on Transportation: Regional Authorities

Hollywood liberal Ben Affleck has been spotted shopping for real estate near Charlottesville amidst rumors that he’s being courted to run against Republican George Allen in 2008. Someone had better warn the poor guy: He’s got a better chance of getting back together with J-Lo than winning a U.S. Senate race in Virginia. Read Christina Nuckols’ musings on the topic here.

Jerry Kilgore has boxed himself in a corner on the tax issue and has no room to maneuver. Now Gov. Mark Warner has joined Tim Kaine in pummeling him, landing punch after punch. Kilgore is acting as if he doesn’t have any fight left in him.

In a recent fund-raising letter, Warner, who heretofore has avoided criticizing Kilgore, attacked the Republican candidate for governor for resisting his 2004 tax plan. In today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch, Jeff Schapiro describes Warner’s argument this way:

Warner refers to Kaine as his partner in the 2004 struggle that led to a $1.4 billion tax increase. The widely backed plan, Warner says, was resisted by Kilgore-led Republicans who “stood against us every step of the way.” Warner chides Kilgore for proposing “massive” bond-backed debt, for urging a voter veto on the budget, and for pushing unsustainable tax cuts and transportation spending. “That’s the kind of fiscal irresponsibility that got us into trouble in the first place.”

How can Kilgore respond? Despite opposing the 2004 tax hike, he undercuts himself by saying he doesn’t want to undo them. Instead, he proposes targeted tax cuts like an income tax credit for parents buying school supplies. Now, there’s a proposal that will move the masses! Despite a budget surplus that grows bigger every month, rendering Warner’s tax increases more and more superfluous, Kilgore has seemingly abandoned the issue.

Kilgore needs to take the battle back to Warner and Kaine. Here’s what he needs to say: When the budget crisis was waning in 2004, you jacked up spending, ignored the economic rebound that was already occurring, and raised taxes that many people said were never needed. When the rebound grew stronger in fiscal 2005 and revenues came rolling in, you refused to admit you’d made a mistake. As the surplus grows today, you still refuse to give anything back to the taxpayers. You’re writing a blank check to the politicians in Richmond who will find a way to spend every penny — and still want more.

Warner and Kaine are acting, despite massive evidence to the contrary, as if their 2004 tax increase was vindicated. That’s largely because Kilgore is too timid to challenge them. I shake my head in amazement and disappointment.

The city of Martinsville enjoys a unique economic development opportunity presented by the bankruptcy of cable provider Adelphia, suggests consultant Robert F. Sepe, proprietor of Cary, N.C.-based Action Audits LLC. Sayeth the Martinsville Bulletin:

The city could use Adelphia’s existing infrastructure to greatly enhance the Martinsville Information Network (MINet), which now links mostly schools and government offices. The city then could provide companies with “super-high-speed” Internet, voice and video transmissions, which would give Martinsville “a presence anywhere in the world,” said Sepe.

Apparently, the city is taking the idea very seriously. Says the Bulletin: “Action Audits … has determined the city franchise’s value. City officials have declined to release it, though, saying that doing so may hinder any negotiations with Adelphia that may occur.”

If Martinsville winds up taking over its local Adelphia operation, it could provide a model for other communities in Virginia served by the cable company.

Philosophically, I have major problems with local governments getting into the telecommunications business. They don’t possess the expertise to do a good job managing an on-going business enterprise like a cable company. On the other hand, Martinsville and Henry County have every reason to be frustrated by the unwillingness of private-sector businesses to invest in local telecommunications infrastructure — investments that offer enormous social benefits to the community.

Are there no alternatives for communities to incentivize cable and telecom companies to accelerate investment locally without incurring the responsibility of operating the business?

Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist, Jeff Schapiro:

“KAINE, WHO opposes the death penalty because of his Catholic faith but vows not to block executions, suggested he would not favor sending even Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, or Idi Amin to the gallows. God gives life, Kaine continued, and only God can take it away — and that includes the life of a heinous, blood-soaked monster. The answer is up there with Mike Dukakis’ response in a 1988 presidential debate. Dukakis said with a perfectly straight face he would oppose the death penalty for someone convicted of raping and murdering his wife.”

Washington Post columnist, Melanie Scarborough:

“If Virginia elects Democrat Timothy M. Kaine as its next governor, the problem is likely to become worse. Kaine supports allowing illegal immigrants to attend Virginia’s colleges and universities — even subsidizing them with in-state tuition rates — as long as they “make efforts” to become citizens after they turn 18.

When Republican nominee Jerry W. Kilgore opposed Herndon’s decision to use taxpayer money to provide a center for day laborers, many of whom are illegal immigrants, Kaine characterized Kilgore’s position as a “mean-spirited effort to go after people who are trying to make a living.” But drug dealers and prostitutes are just trying to make a living, too. So were the executives at Enron, Tyco and WorldCom. Why should immigrants be uniquely exempt from the requirement to earn a living within the law?”

Ouch! That hurts… err, … sooo bad.

~ the blue dog

FYI, State Senator Russ Potts Live! Independent Gubernatorial candidate Russ Potts will guest blog with the Blue Dog and BD blog members on September 26th, Monday, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. There is a ‘open thread’ on the blue dog blog to submit questions: www.obiwanbluedoggie.blogspot.com or [email protected]

The Blue Dog will not screen questions or topics.

Bob Lewis of the Associated Press, bemoaning recent television ads released by Kaine and Kilgore.

“Deceptive attack ads have become a staple of big-time, consultant-driven, focus-grouped modern campaigns. Long-outdated quotes or positions are superimposed onto current issues or controversies lacking any of the context about how years of developments have radically changed those issues. Unfavorable conclusions are presented darkly while the mitigating facts critical to an accurate understanding are omitted.”

Now, that was supposed to be a secret! Who told him! If he knows, do you think any of the voters have caught on? Let’s hope not!

In the alternate universe I sometimes imagine, reporters have to run campaigns and political hacks get to sit on the sidelines and get huffy. I figure the ink-stained wretches will be slinging the mud and making with the kidney punches in a matter of days.

Yesterday, the Warner administration’s budget point man, Ric Brown, minimized the significance of changes made to a preliminary budget document (fiscal 2007-2008) that appeared to eliminate $290 million in transportation funds and $100 million for Chesapeake Bay clean-up. But House Republicans aren’t buying his explanation.

Robert Vaughn, staff director of the House Appropriations Committee (HAC), disagrees with Brown’s characterization of the “base budget,” which was presented to the House earlier this week, “as merely a ‘technical’ exercise.” In a letter to Brown dated today, he wrote:

Ric, clearly the development of the base budget is driven by preliminary decisions made by someone. Whether subsequent decisions are made through the “decision package process” is yet another step. However, in my more than 20 years of building budgets, the development of the base budget has always been an integral step in the overall budget process.

As GP Nardo, chief of staff to House Speaker William Howell, elaborated in an e-mail accompanying Vaughn’s letter:

[Brown’s] protestations respectfully acknowledged and notwithstanding, we’re not buying their disengenuous argument. … A DECISION WAS MADE (that is a fact) to remove the transportation funding from the base budget under the pretense that this was one-time funding. … So, unless or until the Governor makes ANOTHER DECISION to put the money back in, we’re going to continue to consider it as it having been removed, which is what the Administration presented to HAC on Monday.

I’d be very interested to hear from those with a vested interested in transportation and/or Chesapeake Bay funding — calling Steve Haner! Calling Steve Haner! — to weigh in on this issue. Are you concerned? Are House leaders overreacting, or is the Warner administration really trying to yank the money?

According to a RPV press release:

Appearing Tuesday on Your Wake Up Call with the Lee Brothers (WTOX 1480), Democrat Chairman Dick Cranwell arrogantly told Virginia businesses and hard working families that they are not paying enough in taxes:

“If you think you got an unusual tax burden in Virginia you need to move to another state.”

Two days ago, the House leadership issued a press release blasting the Warner adminstration for “eliminating $290 million in dedicated transportation funding and eliminating another $100 million for water quality improvements” from a preliminary version of the 2006-08 state budget.

Richard Brown, Gov. Warner’s director of the Department of Planning and Budget, wrote back, explaining that it was all just a misunderstanding. The base budget that the House leadership reacted to, he explained, “is a preliminary number, and does not represent a funding commitment, proposal, or recommendation from or by anyone. … The base budget is prepared by the staff of the Department of Planning and Budget as a technical exercise in beginning to develop a biennial budget. It has no other significance.”

There would seem to be two possible explanations for this mini-flap:

(1) The House leadership knows exactly what it’s doing, and it’s testing the Warner administration or otherwise drawing a line in the sand, to say, “Don’t go there.”

(2) The House leadership doesn’t know what it’s doing, misunderstood the significance of the “base budget,” and overreacted — foreshadowing more confusion in the budget negotiations to come.

Does anyone else have a theory?

In my most recent column, “It’s the Global Economy, Stupid,” I chastised Tim Kaine and Jerry Kilgore for failing to acknowledge the importance of Virginia’s economic competitiveness in the global arena. Specifically, I stated: “Unfortunately, not one candidate for statewide office has demonstrated in public statements even a passing familiarity with the book [“The World is Flat”] or the economic trends that it documents.”

Larry Roberts, chairman of the Kaine for Governor campaign, has informed me that I am quite mistaken. He says:

Tim Kaine read the book earlier this year, has mentioned it in a number of speeches, and regularly talks about the need to move our education policies beyond competence to excellence because of the challenges of the global economy and, specifically, the resources countries such as India and China are devoting to education – especially in science and math. He talked specifically about the importance of education in addressing competition from Bangalore and Shanghai in the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce debate with Jerry Kilgore. He also talks consistently about the global links Virginia has (envied by other states) in Dulles Airport (from where one can easily reach virtually every continent) and the Port of Hampton Roads.

In his favor, Kaine also talks about reforming land use, an important theme in my column. But he’s on the wrong side of the tax debate. Oh, well, two out of three ain’t bad.

My apologies to Mr. Kaine. I made an assumption, it was incorrect, and I am happy to correct any misperception I created. Now, if only we could get Virginia’s political reporters and editorial writers to pick up on the theme….