Bacon's Rebellion

The executive director of the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission was asked to resign yesterday amidst charges that not enough of the money appropriated to the Commission was being spent on indigent defense. Meredith Bonny of the Richmond Times-Dispatch has the complete story here, including this:

Betsy Wells Edwards is director of the Virginia Indigent Defense Coalition, a nonprofit group aimed at improving and reforming the indigent-defense system. She said pay and a lack of resources for public defenders offices and court-appointed attorneys in Virginia are long-standing issues.

“It’s embarrassing,” she said, explaining that in Virginia, court-appointed attorneys are paid $112 per misdemeanor charge. “You can’t even keep the lights on for that.”

Others agreed.

“We still have a long way to go in terms of providing good quality representation,” said Steve Benjamin, a defense attorney and member of the commission.

Meanwhile, Jerry Kilgore is criticized for suggesting that he would work with various groups to find a way to increase funding to indigent defense attorneys.

From one end of Virginia’s political spectrum to the other, from Kaine to Kilgore, individuals, groups and organizations yesterday denounced the Marrs fundraising letter. (See Schapiro piece in today’s T-D). To all of them–Bravo! Will this be the end of such bigotry? No. But it helps. It is a starting point. And it started here, with the Jim Bacon post.

Let us pause from gay-baiting fundraising letters, flat earther/scorched earther pronouncements, and blogger navel-gazing to consider some theoretical economics.

We’ve talked about the housing bubble at some length here at Bacon’s Rebellion. Today, Steve Landsburg, who writes an “Everyday Economics” column for Slate, speculated on the cause of the housing bubble.

While the cost of housing should be cost of land + construction costs + reasonable profit for the developer, there is a “mystery component” that is adding to the jacked-up prices being seen. Landsburg cites a University of Pennsylvania study that suggests this “mystery component” is a complex “zoning tax” that varies by locality.

Surprisingly, the areas included in the study omitted Northern Virginia, but did include Norfolk.

It’s thought provoking stuff for wonks and wonkabes.

Del. Bradley Marrs, R-Chesterfield, has attacked a $10,000 contribution to his independent challenger, Katherine B. Waddell, which he characterized as coming from a “wealthy homosexual businessman.” Though not referring to him by name, Marrs apparently was alluding to George M. “Mac” Pence III, a local automobile dealer who is gay. As quoted by Jeff Schapiro in today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch, Marrs wrote:

But most recently, Mrs. Waddell accepted another big donation from a wealthy homosexual businessman active in the lobbying efforts of the homosexuals’ advocacy group, Equality Virginia. That donation was for TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!!

In an interview, Marrs suggested that Waddell “may be” in favor of same-sex marriage and extending adoption rights to gay and lesbian couples, both of which he opposes. Waddell declined to state her views on those issues.

Well, let’s see now… Let’s apply Marrs’ logic to the $10,500 contribution that he received from personal injury law firm Allen & Allen.

But most recently, Mr. Marrs accepted another big donation from wealthy personal injury lawyers at Allen & Allen, who make their money by suing businesses. That donation was for TEN THOUSAND, FIVE-HUNDRED DOLLARS!!

In an interview, Jim Bacon suggested that Marrs “may be” in favor of filing frivolous lawsuits and shaking down businesses, while pocketing outrageous contingency fees, all of which he opposes.

“Republicans who raise taxes are rat heads in Coke bottles.” Grover Norquist, un-elected, self-appointed Grand Hyena of the Flat Earth Society, The New Yorker, August 1, 2005.

Note to centrists: Stand down. Take some time off. Go to the beach. Give this guy all the running rope he wants.

Gov. Mark R. Warner’s credibility as a potential presidential candidate got a big boost today in the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page. Stephen Moore, founder of the Club for Growth, quoted national Democratic Party insiders as describing Warner as “the primary alternative to Hillary Clinton” in seeking the 2008 Demo nomination and that “he would be the party’s strongest conceivable general election candidate.”

Moore cites Warner’s track record as a successful entrepreneur, as a moderate in the Bill Clinton mold, and his skepticism of Democratic Party pieties, quoting him as attacking Washington Democrats for “defending the same government programs, thinking they are going to get us new results.”

Of course, Moore is no friend of Mark Warner. He attacks the Governor’s claim to be a fiscal conservative, and in particular his campaign promise not to raise taxes — followed by his support for the regional sales tax initiatives and then the successful $1.4 billion-a-biennum tax increase of 2004. Says Moore:

Gov. Warner alleges that the tax hike was necessary to balance the budget and preserve the state’s triple-A bond rating. That was mostly a canard. Months before the tax hike was enacted, the state’s revenue office reported a massive 7.5% surge in tax receipts from the previous year due to the national economic recovery. This year, with the higher tax rate, tax receipts have exploded by 12 % [Actually, closer to 15 percent-Editor] and the state legislature is swimming in a green river.

Also, asserted Moore, “The Virginia state budget has expanded by 26% over Gov. Warner’s tenure, about twice the national average for the states.” Still, none of those inconvenient facts have stopped Demo party pros from trumpeting “Clinton-Warner” as the dream ticket in 2008.

Washington Post reporter Michael Shear offers his take here on the blogger conference call with Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine. He more or less accuses bloggers of trashing Kaine in print but engaging in a “lovefest” during the call. I’d disagree; bloggers were respectful and listened; we weren’t trying to debate him or cheer him on.

Shear zings yours truly with the unkindest cut of all: asking a softball question. I’m not particularly chastened by the charge, but I do want to set the record straight. My question about economic development came at the end of the call. Kaine’s campaign manager was trying to wrap up, but Kaine said he’d take one more question. I jumped in and asked a question I had not formulated ahead of time. Shear did not quote my question fully. I suggested that the current state program for helping small businesses seemed to consist of signing them up to be state vendors. Kaine did not respond to that part of the question.

As a writer for Bacon’s Rebellion, I wanted to ask questions that pertained to things we write about here frequently. Waldo got the transportation question first; I asked about state government efficiency/reorganization and economic development.

Without considering the jobs/housing balance of its “economy and security” moves, the military is planning to shift a lot of jobs from Greater South Arlington to Fort Belvoir in Greater Lorton/Southeastern Fairfax.

Unless the military changes their historic practice and current plans, Rummy and friends are in for unpleasant news. As we suggest in “METRO Ills and Base Closings” at db4.dev.baconsrebellion.com it is in the interest of the communities, municipal governments, Commonwealth and the feds, especially the military, to fundamentally change their approach.

The first notice of bad news in now in. It takes no special insight to understand that just moving jobs to Fort Belvoir will heighten pressure for more scattered housing in the I-95 corridor. With Stafford shifting perspectives on growth, the next logical location is in southern Spotsylvania and Caroline Counties.

Guess what? That is just what is in the works. And guess who is saying that is a bad idea? The military at Fort A. P. Hill. They want to keep the non-urban context of the base to support the planned use of Fort A. P. Hill.

Well Rummy’s World: you can have this or that, not this and that. There is plenty of room for and many reasons to crate jobs/housing/services/recreation/amenity balance in both Greater South Arlington and in Greater Lorton/Southeastern Fairfax.

It will take intelligent, coordinated federal, state, regional and municipal action and broad private and citizen participation to create a good result.
It would seem the military would jump at the chance to win one. Perhaps Lt. Col Mis could call Rummy…

EMR

Katherine Waddell is running as an independent against Republican Brad Marrs for the House of Delegates seat in the 68th district, which overlaps Chesterfield County and the city of Richmond. Waddell, a Republican activist who considers herself a low-tax, limited-government conservative but social moderate, objects to what she considers Marrs’ extreme conservative agenda on cultural issues.

She hasn’t gotten much attention so far in the local press, but she may soon: Christine Todd Whitman, Former New Jersey Governor and author of “It’s My Party Too: The Battle for the Heart of the GOP and the Future of America,” will be a special guest at a Waddell fundraiser on Sept. 7. (She’ll also be signing copies of her book at area bookstores.)

Another sign that Waddell should be taken seriously: She’s managed to raise $58,000 so far. That lags Marrs’ $93,000, but it’s enough to make her a serious contender.

I just finished participating in the Tim Kaine conference call with bloggers. Kaine sounded relaxed and very comfortable with both his positions and the issues. He promised there would be more conference calls with bloggers down the road, calling blogs “Jeffersonian, “a big part of the dialog,” and the “21st century spin on what the First Amendment means.” All in all, it was an impressive performance, especially considering that facing bloggers is uncharted territory for most candidates.

Kaine began by summarizing his campaign as being in “good shape” with polls and fundraising. “I’m feeling good about the state of the race,” he said, as well as “we’re working our tails off.”

He tackled questions on rail in Charlottesville, where he emphasized the Baconian principle of tying transportation to land use; the environment, where he said there was “no substitute for investing”; education, where he called the lack of “meaningful and comprehensive teacher evaluations” to be the “biggest weakness” in Virginia schools; and economic development, where he said he would push hard for his $500 tax credit proposal for small businesses with under 50 employees to buy health insurance.

Kaine made a point of emphasizing fiscal responsibility, noting that he has not proposed a lot of new spending. He verified that he supported the notion of using “If you can find it in the Yellow Pages, maybe government shouldn’t be doing it” as a starting point for evaluating government reorganization. He called blue ribbon commissions frequent “excuses for inaction.”

I’m not sure the bloggers who participated asked tougher questions than might have been posed by “mainstream” reporters. Michael Shear of the Washington Post was in on the call; perhaps he’ll address it on his blog–or even in a news story.

Governor Warner carries an excess of political capital right now with his record-setting approval rating. He decided to spend a little of it yesterday, attacking Jerry Kilgore without using his name, as reported by Michael Hardy of the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Warner suggested that opponents of his record $1.4 billion tax-increase package should knock off their continuing criticism or say how they would fund their promises.

“I have heard statewide candidates complaining about our tax proposal” at the same time they’re proposing spending some of the additional dollars on their campaign promises, the governor said.

Those politicians, he said, want to use the state’s general tax collections to finance transportation improvements. But those dollars are needed for core state services, such as education and Medicaid. Those programs will require an additional $2 billion in the next two-year budget, he said.

Warner didn’t dig as deep into his account as he might have, failing to mention Tim Kaine by name.

Many Republicans are vexed as to why Warner is so popular for pushing a tax increase that turned out to be unnecessary. Pointing out the “unnecessary tax increase” doesn’t appear to be getting any traction. The problem might be found within this response:

“What is too often lost in budget discussions is the fact that tax increases are responsible for only a small part of the massive and growing surpluses,” said Tucker Martin, a Kilgore spokesman.

Tucker Martin’s formulation just doesn’t have any punch. Republicans need to find a snappy shorthand to “bumper sticker” this issue. They’d do well to actually consider challenging the Warner strength: fiscal management. If Kaine is going to ride Warner’s coattails, the coattails need to be roughed up. Warner’s fiscal record might seem unassailable, but the tax increase that turned out to be unnecessary is a good target, even if it’s difficult to get in the cross-hairs.

Of course, pressing the unnecessary tax increase issue might make some GOP delegates uncomfortable and might open Kilgore up to more questions about his spending plans. Campaigns are about choices, though, and the Kilgore campaign needs to decide if they want and need this issue to work.

This comes from the Washington Post: The housing inventory on the market in the Washington metropolitan area has risen to about 35,300 homes, up from an average of about 23,000 in the past three years. The average number of days that a house spends on the market also is edging up. Sayeth the Post:

Wes Foster, chairman of Long & Foster Real Estate Inc. … said the market is returning to “normalcy” after a frenzied era of multiple contracts, bidding wars and desperate buyers waiving their right to property inspections or appraisals.

“It’s very healthy,” he said. “It worried the pure hell out of me the numbers we were seeing. I remember Boston in 1982 to 1989, when [prices] went up 25 percent a year for six years, and then in one year [they] fell 87 percent. The ride up for everybody selling was wonderful but the ride down was awful. . . . It was very painful and I don’t want to see that here.”

Foster said the recent manic market has been fueled by what he called “crazy fools running around buying houses as investments,” with “bad loans, interest-free loans.”

“They’ll get hurt, and I think they should,” as prices inevitably correct themselves, he said. A slowdown is needed because so many average people have been priced out of homes or compelled to pay high prices, he said.

Powerful Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Chichester (R-Northumberland) discussed Virginia’s surplus and future fiscal direction in this Free Lance Star column.

Caution and prudence seem to be his guiding principles; there shouldn’t be any “automatic” triggers for tax relief or tax increases. This passage is a good summary of his position:

Our actions in 2004 made the tax code fairer and provided ongoing stability to our general fund budget. That means we can avoid weaving unsustainable funds into our operating budget–a risky measure at best.

Rather, when there is an unexpected surplus, we can exercise our fiduciary duty to weigh competing priorities and make the best choices. Clearly, if the revenue is ongoing, we can choose to grant additional tax relief. We all have ideas about the next step to take in that regard.

But there are other choices, as well, because Virginia has not faced all of its challenges. Undeniably, our transportation system is broken. While a general fund infusion will not cure ongoing road maintenance, it may provide one ingredient of a broader recipe.

We’ll be watching to see the choices that Sen. Chichester recommends.

My friend Steve Toler (alias Mosbygrey) posed a question I could not answer: Where’s Tim Kaine’s biography? He couldn’t find it anywhere online. The nearest thing that exists on the official Tim Kaine For Governor website is a seven-paragraph page snapshot, “Tim’s Story,” and an autobiographical piece about Kaine’s mission work in Honduras, entitled, “Finding My Mission in Life,” that didn’t come close to answering Steve’s questions.

Those two pages reveal only the sparsest of details: Kaine grew up in Kansas City, son of a small businessman who ran a metal shop. He went to the University of Missouri and then to Harvard Law School, including a year off to work with Catholic missionaries in Honduras. But how did he come to Richmond? When and where did he meet his wife Anne, the daughter of former Gov. Linwood Holton? And how long has he entertained political ambitions?

Steve, a die-hard Republican and unreconstructed Virginian, thinks he sniffs the odeur of old wool carpet — as in carpetbagger — about Kaine. Did Kaine meet Anne outside Virginia and then move here to set up a law practice, possibly with an eye to getting in politics? (In that scenario, it wouldn’t hurt to be married to the daughter of a former governor.) Or did he move to Virginia, where he met and married Anne Holton? (Seemingly less calculated.) In either case, how long after he moved to Richmond did he get involved in politics?

Personally, I don’t have anything against outsiders moving to Virginia, considering the fact that I’m a quasi-outsider, having spent most of my childhood growing up across the Potomac in the District of Columbia, with a few years and summers spent in Norfolk/Virginia Beach. And I’m not normally thrilled about bringing candidates’ family into a political discussion. But Jerry Kilgore’s mama and her Scott County courthouse connections appears to be a legitimate topic, so I suppose Tim Kaine’s relationship to a former Virginia governor should be, too.

Although I disagree with Kaine on a number of issues (most especially his dogged support for the unneeded 2004 tax hike), he strikes me as genuinely sincere and idealistic. But I may be wrong: I really don’t know that much about him. Could Steve’s hunch be right? Is there a streak of political opportunism in Kaine? What do we know about his motives for moving to Virginia?

Mark Warner is dominant, and, by implication, would beat Allen (like a baby seal?) head-to-head.