Bacon's Rebellion

Becky Dale alerts us to an excellent editorial in The Free Lance Star on the witch invocation kerfluffle in Chesterfield County. A Wiccan wanted a turn at delivering a prayer at a Board of Supervisors meeting, but the County refused to allow her. A lower court affirmed her right; the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the County.

Just the title of the editorial is priceless: “Witchshaft.” There are some other great images, too. Here’s the description of the Fourth Circuit’s reasoning: “Since the only kinds of prayers Chesterfield tolerates are generic ones, there’s no requirement that every single cult, creed, or coven have a place on the county’s devotional roster. If all flavors are vanilla, surely 100 vanilla producers suffice. No need for 101.”

This is the description of that reasoning’s impact: “The ACLU of Virginia, representing Ms. Simpson, is rightly steamed about the 4th Circuit ruling, which pays scrupulous attention to valve stems while ignoring the whole big Mac truck that’s flattened the First Amendment in Chesterfield County.”

The final graf is commonsense:

A public body may elect to omit all prayer. But, if not, surely the true civil-libertarian position is: More speech! No editing! No discrimination! Whatever words Ms. Simpson or Mr. Turner utters aren’t going to help establish any faith except the all-American one of free expression. That’s more than can be said for Chesterfield, the 4th Circuit, the ACLU of Virginia, and others lost in little laws.

In the Jim Bacon blogging “you ain’t seen nothing yet” category are two posts showing enterprising reporting that you won’t find in mainstream media outlets.

Over at Commonwealth Watch, Russ Potts has apparently been caught in a huge lie over his claim that he opposed the 2001 transporation referendums. Reporters besotted with Potts probably won’t run with this information as it conflicts with their carefully constructed storyline.

Richard at Northerncrown attended a Manassas Battlefield By-pass public hearing and comprehensively categorized the comments, instead of highlighting a few as most print reporters are forced to do.

Bloggers can do original reporting and these are two great examples.

Charlottesville Daily Progress columnist Bob Gibson has given the best MSM treatment yet to Virginia’s political blogging phenomenon in “Politics and opinion: a blog delight.” Yes, I confess, I relished the kind words he wrote about Bacon’s Rebellion, but what I found most significant was the way Gibson treated blogging as more than a curiosity. He was willing to credit Bacon’s Rebellion and a growing cohort of other fine Virginia blogs with helping to shape and define a number of ongoing political stories.

Virginia’s blogosphere is still young, still maturing, and it is far from tapping the full potential of digital technology. You’ll see dramatic developments in the Virginia blogging community within just a few months. Blogging will change the face of Virginia politics and public policy. Trust me, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

To all the mothers who read us, and to the mothers of all our readers, we wish you a beautiful Mother’s Day. By reading to us as children, keeping after us about our homework, and encouraging us to talk and think, Mothers are the true founders of blogging.

That seems to be the message of Sen. Marty Williams, R-Newport News. He has an op-ed in today’s Daily Press built around statistics like these:

Driving on roads in need of repair costs Virginia motorists $1.2 billion a year in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs – $248 per motorist.

Twenty-six percent of Virginia’s bridges are structurally deficient or functionally
obsolete.

There are 74 state-determined deficient dams in Virginia.

Virginia has 126 high-hazard dams whose failure would cause a loss of life and
significant property damage.

Sixty percent of Virginia’s schools have at least one inadequate building feature.

Fifty-eight percent of Virginia’s schools have at least one unsatisfactory environmental condition.

I wonder who has an estimate on what fixing all those current and potential infrastructure problems will cost.

The Wife attended a meeting yesterday of the Richmond chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management where Jerry Kilgore gave a speech. She’s a Democrat and rarely has anything good to say about Republicans, so take this with a grain of salt. Kilgore opened his speech with extended, light-hearted remarks about his accent, the Wife reports. Some of them were amusing, but they went on too long, and the tenor of his comments seemed almost apologetic.

Bacon to Kilgore: Get over it! You’re psyching yourself out, man. So what if you’ve got a SW Virginia, girlie-man accent? That’s who you are. You don’t need to apologize for it. You don’t need to bring attention to it. Even the Wife said that she got accustomed to your manner of speaking after a while.

I’m serious. Every politician has some kind of baggage. Some are fat. Some are ugly. Some are jerks. But they don’t bring attention to those things. You’re slender, pleasant looking and come across as a nice guy. You just don’t happen to be blessed with the politician’s speaking voice. People do notice the voice, but then they get over it. At least they would get over it, if you got over it.

If the Kaine people make cruel fun of you, it’ll boomerang on them. Ultimately the gubernatorial campaign is about values, character and ideas. In the final analysis, that’s what people care about.

I promised to follow the budget cutting efforts of Richmond Mayor Doug Wilder.

After steep cuts across a variety of functions were proposed, public hearings were held for the aggrieved parties to protest the cuts. City Council has now made 70 changes to Mayor Wilder’s budget, restoring much of what was cut. The council’s changes leave the city’s budget, which must be balanced, some $7 million in the red.

I found this to be too ironic for words:

“It’s not a problem that things are added. We are trying to provide services to our constituents,” said Assistant Vice Mayor J.M. “Jackie” Jackson.

She said Wilder “cut things we have a contractual obligation to provide and left it up to us to figure it out.”

Echoing other council members, Jackson said it is up to the mayor and his top officials to figure out how to bring the budget back into balance.

Council did make one balanced concession on economic development. They set up a $1.5 “pool” to fund a variety of organizations that now receive $2.2 million.

The Virginia Foundation for Economic Education has released its 2005 legislator ratings. We have posted the details on the Bacon’s Rebellion website.

At the top of the list in the state Senate:

Walter A. Stosch, R-Henrico (with a score of 88)
John Watkins, R-Chesterfield (88)
John H. Chichester, R-Northumberland (85)
(View complete list, with scores on voting, stewardship and effectiveness.)

At the top of the list in the House of Delegates:

Chris S. Jones, R-Suffolk (92)
Samuel A. Nixon, R-Chesterfield (89)
William H. Fralin, Jr., R-Roanoke (88)
(View complete list.)

Read the commentary of Virginia FREE President Clayton Roberts here.

Eco-tourism is often touted as an answer to Southwest Virginia’s economic woes, but NVA istaking advantage of it, too. Today’s Washington Post reports on the opening of the Virginia Wildlife and Birding Trail in Fauquier County. Tourism officials think it will be a hit with “exhausted, traffic-weary Washingtonians.”

It’s run by the embattled Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, whose officials were recently observing wildlife and birds in Zimbabwe.

There’s a definite economic development reason to create trails like this: “In Virginia, people spent $788 million on wildlife-watching activities in 2001, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey. Most of them, 1.8 million, were looking at birds.”

Perhaps Middleburg residents will use the trail to escape Salamander Hospitality’s evil resort and spa.

The Washington Post reports on the latest twist in the Parrish-Chapman campaign in the 50th House of Delegates district (in Manassas and environs): Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney, Paul Ebert, has filed unspecified charges of election fraud against Chapman, who is running a spirited campaign against the senior Republican delegate. Chapman has been contending with questions regarding the legitimacy of his residence in the 50th district.

Chapman fired back, accusing Parrish of hiring a private investigator to dig up dirt on him–a charge that the Parrish campaign promptly denied. He also alleged that Parrish is close friends with Ebert, the commonwealth’s attorney who filed the charges.

Chapman is one of only a handful of insurgents this year mounting a credible campaign against delegates who broke ranks with the mainstream of the GOP to vote in favor of tax hikes in 2004. He has raised $37,000 so far, compared with Parrish’s $126,000. In a prepared statement yesterday he said, “Delegate Parrish and his Democrat friends will not deter my fight against their billion-dollar tax increases, their billion dollar surpluses, their homosexual agenda, their do-nothing transportation plans, their assault on the families of Manassas and Manassas Park, and their assault on our conservative values that we hold so dear.”

In this past Sunday’s Washington Post’s Outlook section, the back page featured the opinion editorial “Don’t Shortchange Virginia” by the ‘Foundation For Virginia’ Executive Director Michael Edwards. He wrote about impending Global economic frights — and those “pay me now, or pay me later” monster’s galore of the upcoming 2005 election campaign.

Just like in the movie, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, the ‘Foundation for Virginia’ is back for another spooky ‘revenue enhancement’ sequel.

In 2004, the Foundation of Virginia warned the Commonwealth of the impending doom of Wall Street’s AAA bond ratings and our lack of state revenue. But I’ve never seen ‘proof positive’ documentation that the bond rating was endangered.

But Governor Mollycoddle said the sky was falling! And his citizen meetings around the Commonwealth touted the lunatic ravings of the our state Bureaucrats and Educrats and Labor to fear the future! While state revenues kept trending upwards into the double digits…

Like the ghosts of Poltergeist II, the mystic realms (modus operandi) of the ‘Foundation For Virginia’ are simply set for another round of scare tactics. But this time, it’s the vengeful spirits of the Global marketplace and Virginian’s ability to remain viable and competitive in the future.

“Build more Roads or Die!” — is their transportation battle cry! With semiautonomous regional taxing authorities and mega-billion Marshall Planning tailored for Virginian’s special interests.

In the book ‘Road to Serfdom’ author Friedrich Hayek wrote the movement of totalitarianism “comes from the two great vested interest: organized capital and organized labor.” And their aim is “not a totalitarian system, but rather a sort of corporate society … in which the organized industries would appear as semi-independent and self governing estates”

How prophetic?

I don’t know Steve Chapman, the young conservative who’s challenging Harry Parrish for the GOP nomination for the 50th House of Delegates district in the Manassas area, but I’ve been getting his e-mails at Rebellion Headquarters. He strikes me as a spunky young man. He’s an entrepreneur who started a successful power-wash business at the age of 16. (He holds the contract to clean the tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery.) He’s also signed the no-tax pledge.

Now comes word from the Washington Post that Mr. Chapman may be in hot water. Parrish, or his minions, have questioned whether Chapman maintains a legitimate residence in the 50th district. Chapman concedes that he has lived in three different residences over the past six months, but swears that he maintains a legitimate residence in Manassas. Based on the Washington Post’s report, though, it may not be the kind of home that he’d want to bring mom to. Saeth the Post:

At the Manassas condominium on Richmond Avenue, Chapman said, “Welcome to ‘Pimp My Ride,’ ” as he opened the door — referring to an MTV show where skilled mechanics transform dilapidated vehicles into luxury cars.

In a bedroom, two old mattresses were stacked on top of each other and had no sheets. “It’s luxurious,” Chapman said sarcastically. “I have an ergonomic pillow so I get a good night’s sleep.”

Ergonomic pillow. Pimp My Ride. I love it. The kid’s got a sense of humor. He’s got my vote — or, at least he would if I lived in his district.

Jim, what if you decided to take all your blog earnings and buy 400 acres of Fauquier County open space so that you could build a “Bacon’s Rebellion Resort.” While I know you have exceptional sales skills, don’t you think that some folks in proximity to your proposed development might oppose it, no matter what you had planned for the property? Don’t you think some of these opponents might be well-heeled, having the wherewithal to get bumper stickers printed saying, “Crush the Rebellion?” Would you characterize these opponents as anti-development zealots or anti-Wahoo bigots?

Last night Sheila Crump Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television (later sold for $3 billion)spoke at a Richmond conference. Jeffrey Kelly of the Richmond Times-Dispatch described her remarks this way:

But she said it is her latest venture, Salamander Hospitality in Middleburg, that has opened her eyes to the discrimination that can accompany a minority business.

Days after she announced the 400-acre resort and spa in Northern Virginia, she told the banquet audience of roughly 800 last night, she began seeing “Don’t BET Middleburg” bumper stickers and receiving various forms of hate mail.

“I didn’t think it was going to hit that hard,” she said. Johnson now has round-the-clock security and said she has received death threats against her and her two children.

Obviously, hate mail and threats are in a class of repulsive behavior all their own. We have no way of knowing if these were a few isolated crackpots or a more systematic effort. No matter what, they certainly shattered the myth of Middleburg gentility.

But the bumper stickers? Can’t anti-development forces use a shorthand to identify the project they oppose? It’s a catchy message, packing more information than “Stop Salamander.” BET is an internationally known acronym. I haven’t spent all that much time around Middleburg lately, but I suspect a lot of developments in the area have been vigorously opposed.

The folks who worked at Disney in the 90’s might be able to tell Ms. Johnson something about anti-development bumper stickers and hate mail received when they tried to locate in nearby Prince William County.

Not everything is discrimination.

GOP gubernatorial hopeful George Fitch has issued a meaty press release detailing his philosophy for dealing with Virginia’s transportation woes. The fiscal conservative totally disavows the need for tax increases–either on a state level, or through regional transportation authorities as proposed by Jerry Kilgore. Said Fitch: “Kilgore’s suggestion that new taxes may be needed is a terrible idea which Virginians have rejected again and again.”

(To be fair to Kilgore, the former Attorney General did not say that “new taxes may be needed.” He proposed setting up regional transportation authorities which, among other powers, would have the power to levy taxes. It would be more accurate to say that Kilgore’s plan would “enable” new taxes.)

Among Fitch’s observations were these:

We need a more balanced approach to transportation planning including more decision making at the local and regional level. … However, regional authorities should not have taxing authority as Jerry Kilgore suggests – just planning and more decision-making authority. Another government layer of taxing authority is too dangerous and is not necessary.

Estimates are that more than $20 billion of our unmet transportation needs could have been avoided if we had planned and coordinated growth with transportation. What we have now are large scale developments occurring where adequate infrastructure does not exist. Large subdivisions leapfrog over the countryside on narrow rural roads. High-density development is allowed to occur in villages without ensuring the infrastructure. Haymarket and Gainesville are one of many examples. To reduce these problems, the infrastructure must be in place or must be developing simultaneously with growth.

State Sen. Russell Potts, the renegade Republican running for governor, made an interesting–and alarming–observation in criticizing Jerry Kilgore’s transportation plan. As quoted by Chris Graham in the August Free Press today, he said: “The idea of regional transportation authorities is ludicrous. We are one commonwealth, not a collection of regions. The fact of the matter is, you either need to lead, follow or get the hell out of the way.”

Got that? We are one commonwealth, not a collection of regions. God save us all if Potts actually were elected governor and presided over state transportation policy. Yes, we are one commonwealth. But we also happen to be a collection of regions. Indeed, regions, metropolitan statistical areas, city states–call them what you will–are fast surpassing state and national governments as the critical organizing entities of the globally competitive economy.

To quote economic development professor Richard Florida in his latest book, “The Flight of the Creative Class”: “Cities are the key economic and social organizing units of the creative age. They promote economies of scale, incubate new technology and match human capital to opportunities, ideas to places, and innovations to investment.” Companies choose cities/regions to do business in, not states. Talented individuals choose cities/regions to live in, not states. Yes, states still play a governance role, but they are not paramount, as Potts suggests.

In the transportation realm, cities/regions (or as Ed Risse calls them, New Urban Regions) are the prime organizing unit. Traditional city/county boundaries are meaningless when it comes to peoples’ driving patterns. People live, work, shop and seek amenities within a regional context. That’s why Kilgore’s idea to establish regional transportation authorities does make sense. Kilgore’s plan is vulnerable to criticism because it envisions giving taxing and spending powers to authorities without also giving them any means to influence land use–the main factor that shapes demand for transportation amenities. But that point eludes Potts entirely.

With his one quote, Potts has revealed a very deep ignorance of the social and economic dynamics underlying Virginia’s transportation challenges. His comments on the topic cannot be taken seriously.