Bacon's Rebellion

Discussing the three alternatives for the Tri-County Parkway (New Asphalt Battleground) is a perfect example of why posting a blog about many topics is a pure waste of time and effort. And so, perhaps, is pointing out that it is a waste of time.

The three “alternative” alignments have nothing in common except they were put on the same map to keep VDOT staff busy since there is no money to build anything. With planning like this no sane citizen will authorize funds – recall the sales tax vote of two years ago. Two of the alignments never get to a third county.

Paul is absolutely right about needing roads if you are talking about the alignment (“Plan C”) that has been on all three County Plans for 20 years. This one, however, runs near the homes of well connected activists in Fairfax County and will be dead on arrival as soon as someone counts the votes.

The other primary alignment (“Plan A”) is a life line for speculative owners of tens of thousands of acres of land in Prince William County north of Manassas National Battlefield Park and in the part of eastern Loudoun County known as “the transition area.” Without it, they cannot make a profit building out their holdings. Some have already indicated they will kick in money to lower the cost. They will also make significant political contributions if any candidate bites on the “just shoot up here amongst us we need some relief” logic.

Plan B is just there to give a shred of credence to including A in a “Tri County” alternatives study. A and B are pure cases of the reality that building more roads without Fundamental Change in settlement patterns makes mobility worse, not better. Every VDOT study of roads in the Plan A alignment has shown a roadway generates more new traffic than it can serve. In other words Jim is absolutely right too.

Let us stop wasting time and all agree that the first step is to create a plan for Balanced Communities inside the Clear Edge and then decide what transport system will provide access and mobility. Reality Check made it crystal clear that if all the stakeholders are at the table a rational plan is possible and it will require none of the subsidy that is now paid by every citizen and every enterprise and institution for dysfunctional human settlement patterns.

EMR

The Washington Post alerts us that a north-south connector road through fast-growing Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties is under consideration. There are three alternatives being proposed:

Transportation officials said costs range from $177 million for the cheapest alternative to $548 million for the most expensive one. Regardless, the state says it doesn’t have money to build any of the options. If money appeared today, officials said, construction could start in 2012.

They also said it is too soon to tell exactly how the road would take shape: how many lanes it would have, whether it would have dedicated exits or intersections and other details. They added 13 to 22 homes would have to be removed to build the road, depending on its route.

Opponents of the project said it wouldn’t alleviate traffic in the area because it would open a new path for developers to add thousands of homes. They also said the road could become part of an outer beltway around the entire region, which is opposed by many environmentalists and advocates of controlled growth.

I suspect this proposed road will bring out the transportation wonks in force to duke out both the premise and the details. Statewide candidates will be forced to take, or straddle, a position on the new road. It could become as controversial as the Maryland Inter-County Connector. Public hearings start in May.

I’ll be looking for coverage of this debate from Northern Crown, always a great source of Northern Virginia transportation/land use reporting.

Governor Warner has announced a grant of $1,098,500.00 to a Southside community hit hard by lay-offs. A plant closing in Charlotte County put 450 workers on the street and there have been scattered lay-offs in other nearby jurisdictions (Prince Edward and Nottoway Counties). The money comes from Virginia Employment Commission funds to serve displaced workers.

According to the Governor’s press release:

Over the next two years, the South Central WIB [Workforce Investment Board] will use the grant to assist workers through the existing system of One-Stop offices in the region. These services will include vocational assessment, case management, placement, follow-up, and, if appropriate, skills upgrading and vocational training. Other services may be offered as well if the need arises.

Local employers will offer training for a variety of occupations in demand. Emphasis will be placed on on-the-job training, as opposed to traditional training, as surveys of the affected workers reflect a concentrated interest in becoming re-employed.

This grant is a great opportunity for a working Virginia reporter to do a long-range story on how workforce training funds, considered so important to economic development, are spent and just what the spending produces. Some have wondered if workforce training funds do more for workforce trainers than workers; this would be a chance to find out.

The General Assembly considered, and dropped, ideas to merge workforce training programs. This might serve as a case study on whether the current system works.

Getting long term plant workers who have been laid off into new jobs is a daunting challenge, especially in a rural area with limited employers like Charlotte County. Still, this grant is pretty substantial and someone should start following the money now, instead of two years from now when it, and a lot of records, are long gone.

I just received an email from one of the statewide campaigns, alerting me to nefarious mischief by another campaign. Dirty tricksters are trying to influence an online poll conducted by the Charlottesville Daily Press!

How do campaigns get so desperate that they feel the need to manipulate an unscientific poll for bragging rights? Wouldn’t they be better off making phone calls, knocking on doors, or, in some cases, getting signatures?

Update: The “real” Addison over at Sic Semper Tyrannis has more. It’s called “freeping.”

George Fitch has finally entered the gubernatorial fray in a public way, questioning Jerry Kilgore’s commitment to cutting taxes. Said Fitch of Kilgore in a press release distributed late Sunday night: “He puts his anti-tax foot in, he pulls his anti-tax foot out. He’s doing the ‘hokey pokey’ with the taxpayers of Virginia.”

“Kilgore proposes limiting hikes in real estate tax assessments to 5 percent beginning in 2009, if approved by a constitutional amendment,” Fitch declared. But the amendment would not guarantee tax relief, he charged: All it does is cap assessments and not the tax rate.

Fitch makes a good point. But what’s his preferred tax cut? It turns out he wants to finish phasing out the car tax cut.

(Bacon puts his head in his hands and moans.) What is this obsession with the car tax? Yes, I know people hate it. But there are soooo many problems with it. (1) The benefits from repeal of the car tax are distributed incredibly unequally across the state; (2) the repeal rewards those localities that had raised their taxes the highest, not those that had tried to keep taxes low; (3) the state has consistently under-forecast its liability for the tax, making it more difficult to plan expenditures; and (4) repealing the tax cuts the cost of automobile ownership at a time when, due to increasing traffic congestion, we should be increasing the cost of ownership.

Finally, (5) there are so many alternatives for cutting taxes that could reward people for working harder (trim the top rate of the state income tax), help support working families (increase the state income tax deduction for children), promote economic development (reduce corporate taxes on small and midsize businesses). The list could go on. Repealing the car tax may be good politics, but it is not good governance.

Fitch has dubbed himself a supply-side, Reagan-style conservative, and I’d taken him at his word when profiling him recently in Bacon’s Rebellion. But there’s nothing “supply side” about repealing the car tax. I’m very disappointed.

IMHO, one of the best things this blog is the comments section. Unlike many blogs, we who post here love comments and we frequently wade into the comment section ourselves.

It’s a bit frustrating to me when bloggers almost never respond to comments, but even more frustrating when no comment mechanism is enabled.

Take River City Rapids, a good blog about Richmond. It formerly allowed comments, but now there’s no way to communicate with “Snoopy” and “Wonder Woman.” There’s not even a way to email them.

RCR has been covering the Greater Richmond Partnership economic development story quite well. I wanted to add a point or two–not enough to be worthy of a post here on BR, but something I thought might add to an understanding of the issue. I couldn’t do it.

Virginia bloggers, open up the dialog! Props to Commonwealth Conservative, Salt Lick, Commonwealth Commonsense, Virginia Progressive, and Waldo Jaquith, some of the blogs I read regularly that have participatory comment sections.

Paul, one of our most passionate readers, made a good point in the comments section of the “‘Politics of Lies’” post. He said Virginians could elect a goat as Lt. Governor and it wouldn’t much matter, given the skimpy duties of the position.

Those who have read Steve “Blue Dog” Sisson’s profiles of the candidates (here and here)know that each has a different take on the office and different areas of focus, even though the job gives them no power to focus on anything but presiding over the Senate. The job isn’t “Ombudsman for Pet Causes.”

All that leads me to believe that perhaps we should not encourage ambitious pols to run for Lt. Governor. They would do the Commonwealth much more good in the General Assembly or (gasp!) the private sector. Respected, experienced public servants, perhaps retired from elective or appointed office, should be the kind of candidates who run for Lt. Governor, and maybe even “run” should be eliminated. They would agree to have their names put on the ballot by their party.

We don’t allow a Governor to run for re-election. Perhaps we shouldn’t allow a Lt. Governor to be elected just to give him or her a platform to run for Governor. This is no commentary on Lt. Gov. Kaine, who has done a fine job. What do we remember about Don Beyer and John Hager, other than that they didn’t become Governor despite frantic campaigning from the Lt. Governor’s office?

An “elder statesman” Lt. Governor, not seeking higher office, might even help reduce excessive partisanship in the General Assembly. Just something to think about for 2009. In Virginia, it’s never too early to think about the election after the next election.

If this Commonwealth Commonsense report is accurate, even Russ Potts may not be enough of a tax-raiser to satisfy some people.

Every four years Virginia’s gubernatorial candidates announce their positions on economic development: they’re in favor of it.

This election year, economic development requires more than platitudes. There are several issues related to economic development that are roiling and will require leadership from the new Governor. One Man’s Trash recently surveyed two of the important issues: the future of regionalism and the use of costly incentives to lure companies to the Old Dominion. To those I would add special programs and spending to help “distressed areas” and the heavy use of state resources to promote selling to state government as a business development tool.

I’ll be looking for Fitch, Kaine, Kilgore, and Potts to talk specifics when they’re asked about economic development. Should we spend more on incentives to be “competitive” with other states, or does this just encourage “shopping” by companies looking for the best short-term deal? Should the state keep encouraging regional pooling of economic development resources, or are potential withdrawals by members of the Greater Richmond Partnership a harbinger of collapsing regionalism? Does Virginia need more “Virginia Works” spending on untested creative ideas or should existing state organizations be held accountable?

Economic Development is in the midst of tremendous change. Not all those in the business are adjusting their approach enough in the face of change–leadership is critical. I’ll be looking for the candidate who recognizes change and addresses new realities. A cautious approach is exactly what we don’t need, but so far I haven’t seen a lot risk-taking by any of the campaigns.

It’s still early, though.

Phillip Rodokanakis’ “The Politics of Lies,” posted March 28 on Bacon’s Rebellion, is mind-boggling in its deceitful mudslinging and campaign chicanery, especially since it comes from someone claiming certification as a fraud investigator.

The “half-truths, falsehoods and outright lies” Mr. Rodokanakis lays to Sean Connaughton – chairman-at large of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors running for the Republican nomination for Virginia lieutenant governor in the June 14 primary – actually better describe his own article.

Tellingly, Mr. Rodokanakis’ screed includes false allegations against Sean Connaughton almost identical to those made by his opponent, state Sen. Bill Bolling, in a campaign flier mailed to Virginia voters in December. (Read full text of response.)

If you ever wondered why local governments always run out of money and keep on raising property taxes, the story that ran today in the Washington Times says it all!

Local governments are asking Gov. Warner to amend a bill approved by both Houses of the General Assembly with veto-proof majorities, to exempt them from having to comply with the requirements of this bill.

And what is does this bill mandate that our local governments find so offensive? It forbids government agencies from providing Medicaid and welfare benefits to illegal aliens over 19 years of age. What a novel idea, eh?

But our local governments are up in arms over this bill. Such a draconian bill could put an end to the out-of-control spending of local jurisdictions. How can they continue justifying huge social welfare staffs if they have to cut back to providing such services to illegal aliens? After all, they just don’t have the manpower to screen anyone that comes in through their doors and asks for benefits we’re told—yet they have the manpower to provide all these benefits in the first place.

Do you get the idea that the inmates are running the asylum?

Silly me, I had this ill-conceived notion that such benefits were reserved for the truly needy and were restricted to legal residents only. Now that Gerry Connolly and the other local jurisdictions have explained it to me, I have a much clearer vision of exactly how our tax dollars are being squandered by the likes of Gerry Connolly and out-of-control Boards of Supervisors.

First off, let me give credit where credit is due. Instead of basing his campaign on sound bites and attacks on Tim Kaine, Jerry Kilgore has finally issued a serious position paper. This paper, “Better Pay for Better Teachers” gives us the first meaningful detail into Kilgore’s thinking about education policy. Thank you, Mr. Kilgore, for humoring the policy wonks among Virginia’s electorate — a tiny but vocal constituency.

Second, let me state that Mr. Kilgore addresses a real problem: The increasing difficulty recruiting and retaining qualified teachers into Virginia’s public schools. It is an issue that merits the attention of our gubernatorial candidates.

Now that I’ve gotten the obligatory niceties out of the way, let me get to the point. What are you thinking? Who drew up this plan for you — the teacher’s lobby? What’s your goal here — to run to the left of Tim Kaine?

Kilgore’s solution entails the following: helping teachers repay student loans in exchange for taking jobs in distressed school districts; increasing retirement benefits; providing $5,000 bonuses to teachers who complete the National Board Certification process; and providing $5,000 bonuses to teachers who complete advanced degrees related to their teaching areas. The one really promising idea– creating a performance-based pay system–will be relegated to an Excellence in Education task force.

Here’s what I’m reading between the lines: Even with Virginia schools awash in more state and federal money than they’ve ever had in their histories, we still need to spend more money! There’s nothing wrong with the public school system in Virginia that spending even more money won’t solve. Moving to a performance-based pay system could, potentially, entail structural change. But pardon my cynicism for suspecting that a performance-based system will turn out to be all carrots (reward good teachers) and no sticks (no thought to actually punishing, demoting or removing anyone).

Virginia’s educational system needs serious structural reform. Pouring more money into the system is not likely to yield meaningful improvements to outcomes. There’s always the possibility that Kilgore will have more to say about education, so I’m withholding a final judgment. But he could not have launched a policy initiative less likely to appeal to fiscal conservatives.

From the Wilder Commission
FINAL REPORT
December 12, 2002
The Commission recommends that the following steps be taken to streamline and consolidate Virginia state government.
• Merge the Virginia Museum of Natural History into the Science Museum of Virginia
• Merge the Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Department into the Department of Conservation and Recreation and maintain as a separate division within the department.
• Merge the Commission on Local Government into the Department of Housing and Community Development (maintaining the annexation functions and the collegial body within DHCD)
• Merge the State Milk Commission with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (with input from the Milk Commission’s regulants about the best means of accomplishing this task.)
• Consolidate the Charitable Gaming Commission, Racing Commission and Lottery into a single department under the Lottery after a determination by the Governor of the most appropriate methods and timing for the consolidation..
• Merge the Council on Human Rights with the Office of the Attorney General. (Ensure the maintenance of all functions and the continuation of public input into its operations.)
• Integrate Richard Bland College into the Community College System.
• Eliminate the Center for Innovative Technology in its existing form and reconstitute it as part of a statewide initiative to enhance Virginia’s research and development infrastructure.
• The Governor should acquire sound business assessments of the real value of a privatized ABC retail operation and develop an RFP process to realize this value and authorize legislation for the 2003 General Assembly session. Privatization should be structured so as to provide at least as equal a revenue stream to the localities and to the state activities that are presently supported by ABC earned income.
• Merge Chippokes Plantation into the Department of Conservation and Recreation
• Move the office of Consumer Services from the Department of Agriculture
• Eliminate all general fund support for the Commonwealth Competition Council
• Merge the Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired, the Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and the Department of Rehabilitative Services in a manner that will result in an enhancement and not a diminution of services. The Commission believes a consolidation plan that can result in the provision of more effective services needs to have genuine input and participation from the stakeholder groups.
• Develop a common chart of accounts that can identify with precision the total amount of dollars spent on consultants, utilize a return on investment criteria for consultant engagements and implement periodic external reviews of consultant utilization and renewal procedures.
• Eliminate the Commonwealth’s function as a power plant operator by developing an energy management process that will enable the private sector to take over the management, upkeep and upgrade of power plants.
• The Governor should develop a plan for reforming the administration and funding of local constitutional officers. This plan should examine: a) ways of eliminating duplication of efforts between constitutional officers and local officials; b) the possible regional provision of services currently provided by constitutional officers; c) the possible use of constitutional officers in collecting state receivables to offset potential reductions in general fund support; and d) possible streamlinings and consolidations that could be achieved in the agencies- The Compensation Board and the Commonwealth Attorneys Services Council- that currently administer and support constitutional officers.
(Click on the comments link below to view the rest of the Wilder Commission recommendations)

It’s Easter morning!

Oh yes, and FORGIVENESS is in the morning air. Both ‘Pubs and Dems can be angry at each other, but we have the power of forgiveness thanks to the one above.

The Blue Dog just returned from early morning Sunrise Easter service and breakfast at my favorite Evangelical church and the Dawg is feeling pretty darn good.

With church being so early in the morning, I forgot to buy my other Sunday Bible, err … the Washington Post, but the WP is Online! In the Sunday Outlook section, there’s a good article by Democratic pundit Gordon Morse, “Off to an Unimpressive Start” concerning the Kaine and Kilgore’s property tax proposals.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2204-2005Mar25.html

Morse concludes in the article: “Adlai Stevenson once advised against running for office in a manner that demonstrates your unfitness for the job. Kaine and Kilgore should bear that in mind.”

Apparently, WP columnist Morse (another Warner sycophant) is stomping mad at both candidates this time. But look on the bright side, at least Gordon Morse is not another Gov. Warner “Stepford-pundit” like his RT-D counterpart, Jeff ‘Good-Copy’ Shapiro.

The VA conservative blogging community (i.e. One Mans Trash) are simply sick & tired of reading Richmond Jeff’s ‘good copy’ because he is constantly washing Gov. Warner’s dirty laundry until it’s clean for public consumption.

He’s also good at removing ‘Kaine-stains’ …

But did you realize Gordon Morse was the chief speechwriter for Democratic Gov. Gerald Baliles back in the late eighties and served with his administration. During his tenure, the Virginia State budget nearly doubled and taxes were raised numerous times under Gov. Gerald Baliles — who loved spending our taxes as much as collecting them.

Yes, siree Gordo! He worked for Gov. Gerald ‘budget-busting’ Baliles, who is better known for raising VA’s sales tax and the gasoline tax (as part of a $422 million-a-year transportation tax package that was a bust as well). Baliles is now attempting to resurrect his political career as your favorite special-interests US Senator.

How apropos considering the Christian holiday of resurrection and redemption?

Oh, that was mean of the Blue Dog 🙁

Please forgive me, Mr. Baliles?

And I’m really sorry to bust the ‘Barnie for Senate’ fan club bubble as well. But Democrats can pick their poison here and now, because it’s either ex-Gov. Gerald ‘the Tax Governor’ Baliles — or Gov. Mark ‘the Revenator’ Warner as the 2006 Democratic US Senate candidate.

Geographically speaking, Gordon Morse is a native of the Shenandoah Valley — so he is fairly knowledgeable about raising state pork and knows all the clever ways to politically spin a tax increase.

After all, Baliles is the main reason then incoming Gov. Wilder had to cut state government 15-percent across the board. That’s probably the reason why the WP columnist never publishes anything good about the ex-Gov. and current Richmond Mayor Doug Wilder or his trusty sidekick and campaign manager Paul Goldman.

I’ll need to hop back in the pickup truck before I really get in trouble — and go to town again to purchase a hardcopy of the Washington Post. Then it’s off to Grandma’s house I go — with the wife and our children.

I’m looking forward to Sunday’s Easter Dinner (and today, I’m forgetting about that ‘low-carb’ starvation diet) with turkey & country ham and mashed tatters and corn pudding and pickled eggs. And topped off with Grandma’s chocolate Coca-Cola cake for dessert.

Yummy, yummy … That’s eating right.