Bacon's Rebellion

Richmond Mayor Doug Wilder’s budget proposal, cutting or eliminating funding to a number of identified economic development, cultural, and historic organizations, offers this blog debating society a little laboratory in which to test our beliefs about government.

Richmond is the capital city, so everyone in the Old Dominion has something of a stake in the city’s budget. The city has a major newspaper that we expect will cover developments thoroughly. There are city blogs like River City Rapids that will provide additional insight, as it has already. The manageable number of organizations that have been cut represent a good cross-section of the types of things government funds. Several of the organizations facing cuts are high-powered, with friends in high places, so they will have the wherewithal to make their case in the media as well as in the proverbial backrooms.

How much of Wilder’s cutting will those who fulminate against government spending in the abstract accept? How will those who generally favor more spending and more government justify these programs? I think it will be interesting and I invite my colleagues and all our readers to follow developments and test our commitments on this real world example.

What is the Potts for Governor campaign up to? Until now, it seemed to be based exclusively on the media’s fascination with Republicans trying to oust Potts from the party. While that’s “good copy,” as they say, I’m rather old-fashioned, believing a campaign ought to be about the candidate, his or her ideas, and his or her organization. I’ve been scanning the news for some dispatch that might illuminate any real substance in the Potts campaign

As if in answer to my prayers, an April 6th Brian McNeill story in the Fairfax Connection sheds a keyhole-sized light on the Winchester Senator’s ideas and progress.

Potts has priorities and a hierarchy of values:

Should Potts be elected governor, one of his top priorities would be to overhaul the state’s tax code, which has not been comprehensively revised since 1938. By ensuring all Virginians are paying their fair share, he said, revenue could be generated for long-term transportation and education solutions.

He also said that he, unlike Kaine or Kilgore, is open to increasing the gas tax, which has remained at 17.5 cents per gallon for nearly two decades.

“I hate taxes, but I love Virginia more,” he said.

He doesn’t think much of the Kaine and Kilgore proposals to help lower local real estate taxes:

“I’ve seen this whole no-tax, no-roads, no-schools, no-hope vision play out,” he said. “They’re adamantly opposed to any investment in Virginia.”

The Potts organization appears to humming right along. They have collected “roughly” 5,000 signatures to get him on the ballot.

McNeill’s apparent take? “One thing is certain. Potts plans to stir things up over the next seven months.” That view is based on this Potts observation and declaration: “The most dangerous candidate is the one who isn’t afraid to lose. Believe me, I’m not afraid to lose.”

Tax-happy warrior Potts indeed poses a danger, but right now I’d say it’s more to his own campaign’s viability than to Kaine or Kilgore.

The top issue in the gubernatorial campaign so far are the Kaine and Kilgore proposals relating to local real estate tax assessments. From the People’s Republic of Arlington, via the Richmond Times-Dispatch, comes a sensible “Correspondent of the Day” letter on the subject from Wayne Kubicki. Kubicki is a member of a citizen’s advisory board in the county.

Kubicki’s main point:

Year-to-year comparisons in Arlington for the past four years show that residential assessments have risen three to four times faster than commercial assessments. Over this period, the tax burden did shift–away from commercial properties, and onto homeowners. Both the Kaine and Kilgore proposals are attempts to remedy this.

Kubicki comments on reactions to the plans from the Virginia Municipal League and the Virginia Chamber of Commerce.

I’m impressed. No apparent partisan ax to grind, no hysterical claim that Virginia will become Mississippi if one of these plans is adopted. Maybe Jerry and Tim aren’t so bad after all.

For an inside account of what actually went on at the State Senate yesterday when they considered ousting Sen. Potts from his committee chairmanship for having left the Republican party, please read Sen. Ken Cuccinelli’s account.

The State Senate RINOs (Republican’s in Name Only) showed their true colors yesterday, refusing to vote for appealing Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine’s ruling. And what a ruling that was! Kaine held that the Constitution doesn’t allow the Senate to consider any other business—such as enforcing their own Senate rules—during the veto session. How’s this for ducking an issue?

And this is the guy who wants to be our next Governor?

Sen. Cuccinelli’s newsletter only provides the names of the Senators that voted with him in his motion to appeal Kaine’s ruling. It omits the names of the RINOs, which I’m posting below for everyone to see.

Blevins, Harry B.
Chichester, John H.
Devolites Davis, Jeannemarie
Hanger, Emmett W., Jr.
Hawkins, Charles R.
Mims, Bill
Norment, Thomas K., Jr.
Potts, H. Russell, Jr.
Quayle, Frederick M.
Stolle, Kenneth W.
Stosch, Walter A.
Wagner, Frank W.
Wampler, William C., Jr.
Watkins, John
Williams, Martin E.

Those of you that vote Republican, should write down these names and carry them with your voting card.

The Jaded JD, who runs a pretty tight ship, has added Bacon’s Rebellion to his rather exclusive blogroll. I, for one, am very gratified. Not only is The Jaded JD full of substantive posts, it also has a crisp new Typepad format with mood indicator.

Of course, I’m one bump from falling off the turnip truck. I had no idea that “Puss Rots” was a BR contributor. I share the JD’s feelings about what that sort of moniker indicates.

Update: Oops! The Jaded JD had us confused with someone else on the “Puss Rots” thing. That changed his mood to “chagrined,” which I think is an overreaction. I apologize to my colleagues for even thinking that “Puss Rots” blogged among us.

In my continuing efforts to waste your time, here’s my summary of yesterday’s veto session: Warner rules the roost and Potts has a license to thumb his nose at the Republican Party.

Perhaps the real waste of time was the veto session itself; why did they bother? Without debating the merits of each individual action, the General Assembly obviously didn’t have much of a stake in their previous work when they agreed to 42 of 44 amendments to legislation and 28 of 30 budget amendments.

“Bi-partisanship” is alive and well in Virginia. Heck, you can almost be in three parties at the same time if you’re Russ Potts.

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.