Barnie:
Some time ago you responded to a point made on this blog that I thought indicated that municipalities could not ride up property assesments to raise taxes. Fauquier’s budget is up 21% with no tax rate increase because of new assesments. I must have misunderstood your point. Could you re run it please.
(All this partisan political snipping and sniping has two impacts: Do not bother to vote and it takes up space that could be devoted to facts.)
Thank you
EMR
In Friday’s edition of the Washington Times, “Democrats: GOP rift spells gains in the House” talks of Virginia Democrats who are aiming to capitalize on the Republican Party’s recent split over tax increases; as a result they are putting up more candidates this year for the House races.
In response, the Speaker of the House of Delegates, Bill Howell, is quoted saying:
“We are a team. We are united…” “[The tax fight] is behind us.”
Hello? Earth to Speaker Howell: Please stop listening to the Kilgore campaign propaganda and start talking to the conservative wing of your Party.
A few days ago I wondered why certain controversies in state government were reported without seeking or printing any comment from the Governor’s office. The example I used came from Washington Post and Richmond Times-Dispatch articles on the current flap over management in the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
Now the RT-D is at it again.
Today their front page is again about Game and Inland Fisheries, but this time with a Freedom of Information Act focus. A couple waged a long battle with the agency for information and along the way picked up indications of questionable expenditures and activities, including the now infamous safari to Zimbabwe.
Once again, no comment from the Governor’s office and no indication that the Governor’s office was even aware of the long-running battle, including lawsuits, involving citizens and an executive agency.
Am I crazy to think that the Governor’s views on this might be relevant? Why doesn’t anyone ask?
One person I hope to hear from on the FOIA angle is our own Becky Dale.
I’m afraid I must take exception with our friend Barnie Day regarding a recent column of his in the Agusta Free Press. He says:
Members of the flat-earth wing of the party – those on the far right, those who insist that you can build roads without money, who profess disdain for big government but grow it every chance they get, those who want government off our backs but want the government peeping into our bedroom windows and looking over our shoulders whenever we’re in our libraries, those who don’t mind mixing government and religion, so long as it is the right religion, those who prefer borrow and spend to tax and spend –
Hold on, Barnie–that’s an awfully broad brush you’re using to paint your analogy. I never thought of myself as a member of the flat-earth wing of the party, but that surely beats being a bleeding-heart liberal…
There is a major disconnect in what Barnie says, so let me set the record straight:
Barnie, you really need to stop believing the liberal propaganda you keep on reading. It’s your wing of the political spectrum that keeps on telling us that we should be more understanding and more tolerant of other people. So how about having a cool one and become a bit more tolerant and understanding of conservatives?
SurveyUSA conducted a statewide poll for WSLS-TV in Roanoke. Based on the responses of 493 voters, with a margin of error of 4.5 percent, the survey found:
Kilgore…..46 percent
Kaine…….36 percent
Potts……. 6 percent
Delving into the details, there were a number of interesting findings. The gender gap lives… Kilgore led Kaine among men by 19 percent, but only 3 percent among women. But Republicans are making inroads among minorities… Kilgore performed respectably among blacks, logging 23 percent, and extraordinarily well among Hispanics, racking up 52 percent, the same as whites. (Given the small number of Hispanics in the survey, however, there may be a fairly large margin of error in that particular number.)
The more educated the voter, the more likely he or she was to prefer Kaine, who actually topped Kilgore among voters with graduate degrees. Likewise, voters from the “Northeast” part of the state (I presume that includes Northern Virginia) preferred Kaine by a 8 percent margin, while Kilgore trounced Kaine in his own backyard (Central Virginia) by a 25 percent margin.
Potts, at this point, does not seem to be a major factor, draining 5 percent of the Republican vote, 4 percent of the Democratic vote and 11 percent of the independent vote. By ideology, Potts pulls mainly from self-described “moderates” (7 percent) and “liberals” (7 percent) but few “conservatives” (3 percent).
For those tarot card readers who thought Governor Mark Warner might not be all that enthralled by Tim Kaine’s campaign to succeed him, the Governor’s office has announced that he will join Kaine at kick-off events in Herndon, Norfolk, and Richmond on March 16th.
Someone will probably try to read something into the fact that they won’t be together in Southwest Virginia.
Update: That didn’t take long. Commonwealth Conservative is reading it exactly as predicted. He’s also got news of a poll showing Kilgore leading Kaine by 10 points even as Russ Potts grabs 6%. That’s more than I thought Potts would ever get, so I tip my hat to Barnie Day, driver of the “Briar Patch,” the Potts bandwagon.
The mini-scandal/kerfluffle/soap opera over at the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries continues. The Richmond Times-Dispatch has the story on page one, above the fold, with another story inside. Last week the Washington Post did a story on employee discontent at the agency and the Virginian-Pilot later picked it up.
What’s remarkable about the story to me is that there’s no comment or reaction from the Governor’s office. I recall other little dust-ups, such as a few at the Department of Social Services, where the Governor’s fingerprints were nowhere to be found. Maybe I’ve just totally bought into left-wing media conspiracy theories, but I remember every problem in state government that made news pages during the Gilmore Administration was laid at the Governor’s feet.
Governor Warner seems to be coated with teflon. Good for him–I think it’s another indication of the good work Press Secretary Ellen Qualls does for him. I’ve praised her in these pages before. A Governor doesn’t control all the stuff that goes on in agencies. He does control appointments, though, and he ought to make it clear that when something goes wrong, his appointees better fix it fast or get out of town.
In this case, it’s indefensible that agency brass go to Zimbabwe on a safari to learn about game management techniques, while two guys making $30,000 each have to patrol five sprawling counties back in the Old Dominion, responding to every McMansion report of a gunshot in the woods.
Barnie, I just read your Roanoke Times column on Russ Potts. I have to wonder if you’re eating corn flakes with Jeff Schapiro!
While I’ll grant that Russ Potts got fawning coverage of his gubernatorial bid announcement and a few follow-up articles, where do you get this assessment of the Winchester Senator?
How is it possible that he’s already toe-to-toe in media coverage, toe-to-toe in the political coin that means the most, in “legitimacy,” with Jerry Kilgore, the GOP’s Six Million Dollar Man?
Here’s a guy who needs 10,000 signatures to get on the ballot and he doesn’t even have one volunteer with a petition on election day in Panny Rhodes’ old Henrico District? Potts lacing up his running shoes? He’s not even in the locker room!
Just as soon as Steve Sisson, the “Blue Dog,” made this provocative comment about political blogging, I learned from a Bob Gibson Daily Progress story that Virginia blogger Waldo Jaquith is considering a run for Mitch Van Yahres’ 57th District seat in Charlottesville:
Former City Council hopeful Waldo Jaquith have been mentioned as potential candidates, Democratic Party officials said.
Jaquith said Wednesday night that “It’s important to me that Charlottesville be represented by a progressive Democrat in the mold of Van Yahres. A number of people have suggested to me that I may be that progressive Democrat – and I’m certainly considering it – but I’m still looking for a candidate.”
I’ve not read Jaquith (a smart, partisan guy) extensively, but I’ve noted some fairly intemperate characterizations from time to time. Right now he’s calling Republican efforts to oust Russ Potts a “lynching.” It will be interesting to see, if he becomes a candidate, whether anyone will try to use some of his blog commentary against him.
From Jacob Weisberg, editor of Slate:
The great cacophony of voices in the blogosphere means that more views are being represented, that more subjects are being examined in detail, and that more sunlight shines into institutions of all kinds. Thousands of bloggers ranting from their soapboxes mean that our political culture encompasses bracing debate about everything people disagree about. If you don’t like this raucous clamor emanating from cyberspace, you’re not really comfortable with democracy.
It’s exciting to be part of the growing Virginia “raucous clamor.”
Paul Anderson submits this post:
I’ve heard plenty of talk on here about George Fitch’s brilliant money cutting schemes for Virginia, but not much analysis of what he’s actually going to cut. I’m impressed with some of his plans (especially the emphasis on subcontracting state services to private contractors, much like Clinton), and not so impressed with others. For example, Fitch has claimed that we can save a boatload of money by cutting expenditures at mental health facilities.
According to a recent Bacon’s Rebellion article:
By way of specifics, Fitch points to the treatment of the mentally ill. The state pays $100,000 a year to treat a mentally ill patient in an institutional setting. By moving patients to local community centers, the state can cut costs down to $30,000 – and improve the quality of care.
$30,000 per patient is way less than $100,000 per patient…sounds good, huh? Here’s the problem: I spoke to a friend who has worked in mental health her whole life, and they found this blanket statement to be a bit misinformed.
It can cost less to house people in community centers, but not much less (the numbers he’s using are patently false).
Also, a great deal of the current residents in state facilities are forensic patients. They require more security. There are not comparable places to house them in the community. Jail is not the place you want them. For mental rehabilitation services, my friend told me that community care costs range from $50,000-$120,000 depending on the need. That is slightly less than institutional care (according to Fitch, $100,000 per patient).
As for other cost cutting measures: Lately, the state has been trying to reduce beds to save money, but now there is uproar all over the state, particularly in northern Virginia that there aren’t enough psych beds. This is largely due to the fact that private hospitals are getting out of the mental health business. They make more on medical or surgical beds.
He also fails to face a political reality. There have been repeated attempts to close state facilities. These attempts are always opposed by local politicians, families who use the facilities, and especially employees, because they are a major employer in communities around the state. It just won’t happen.
The state has a responsibility to provide these sort of mental health services, one way or the other, because as I explained, the private sector doesn’t want to do it. We can move some non-forensic patients into community care centers, and sometimes that saves money, but sometimes it’s just not a good fit for the patient or the surrounding community). But the $30,000 figure that Fitch is using just isn’t realistic.
My main point? When politicians throw out these magical cost cutting numbers, sometimes they haven’t done their homework. You want to cut things? Fine. But it’s going to take tough choices, not easy ones.
Voters in Henrico County narrowly defeated a meals tax by 151 votes in an election yesterday that featured 14% turnout. All bond issues on the ballot for parks and schools passed. It’s difficult to glean much about the mood of voters from those results, except maybe that they couldn’t be bothered by an off-off election day that made no sense.
One Man’s Trash and the The Jaded JD have analyzed the vote. Both use the expression that the voters wanted to “have their cake and eat it, too.” The Jaded JD pursues this line vigorously while Norm at One Man’s Trash thinks the Henrico Board of Supervisors may have been bluffing in warning of large increases in real estate taxes if the meals tax did not pass.
I would have voted against the meals tax were I a Henrico voter, but I have mixed feelings. It’s interesting that one of the only type of retail sales that isn’t in competition with the internet is singled out for extra taxation. You can’t get your Red Lobster Shrimp Feast delivered by UPS from out-of-state.
If anyone has gone to a restaurant lately, you know the places are jam-packed. Granted, on the few occasions when I go out, I’m eating in meal tax-less Chesterfield County. Still–at six o’clock last Saturday the Olive Garden had over a one hour wait. The lobby was packed with people who obviously represented all income groups. I doubt if a few extra bucks on a check for a meals tax would depress those numbers.
But for the worker trying to grab a sandwich for lunch, the price on the menu bears no resemblance to the price rung up on a cash register in a meals tax jurisdiction. I think it’s at the lower end of the prepared food spectrum where the meals tax has a negative impact and is the most unfair.
Does anyone know what’s going on with Reporterette? She hasn’t posted since February 27th–her views from Afton Mountain are missed.
The 4 March post on Kilgore’s words (“Blow Right Over” – Isn’t That…) has become swamped by irrelevancies and non-sequiturs but the importance of discussing these words has not diminished.
Kilgore’s quote comes from an interview with Times Community Newspapers editors and reporters. If one reads the story, Kilgore is saying if elected he would support the “Techway” not one of the other two Potomac crossings that the Road Gang supports. Many of the posts in the last thread addressed these corridors.
The Eastern Bypass in theory relieves congestion on I-95 from South of Fredericksburg to North of Baltimore. VDOT and MDOT studies show a roadway in this location would not meet this goal. Scattered urban land-use would generate traffic in eastern Virginia, southern Maryland and in the DelMarVa Urban Support Region that would swamp the new roadway. As is the case with I-81, moving freight to rail (plus an Auto-Train that would carry cars and RVs from North of the Susquehanna to Florida) would be far more efficient.
The Western Bypass (aka, Western Transportation Corridor) would carry traffic from North of Fredericksburg to I-70 in Maryland. In theory this would serve Washington-Dulles Airport and the “fast growing” urban agglomerations west of VA Route 28 in Virginia and cross the Potomac to connect with I-70. Again the data does not support this roadway for the same reasons.
The Techway is a different roadway. It is a Potomac river bridge and access roads to get folks who live in Maryland and want to work in the northern part of Virginia or fly out of Dulles from the I-270 corridor to the Dulles Toll Road/Greenway corridor. For yet a third time, the numbers do not support the idea. Frank Wolf who sponsored a study of the Techway found out how strongly citizens felt and dropped it like a hot potato.
For 30 years Maryland (at the state, county and community levels) has been adamantly opposed to any and all of these roadways. Given the leanings of the current Governor, he may support one or more until he reads the pole results and considers the impact of voter views on his next election. That reversal is just what has happened land week to the Western Transportation Corridor in Loudoun County. Even the Build Everywhere board elected in 2003 can not ignore the lack of support.
Some roadway improvements in all three of these corridors may be needed. On the other hand PRT or some other technology may be better. It is very clear that Balanced Communities both inside and outside the Clear Edge will greatly reduce the demand for any new infrastructure.
What is the solution here? It is to have region-wide agreement on a future settlement pattern and on a mobility system to provide mobility. That means Balanced Communities. Sorry there is no alternative regardless of the length of filibusters and the number of non-sequiturs. For another view on this see Roger Lewis’ column in the Saturday TWP Real Estate section. The solution is not a badly informed comment by Kilgore which was our original post.
We will address some of the overarching issues in our next two columns including an easy to apply definition of Geographic Illiteracy.
EMR
We haven’t heard much here from our friend Barnie lately … could he be busy preparing for a Senate run in 2006? Jeff Schapiro, has Barnie been whispering in your ear or is this another Russ Potts-like fantasy for you?
Update: Norm over at One Man’s Trash is all over Schapiro and Commonwealth Conservative has a few choice words, too.
The year: 2075. The American colonies on the Moon are getting restless under Washington’s tyrannical rule….
This second edition of “Dust Mites” has a snazzy new cover, includes helpful lunar maps, and is 5,000 words tighter than the original. The sequel, “Trogs,” is scheduled for publication this summer.
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