Bacon's Rebellion

David Ekern, the Virginia Department of Transportation Comissioner, has kept a lower profile than his predecessor Philip Shucet, but he seems to be a capable, even impressive, administrator in his own way. He has been thinking hard about how to maximize Virginia’s road/highway revenues in an era where revenues are stagnant and costs, especially for materials, are rising.

A VDOT employee has passed along an e-mail communication to much (or all) of the VDOT workforce in which Ekern lays out “what I believe about our future and the challenges we are facing.” In a logical and dispassionate fashion, he makes the case for focusing on the “basics” and the “have-to-haves,” such as maintenance of pavement and bridges, over desirables such as mowing and hedge trimming. Ekern also talks about targeting 18,000 to 20,000 miles of roads that bear the most traffic, and consolidating VDOT’s organizational structure.

Sounds like Ekern is the kind of guy you want on the team when you’re managing for hard times. Given the parlous condition of the economy and state finances right now, we’ll be facing hard times for a long time to come. His communication follows:

Over the last week you have likely heard Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer say that every part of our business must be “on the table” as we face changing economic conditions. You have read in my previous correspondence that no part of VDOT “will be untouched by the actions we must take” in order to manage the huge shift in transportation funding we are experiencing.

Over the last seven days, I have had the opportunity to visit with over 500 of you from all over the state to hear your concerns, gather your ideas and listen to your questions. I will meet with more of you in the coming weeks. This helps me to develop plans to address these difficult times.

I want to share what I believe about our future and the challenges we are facing. More.

Please forgive my unexplained absence from this blog over the past week. I have taken on a full-time job, which starts today, and my time has been consumed by the winding up of a number of projects and ensuring a smooth hand-off on others. As soon as I get acclimated to my new schedule, I shall return.

Taking a break from the all-consuming matter of the six chaplains who resigned from the state police over the prohibition of mentioning Jesus in their invocations — in which the Northern Virginia Daily, the Washington Post, the Lynchburg News & Advance, and the Richmond Times Dispatch collectively devote 1,516 words to the subject — we turn our attention to the yawning, $3 billion state budget deficit.

And what do we find in the newspapers today?

A 123-word brief in the Times-Dispatch on Attorney General Bob McDonnell’s moves to rein in his expenses (plus 127 words more on the same topic in the WaPo); a 498-word article in the News & Advance on threats to mental health services; and a 410-word story in the Virginian-Pilot on how Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is looking at cuts to the state workforce and, next year, cuts to public school budgets. Grand total: 1,158 words.

Judging by the volumes of ink dedicated to topics competing for readership, many Virginians aren’t remotely serious about the real problems confronting the commonwealth. Purely symbolic issues stemming from America’s raging culture wars are so much more diverting.

Pardon me for dissenting, but a debate over whether or not state chaplains mention “God” but not “Jesus” in their invocations is stupefyingly not what we need right now.

Implicit in the debate as it has been framed so far is that, while the commonwealth deems it unacceptable to mention “Jesus,” it is permissable to mention a single, monotheistic deity acceptable to Christians, Jews and Muslims. Ah, but would that not “offend” the polytheistic faith traditions like Hinduism and animism or the non-theistic traditions like Buddhism? Are the Abrahamic religious traditions privileged somehow? Let’s not even get started on the need for a follow-up ruling on how to treat the “Holy Ghost.” Perhaps we need to create an office of state theologian to sort it all out.

Fortunately, some state officials remain undistracted by the questions currently consuming the State Police. Bob McDonnell announced yesterday that he is cutting his office spending by $3.8 million, or 9 percent, to do his part to address the state’s revenue shortfall. Economies include a hiring freeze, leaving currently vacant positions unfilled and eliminating some fax machines and phone lines.

Additionally, McDonnell and his 10 executive attorneys are taking two percent reductions in their salaries, for a savings of $17,000. The AG also is giving up the leased 2005 Ford Explorer the state provides its attorney general, saving another $5,000 over the rest of his term, which expires in January 2010.

The $3.8 million savings represents about 0.125% of the statewide budget shortfall, so there’s a loooong way to go. But McDonnell has a high-profile position, and he’s setting the right tone. Let’s just hope he’s not called upon to weigh in on the matter of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

Let me see if I’ve got this straight. The Commonwealth Virginia is facing a $3 billion shortfall in its two-year budget, a hiring freeze has been put into place, and state agency chiefs face a deadline to submit contingencies for chopping spending by up to 15 percent. And what has Virginia’s newspapers all in a tizzy?

Five members of the Virginia State Police chaplains program.

The chaplains resigned after being told they must abstain from praying in the name of Jesus or Christ during department-sanctioned events involving the public. (I am following the account appearing in the Times-Dispatch, although the Washington Post, Virginian-Pilot and at least four other newspapers published their own stories.)

It seems that state police Superintendent W. Steven Flaherty directed the agency’s 17 chaplains to begin delivering neutral or non-denominational prayers at public events such as trooper graduation ceremonies and annual memorial services for fallen officers. Five chaplains have resigned in protest.

The state followed a predictable multi-cultural line. Flaherty said government agencies need to be “inclusive and respectful of the varied ethnicities, cultures and beliefs of our employees, their families and citizens at-large,” implying that prayers mentioning the name of Jesus are offensive to minority religious communities (or, more likely, militant atheist, ACLU types). For their part, the chaplains intemperately say the order disses Jesus. Said one: “What we have here is an attack on the name of Jesus, on the name of Christ. And I’m not going to sit back and just let it happen.”

Oh, brother. There has got to be some way to recognize the fact that the overwhelming majority of people who practice a religion in Virginia are Christian while at the same time acknowledging that there are increasing numbers of Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Druids, Wiccans and animists who do not embrace Christianity. Are we so obtuse that we can’t work in good faith to accommodate the sensitivities of all? Is it really that difficult?

As long as our culture celebrates aggrievement and victimhood, I suppose, it may well be impossible to accommodate everyone.

“Fed chief Ben Bernanke today told lawmakers the current financial crisis is rippling through the economy. He said it’s harder for businesses to get loans to create jobs, and harder for consumers to get loans to buy cars — hurting automakers and auto workers.”

He could have added that “it is harder for consumers to get loans to buy houses — hurting builders and construction workers…”

As we noted in “Good News Bad Reporting” on 24 March what he and his predecessors should have been saying since at least 1973 is:

“Citizens of the US of A cannot continue to expect to live off of natural capital, imported energy and loans from foreign investors. The economy must be restructured so that citizens do not have to rely on buying more Large, Private Vehicles and buying more Wrong-Size Dwellings in the wrong location to be happy and safe.”

Every bailout and every recovery that relies on buying more Large, Private Vehicles and more Wrong-Size Dwellings in the wrong location makes the prospect of a sustainable future less likely.

EMR

Another memorable feat in the annals of Bacondom…. From the Lewiston Tribune:

Jolee Bacon really sizzles when it comes to hog-calling.

The northern Idaho woman took first place Saturday in the competition at the Nez Perce County Fair.

She has raised several champion pigs for 4-H contests. Bacon says she calls pigs every morning and night with her 9-year-old daughter, Jacey.

Bacon won the crown over as she started her hog call with a few loud snorts and a long, drawn-out “sooey.”

Since 9/11, most American Muslims have taken a low profile, understandably afraid of provoking a backlash. But seven years later, Muslims in the Richmond region have decided the time has come to engage with the community — to go mainstream, as it were. To that end, the Virginia Muslim Coalition for Public Affairs hosted a Ramadan dinner Friday evening for members of the local media. Journalists from print, television and blogs (including yours truly) were in attendance.

The Coalition estimates that some 12,000 to 15,000 Muslims live in Central Virginia, a mix of ethnicities including Middle Easteners, south Asians and African-Americans, with a smattering of “anglo” converts. For the most part, these people have practiced their religion quietly and have kept largely to themselves, with the result that their mostly Christian neighbors know very little about them.

The Coalition’s website explains the reasons for the group’s “coming out” party.

We believe that Muslims in America have to abandon the isolation mentality and resolve to become an integral part of the society, and proactively interact with its components. For that we need to become outward, and acquire social skills of interacting with people and cultivate relationships. It is both an individual and a collective effort. …

The objective should be to let the society at large know through action what Islam is and who are the American Muslims. Our aim should be to serve the society and work for its betterment. We need to work hard and honestly for a better America: for America that is morally sound, more tolerant, more just in its domestic and foreign policies, free of poverty. We do establish programs and participate in any program that serves any good purpose (feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, helping the elderly and the handicapped, etc.)

The Muslims that my wife and I met were exceptionally friendly, hospitable and eager to talk about their role in American society. One man, who has earned his citizenship, extolled the virtues of the United States as a nation of immigrants where, he said, he enjoys more freedom and opportunity than he did in his native Pakistan. He marvelled that, only 40 years after the end of legalized segregation, an African-American has a serious shot at becoming president.

Another fellow stressed the commonality of all people. Muslims, Christians, Jews and others have the same priorities in life: to live in peace, have a good job, come home to the wife and children, and contribute to the community. As became clear to me when an imam explained the meaning of the Ramadan fast, Muslims, like the practitioners of other religions, struggle with their personal frailties to become better people, to follow the way of their God.

The main stumbling point for some of the guests was the status of women in Islam. Nearly every Muslim woman in the room wore a hijab. (I noted only two younger women, students, who did not.) One hijab-clad young woman, a reporter with the Newport News Daily Press, addressed the group about the difficulty she faced reconciling the traditional values of her Muslim family and her ambition as a journalist.

In the tension between tradition and modernity, Muslims have much in common with, say, orthodox Jews or old-school Mennonites. I found nothing particularly alien or threatening with the way our male hosts treated the women in their midst. Indeed, although Islam teaches women to be shy and reserved, many of the women I met struck me as well educated, articulate, passionate and independent minded as most American women I know. I sense that Muslim culture is already adapting to American mores.

As long as Muslims sort out the challenges posed by Westernization peacefully and in accordance with the rule of law determined by our democratic system of government — as opposed to carving out exemptions for sharia law, as some have endeavored to do in Canada and Great Britain — then I welcome them with an open heart. The people I met last night will make wonderful Americans. They will weave another vibrant thread into the rich tapestry of the world’s only true “global nation,” a country where people are united not by race, ethnicity or religion but by their commitment to the idea of America.

Update: Robin Farmer with the Times-Dispatch wrote a story in today’s Times-Dispatch about the charitable impulse in Richmond’s Muslim community — presumably an outgrowth of the Virginia Muslim Coalition’s outreach.

By investing in energy-efficient technologies, the Commonwealth of Virginia can reduce its electricity needs by 20 percent, cut electric bills by $15 billion by 2025, and create 10,000 new jobs — the equivalent of bringing almost 100 new manufacturing facilities to the state — says a new report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

And, oh, by the way, by cutting electricity consumption, Virginia can reduce pollution and, if you think global warming is a big issue, reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Read more in “Energizing Virginia: Efficiency First.”

I don’t have time to dig into the report today, but thought it potentially important enough to post on the blog. Happy reading.

The fiscal underpinnings of Virgnia’s road construction and maintenance program continue to deteriorate, John R. Layman, the state Department of Taxation’s chief economist, told the Commonwealth Transportation Board yesterday. “There’s no ‘up’ in this presentation right now,” he said, as reported by Peter Bacque with the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The state’s highway maintenance fund will see about $125 million less in each of the next two years, said Layman, and maintenance revenues are projected to fall by $739.9 million over the next six years. With reductions in other state tax revenues, Virginia will have about $300 million less annually for transportation. And that’s the best case, said Pierce R. Homer, secretary of transportation.

Adjusted for inflation, the state’s motor fuels tax collections are the lowest they’ve been in 20 years, Layman said. The underlying cause is one that Bacon’s Rebellion has been warning about for years. When gas prices soar, people (a) drive less and consume less gasoline, and (b) shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles. Virginia’s transportation funding system, based primarily on the gasoline tax, is living on borrowed time.

“Every time you see a [hybrid electric] Prius on the road, that’s somebody consuming less gas, but driving anyway,” Layman told the board.

However, there could have been an “up” to the situation, if Layman had chosen to present it: People are driving less. When people drive less, there’s less traffic congestion — the very reason we need more construction dollars in the first place.

Sales of new vehicles in the current 2009 fiscal year are expected to fall to levels not seen since the mid-1990s, Layman said. It would be interesting to see what’s happening to total Vehicle Miles Driven. If people are driving less, reducing the number of cars on the road at any point in time, then we may need to re-think road-building plans that are predicated on the outmoded assumption that traffic will continue to increase as it has for the past 25 years.