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Over
at the Virginian-Pilot,
Margaret
Edds blasted the Virginia Chamber of Commerce
for backing away from the FREE report.
She accused the leading business lobby of
“fawning deference to Virginia’s
political establishment” and “coddling powerful
politicians.” Edds
even found a nameless “pro-business voice” to
make this explosive charge against his/her
colleagues:
“Until
business is willing to stand up and stay the course
on issues it thinks are important, we're not going
to get anywhere. Gutless
behavior is part of the problem.''
Republican
pundit and Del. Preston
Bryant, R-Lynchburg, writing in the
Roanoke
Times,
defended the negative response of Republicans with a
veiled warning:
Virginia
FREE did indeed mess up this year. The few new friends they may have
won with some artificially inflated scores may well
be offset by the number of old friends they lost.
In
the “hope springs eternal” department, R.H.
Melton of the Washington
Post sketched a scenario — “the rosiest of
rosy scenarios” — for Gov. Mark R. Warner and
the Republicans to get a “real chance to
restructure the tax code.”
It involves a Warner appearance with plan in
hand at a meeting, a warm welcome from 81-year-old
Del. Harry Parrish, R-Manassas, sudden cooperation
from Speaker of the House William Howell,
R-Stafford, and host of other unlikely planetary
alignments. Not
coincidentally, Melton’s dream scenario would be a
commentary gold mine.
University
of Virginia Professor Larry Sabato
urged Gov. Warner to take on tax reform during an
interview on the public television program
“Perspectives,” hosted by Barbara Berlin.
Sabato said the Governor should get focused
on “big things,” as opposed to his association
with smaller issues like seat belts.
This controversial recommendation begged for
follow-up, but the affable Berlin
stuck to her script, mumbling an occasional “Mmm
hmm” before moving on to her next question.
Attack
of the Week
Until
this week, there had not been much of an outcry
against Gov. Warner’s veto of legislation
prohibiting in-state tuition rates at Virginia
colleges for illegal aliens.
Melanie
Scarborough, in the Washington
Post, has filled that void.
Noting that Warner rejected extending
in-state tuition rates to military personnel while
denouncing the illegal alien measure as a
“political ploy,” she wrote:
Hmm.
Advocates for illegal immigrants generally vote
Democratic; members of the military tend to vote
Republican. Exactly who is more intent on scoring a
political victory?
Scarborough
charged that there was little chance Warner would
press for compliance with immigration laws
“because that means protecting taxpayer
interests” and it “is not how Democrats score
political victories.”
The
Day Shift
Barnie
Day is a busy man these days. In addition to his columns in the Daily
Press and the Roanoke
Times, the former Democratic Delegate is making
appearances at Democratic fundraisers,
rousing the faithful. Day’s columns last week were skillful
partisan efforts. Knowing that Democrats trail with the
“family values” crowd, he quoted
a long passage from the “fabulous” Book of
Matthew in the Bible, saying it was “the
Democratic platform.”
Knowing that roughing up Republican Attorney
General Jerry Kilgore is essential to Democratic
chances in 2005, one could almost hear him chortle
as he highlighted
the rift on the “morning after” pill between
stalwart pro-life Del. Bob Marshall R-Manassas, and
Kilgore.
Rewriting
History
It’s
been axiomatic that when Virginia Democrats
controlled the General Assembly, they engaged in the
same partisan gerrymandering and agenda control that
Republicans have exhibited.
Along comes Daily
Press columnist Gordon
Morse (subscription required) with a revisionist
history of Democratic control:
Actually,
the Democrats largely did not
[do what Republicans are doing now] and
mostly because they didn't see the need. Well into
the 1980s, there weren't that many Republicans, and
a number of them were former Democrats anyway.
Besides - and this is a little hard to get across to
people - you often had a hard time getting
Democratic lawmakers to think and act in their own
partisan interests. Democrats - a mixed lot of
lawyers, businessmen, teachers and farmers, mostly -
long figured they were a fixed part of the
landscape. The sun came up and the Democrats ruled
Virginia.
Not
surprising, the Democratic Party of Virginia’s
“Demo Memo” describes
Morse as a “masterful political commentator.”
Recounting
History
Retired
banker Robert
Norfleet was this week’s Richmond
Times-Dispatch Commentary Columnist.
The headline was misleading:
“Loss of Banks, Brokerages Shows Need for
New Vision.” Norfleet’s
piece traced the loss of financial institutions
state-wide and in Richmond
at length, but offered only this short “new
vision”:
We
need to support our existing corporate leadership
and encourage a new generation of leaders to join
with it so they can better leverage their resources
and influence.
The
recent Philip Morris and Wachovia/Prudential
announcements were both timely and encouraging; they
demonstrate that the Richmond area remains an
attractive venue for a wide variety of businesses.
As a community we now need to provide these
corporations and their employees with a warm and
hospitable welcome, one that will give assurances
that they picked the right place and one that will
encourage them to become active in the community.
Reservoir
Dog
The
City of Newport News’ long battle to withdraw
water from the King William Reservoir is over, after
a Virginia Marine Resources vote against the costly
project. Del.
Harvey Morgan, R-Gloucester, in a Daily
Press post-mortem, showered praise on all
parties who opposed the reservoir.
Meanwhile, of course, the water needs of
Newport News continue, a fact Morgan failed to
mention.
The
Rah-Rah Sisterhood
Virginia
Tech Professor Karen
Thole, writing in the Roanoke
Times, offered a creative, last-ditch appeal to
keep the Hokies in a viable athletic conference:
Donna Shalala’s feminism.
Shalala, President of the University of
Miami, crown jewel of the Atlantic Coast
Conference’s expansion plan, should resist bolting
the ACC because of her status as a role model:
If
you decide to leave the Big East, your decision will
affect numerous institutions and, as such, your
reputation will be scarred, which will make it even
more difficult for women to achieve academic
leadership roles.
On
the other hand, the legacy you have the opportunity
of creating in deciding to remain in the Big East
will not only be for you, but it will also serve as
a model of integrity and loyalty for women leaders
everywhere.
Apparently,
Shalala’s own legacy as a female pioneer should
override the interests of the institution she leads
— and advance the interests of the institution
that employs Ms. Thole.
--
May 26, 2003
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