Now that Sen. Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, is top dog in the state Senate, the General Assembly is getting a lot more entertaining. Last month, the Senate majority leader characterized Southwest Virginia gun rights zealots as Deliverance creatures (see “Quote of the Day: But First Cue the Banjos“). Once again, to paraphrase Britney Spears, oops, I think he’s done it again.
Here’s the latest from the Senate majority leader, as reported by the Washington Post:
“We are West Virginia, if we pull Northern Virginia out of the equation,” Saslaw said, referring to the difference in the tax base between Northern and southern Virginia.
It’s easy to get mad at Saslaw, but he’s simply reflecting the views that many Northern Virginians feel but are too circumspect to say out loud. I remember hearing something similar 20 years ago from George Johnson, the former president of George Mason University: “Take away Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax County, and what you’re left with is…. Arkansas.” Badda boom! (Johnson had better delivery.)
Northern Virginians are an interesting bunch. As well as disowning downstate Virginia, they wash their hands of Washington, D.C. A good number of them would love to secede from the Commonwealth, perfectly happy to leave the inner city (Washington) and outlying countryside counties to fend for themselves. I can’t think of any other place in the country that’s quite so ruthless in wanting to slough off underperforming jurisdictions — or so contemptuous of their neighbors.
For the record, here’s how metropolitan statistical areas in RoVa (the rest of Virginia) stacks up to West Virginia in 2005 per capita income (a good proxy for a region’s tax base):
Richmond – $36,537
Charlottesville – $35,570
Hampton Roads – $33,163
Roanoke – $32,587
Lynchburg – $28,846
WEST VIRGINIA – $27,215
Harrisonburg – $26,419
Danville – $25,647
Blacksburg – $24,647
Please note that the MSAs with higher incomes than West Virginia are considerably more populous than the MSAs that are lower.
(Hat tip: The VA GOP Caucus blog.)