Virginia Tomorrow

Or How Assembly Members Cope with No New Money

I think that it was former Delegate Vince Callahan who, in a moment of unvarnished honesty, explained the tendency of the Assembly to allocate almost every penny that comes to the state in times of prosperity by saying that we had the money so we spent it.

Callahan’s remark was not intended as a defense of the practice, but only as a candid description of how the Assembly operated.

It was a perceptive observation.

Not only of what happens in Virginia but of what takes place in state legislatures everywhere.

It is always easier to distribute new dollars than to cut existing ones. And while everyone endorses reducing waste and fraud in general, the specific requests that come to legislators are almost uniformly about needs and wants that have yet to be met.

Most any legislator will tell you that the good things that can be done (and in many respects should be done) typically exceed the pot of available money. In Virginia, there are roads to be built, children to be educated, and people who need access to health care.

I vividly remember Senator Ken Stolle coming to a class I taught a number of years ago and delivering the following message to my students:

He said  (and I’m paraphrasing here) “I’m a very conservative guy who is normally suspicious of expanding the role of government. But I’ll be sitting in a committee hearing and an eighty year old woman will be testifying that she is having trouble taking her of her 60 year old disabled son, that she doesn’t have the physical strength to do some of the things that need to be done for him. And she wants to know if there is anything we can do to help her out, to allow her to keep her son at home. Well, it’s hard for me to look her in the eye and say ’sorry, there’s nothing we can do for you.’ I’m not sure that state government is the answer, but I want to be able to find some answer in some way to help this woman take care of her son.”

And when new money is available, legislators will usually find plenty of good things to take care of, even while they’re debating just how large and extensive government’s role should be.

But this year is different in Virginia.

Maybe everywhere (with the exception, I guess, of Alaska).

A declining economy is forcing legislators to slim down. I’ve spoken to a number of General Assembly members in the past few months and have been reading the pre-session stories from around the Commonwealth.

From what I’ve heard and seen, these are the diet tips that are most likely to be adopted.

1. Go Cold Turkey on 2009 Budget Promises

I’ve been at a number of meetings where legislators from both parties have been speaking to constituents and interest groups over the past few months. They haven’t been pulling any punches about Virginia’s finances.  And they’re not making any promises relating to money.  That’s ANY with the “A,” the “N,” and the “Y” all capitalized.

2. Clean Up Bad or Unpopular Regulations

Most legislators aren’t “just say no” kind of folks and want to be responsive to their constituents. What I have been observing is that while they are very blunt with constituent groups about the state’s budget constraints, they are asking the same groups to provide them with ideas for what they might do to assist them on matters that are not essentially financial.  Reporters such as Garren Shipley at The Daily Staff and Bob Stuart of the News Virginian are doing a good job looking at the agendas of their local officials. And Shipley says it looks like a “Fix-It” session. I think  he’s on to something.

3. Propose to Address the Big Issues with Tomorrow’s Money

Governor Kaine decided not to take a final bite at the transportation apple this session,  concluding that the House majority is not serious about wanting to do anything about it. A couple of clever Republicans, Dave Albo and Glen Oder, have taken the Governor’s decision as an opportunity to make proposals of their own. Oder’s recommendation for expanding access to and from all ports in Virginia has gotten a lot of media play. One key feature of these ideas is that the principal funding comes out of monies related to future growth.  I doubt that the entire Assembly will want to encumber tomorrow’s morning in today’s conditions, but it is smart politics for Republicans to get positive transportation proposals on the table.

4. Spend Obama’s Money

Conservative talk radio show hosts are already complaining that Obama’s stimulus package is socialist in conception and likely to drive the budget deficit much higher. But I presume that the Governor and the General Assembly, including the GOP majority in the House, won’t have any problem taking socialist dollars and spending them on Virginia roads and bridges. 

5. Keep Your Eye on November

Everyone thinks that the session will be all about money. But diets are no fun if you spend every waking moment obsessing about them. Why come to Richmond if all you do is eat your peas? Enjoy yourself and take a few shots at the other side. Has Kaine abandoned the state? Are the Republicans the Party of No?  Say it Loud!

Fortunately, for those of us who enjoy political theater,  even dieting legislators know that there is nothing fattening about taking partisan advantage.