Bob McDonnell and Bill Bolling announced a set of “good government” reforms yesterday that is thoughtful, comprehensive, and far reaching.
Empowering the public to reelect their Governor to a second term.
Bipartisan redistricting.
Tougher lobbyist disclosure.
Judicial appointment reform.
They’re for it all.
The package also includes the establishment of an independent state ethics commission and a governmental performance commission that will review all state agencies and boards on an eight year cycle.
It also endorses greater transparency measures, such as live video streaming of executive branch boards and commissions.
Creigh Deeds, Brian Moran and a number of reporters pointed out that McDonnell had previously opposed bipartisan redistricting (Bolling has publicly supported it for years) and they find his newfound support to be an election year makeover.
It may well be.
But that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t do it.
What’s that Emerson line about a foolish consistency being the hobgoblin of little minds?
It seems to me that McDonnell and Bolling realize that at a time when citizens have become very suspicious of big government and big business, advocating transparency and greater scrutiny of insider deals will be very appealing (and it just happens, of course, to be related to the kind of charges they’ll make if Terry McAuliffe is the Democratic nominee).
Moreover, it is the kind of reform agenda that has bipartisan appeal without alienaing the party’s conservative base.
Now, it’s rare that good government proposals actually drive the vote in statewide elections.
But McDonnell and Bolling are trying to make, I think, a more encompassing pitch.
They’re working to ensure that the Democrats don’t have the rhetoric of change and reform all to themselves this fall.
It may be one of those cases where good government is even smarter politics.
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