1. VITA Mess Worsens
Yesterday’s story by Peter Bacque in the RTD introduced a new element into the VITA mess. It seems that problems about cost and contractor performance (as important as these are) are not the only significant issues. Bacque notes that “Virginia’s new expensive IT system does not have network backups in case connections between its computers fail.” George Coulter, Virginia’s new chief information officer, notes that the backup requirement was not included in the Northrop Grumman contract. The practical problems related to the lack of backup are enormous. D.B. Smit, DMV Commissioner, observes that his agency has been having problems since July “keeping the drivers license system up” and that every time DMV loses an hour, “2500 people are inconvenienced.” It’s hard to imagine that the VITA story could get worse. But it has.
2. Attention Shifts to Congress
The 2010 congressional elections appear to be attracting considerable interest in Virginia political circles. More so than the usual. It’s a result, at least in part, from the growing linkage between state and national politics, evident in both the Obama election in ‘08 and the McDonnell campaign this year. I’ve spoken to a number of business groups recently and they were very interested in knowing how Virginia’s congressional delegation were responding to the issues at the top of the national agenda.
3. No Relief from Budget Problems
General Assembly money committees confirmed this way what almost everybody has suspected: there’s no immediate relief from the continuing budget shortfalls that have afflicted state and local government. The numbers are likely to be worse than expected for this fiscal year and two to three billion less than had been initially forecasted for the upcoming biennium. Governor Kaine will be presenting his ideas for how to cope in less than two weeks. Governor-Elect McDonnell will have about a month to decide upon any adjustments or recommendations that he’ll want to make to these proposals. This is one reason why I’m in favor of the proposal made by the Wilder Commission and recently seconded by Albert Pollard and Chris Saxman to alter the budget cycle so that the new Governor assumes office in the second year of the biennium and does not have to wait two years to propose his own budget.
4. Bipartisan Redistricting?
House Republicans have historically been very cool to the idea. But with all three statewide Republican officeholders in favor, it will be interesting to see if the idea gains more traction this year. Bob McDonnell supported it in the campaign Bill Bolling has supported it for years. And Ken Cuccinelli was a co-sponsor in the Senate. With the census coming up next year, the General Assembly is at a “now or almost never” moment. We’ll see if having three statewide GOP officeholders alters the House calculus.
5. Going Rogue in Roanoke
Sarah Palin comes to sell books in Roanoke today. Will the GOP want to “go rogue” against Obama in 2012 or will they be looking for a “Bob McDonnell-style” candidate who can keep conservatives in the fold while appealing to moderates as well? And McDonnell, by the way, never asked Palin to come “go rogue” in Virginia during the campaign.
6. Michael Martz on State Finances
Recent stories in the RTD on state finances were written by Michael Martz. I couldn’t tell whether he was writing as permanent reassignment or as a temporary fill-in. But if Martz becomes a permanent addition on Finance to the RTD’s state government team , it would be an excellent move. He’s a first-rate reporter who’s covered business and finance issues. And he has excellent investigative skills. Given the critical importance of budget choices over the next few months in the Commonwealth, it’ll be helpful to have a newspaper that explains the choices to the public clearly and coherently.
7. Media General’s Potential
Part of what I do on this site is to aggregate stories about Virginia politics and government from various newspapers across the state. I’ve been thinking a lot about the downsizing of the newspaper business and what might come next. I’ve mentioned that the influence of The Washington Post has been enhanced because it is one of the few papers that is still dedicating significant resources to covering Virginia politics. I think that Media General is another group that has enormous potential- if it would consider developing a new and unique web-based product with a Virginia-focus, one that would be very different from the Post but might be a state version of Politico.com. Media General has unparalleled reach across the state, excellent reporters across a number of newspapers (just take a look at some of the articles in the Bristol Herald-Courier about strip mining or disciplinary proceedings of the Virginia State Bar), and a set of media properties more Virginia-centric than the Post. How about establishing an integrated web-service that includes the best articles (and video reports) about Virginia and its localities from the multiple outlets it owns? The RTD may no longer have the staff resources to blanket the Commonwealth, but Media General could develop a model for how state and local political coverage could be offered in the internet age.
Regarding number seven, I agree there needs to be a strong web-based source for Virginia political stories. But who needs Media General to be involved? If anything we need more competition to create better news.
What really needs to happen is a political version of something like Richmond BizSense, an independent start up with a niche focus on politics. Get one or two seasoned reporters and that’s all you need at first.
I agree with your asssessment of the work of Michael Martz. His article, “Officials Seek Ways to Deal with Budget Shortfall,” in Sunday’s TD was the best article on school funding and was excellent.