Election Blues

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				THE
Column Archive				VIRGINIA GAZETTE
				WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA
Election Blues				October 23, 2002

Last week they held an election in Iraq, and, to no one’s surprise, Saddam Hussein won big with 100% of the vote. The Iraqis claimed that it was the most democratic election in the world, and they may be right.

Although Saddam’s name was the only one on the ballot, the voters could at least give him a thumbs up or thumbs down – Yes or No.

That is more than we can say for what’s going to happen in these parts in a couple of weeks. Following the Iraqi model, we will have two candidates on the ballot who, like Saddam, face no opposition. What’s different is that we won’t have the possibility of voting Yes or No.

Furthermore, unlike the activists who waged a fierce electoral battle for Saddam, our two candidates are off the local radar screen completely. John Warner is up in Washington leading all the president’s men into battle against democratic Iraq. Having made one loop around the state looking for non-existent Democrats, he’s gone back home to engage in more entertaining senatorial contests.

Jo Ann Davis, meanwhile, has been busy penning pithy literary gems to local newspapers about why Saddam Hussein, as opposed to Osama bin Laden, has become the worlds No. 1 terrorist. Obviously Davis now fancies herself a picaresque policy wonk astride the stage of international relations. Today Hampton Roads. Tomorrow the world.

So, the only dramatic tension around here on election day will involve what happens to the various referenda on the ballot. And perhaps the most intense interest will focus on the transportation referendum, which seems, at this point, to be a toss up. But at least for this we can vote Yes or No.

Last week Governor Warner did a call-in radio show to promote the referendum. But one caller caught him somewhat off guard when he asked the governor three basic questions:

1) Why is there no completion date for the projects mentioned in the referendum?

2) How can we be sure that the money collected from a higher sales tax will remain in the transpo pot?

3) Isn’t this a problem that the state legislature, and not the people, should address?

In his response, Warner allowed as how no one could predict when the projects would be completed. Guesses run anywhere from 35 to 60 years. In other words, there is no endgame, and, given the recent history of VDOT’s performance, there never will be an endgame. It may well be that, by the time these projects are completed, they will indeed be obsolete.

In response to the second question, Warner strongly argued that, because of several safeguards now in place, the money could not be used for any other purpose. But can we be sure that a flow of money running into transpo coffers for 35-60 years will be held sacrosanct by future legislatures? I have my doubts, and especially given the fiscal bind the state will find itself in for years to come.

Indeed, according to an October 7 article in the Virginian Pilot, in the last decade lawmakers have pillaged $1 billion in funds earmarked for special projects. Just this year the legislature rifled $317 million from the Transportation Trust Fund, which gets its revenue from a half cent sales tax supposedly dedicated to road construction.

Even Sen. Martin E. Williams, a sponsor of the referendum, said that, given the nature of government, it’s impossible to guarantee the money will never be diverted.

But it is the third question that gets to the heart of the matter. In fact, it deals with the very concept of representative democracy and the responsibilities attendant upon our elected officials.

Yet, according to Governor Warner, the legislature is “not in the mood” to deal with the transportation problem.

Not in the mood?

My response to that is that they better pass around whatever pharmaceuticals they use up in Richmond to activate their addlepated brain cells and get “in the mood.” And they better do it soon!

We elect representatives to deal with statewide and regional issues that are simply beyond the purview of individuals and municipal governments. It is the legislature that must deal with these issues and the legislature that has the authority to provide funding for statewide operations, such as education, parks and recreation, and, yes, roads, bridges and tunnels.

Yet evidently the putty-headed, quiescent quahogs we’ve elected to the legislature are not “in the mood,” and would rather devolve the responsibility they’ve shirked onto the shoulders of the people. Rather than tell the people that we desperately need to dust the cobwebs off our tax code and raise the income tax, the tax on cigarettes, or any other tax, so that we can do what’s necessary to ease the traffic gluts in the state, they withdraw into their clammy shells and tell us to do it.

Well, Saddam, I vote No to all that. Let our elected dilettantes belly up to the bar and imbibe a double shot of reality for a change.