Meetings, Shmeetings
Yes, I’ll go to as many of these budget meetings as I can, but you’ve got to wonder why. Consider this passage from today’s Charlottesville Daily Progress:
“We’re not moving” toward compromise, Del. Mitchell Van Yahres, D-Charlottesville, said Monday of the deadlock. “In fact, we may be getting further apart,” as the House and Senate appear to be digging in to defend and preserve their budget positions.
“The senators I talk to feel they have already given some and it’s time for the House to move,” said Van Yahres, who supports the GOP-controlled Senate’s $60 billion budget because it provides more state aid for public schools and higher education.
Voters in Charlottesville and Albemarle strongly support that position, Van Yahres said. Personally, I’m getting nothing but ‘Stick to your guns – my guns, the Senate’s guns.'”
Dozens of voters in Del. Rob Bell’s surrounding district in Albemarle, Greene, Fluvanna and Orange counties are telling him something different, the Albemarle Republican said Monday.
“I’d say a clear majority have said if [the Senate’s budget] is what it takes, that’s too much,” Bell said. “I’m getting some that want the governor’s [$59 billion budget] position. I’m getting a relatively modest number that want the Senate’s position and, in my office, the majority say they don’t want a tax increase.”
In Front Royal Clifford L. “Clay” Athey Jr. (R-Front Royal) hasn’t even called a meeting with voters.
These guys hear what they want to hear. The only thing they listen to is the voice of election day.
Consider the Source
In the same story, you’ll find why the House delegates are being so obstinate: They’re being advised by one of former Gov. Jim Gilmore’s closest allies.
Speaking of which, a Virginian-Pilot editorial outlines Gilmore’s three biggest charades. They’ve come back to haunt us.
Meanwhile, local Roanoke officials think House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith (R-Salem) is clueless.
And Loudoun County Chairman Scott York is clearly frustrated. Maybe that’s why he’s a former Republican.
The Hampton Roads Daily Press has a good editorial about what people should do about school spending. They won’t like it. It sounds like work.