Commentary

The Commonwealth of Virginia faces many challenges: expanding an aging transportation infrastructure to meet current and future demands; repairing a mental health system that is clearly broken; balancing a budget for a growing state with declining revenues; protecting an environment that is threatened; updating a creaky government to use technology. And there are others.

Not on that list of challenges but consuming valuable time of the House of Delegates last week was the Republican majority’s fight against an imagined threat of unionism in the state. The call to arms by the majority party came when a delegate introduced a bill at the request of a constituent to repeal the current ban on collective bargaining by teachers, police and fire personnel, and other public employees. The delegate had responded to the request of the constituent by introducing the bill but knowing that it had no chance of passage asked the Rules Committee that it be struck from the calendar.

The request to strike a bill by its patron is routinely granted as a courtesy. I do not know nor have I been able to find anyone who knows when a bill that had not been acted upon was not struck at the request of the patron. But the Rules Committee would not grant the request. The Republican majority apparently saw in the bill a threat so great to the Commonwealth that it needed to be trounced rather than struck.

After refusing the patron’s request, the majority on the Rules Committee under a new rule adopted this year voted to send the bill to the floor of the House of Delegates where it could be walloped. Under the new rule, the bill was sent to the floor without recommendation to keep the committee majority from having to take a position on the merits of the bill. Had the bill been considered on its merits, the majority would have defeated it in committee.

Why take up valuable legislative floor time with an issue that clearly did not have enough support for passage? The answer came in a letter from the Speaker of the House sent out the same day as the committee action. The Speaker’s letter morphed the bill on collective bargaining for public employees into an attack on the state’s right to work law. “As House Republicans believe Virginia’s status as a Right to Work state is crucial to retaining the vitality of the state’s economy, and in light of the open opposition to this policy by many elected Democrats, we see now as the ideal time to measure the level of legislative consensus on this issue,” the Speaker wrote. A great deal of legislative time could have been saved by simply contacting the National Right to Work organization and asking them how legislators responded to their survey on this issue. Democrats refused to take part in the partisan shenanigans and refused to vote on the bill. Because the Democrats were present, the Republican majority leader cast a vote for them. It was a dark day for the legislative process in Virginia.

Members who have been struggling to reach consensus on difficult and important issues were divided over a bogus issue. Valuable time was lost. All Virginia legislators must resist opportunities for political gamesmanship. Save the partisan sniping for election campaigns. Get on with responsible governing by dealing with the real challenges facing the Commonwealth. We must get back on and stay on task.

Dulles Corridor Rail Update

After many years of working through the federal process for funding the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, the Commonwealth of Virginia, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, and rail proponents found themselves at the last moment in the approval process confronted by many questions and statements of doubt from the Federal Transit Administration. Casting aside findings and recommendations from their own consultants and ignoring information previously provided by the state and MWAA, FTA officials displayed what one attendee described as “the most outrageous display of bureaucratic arrogance” he had ever observed. The state and MWAA are responding to FTA’s latest demands by refiling information requested and referencing FTA consultant reports.

The Project clearly meets statutory and regulatory requirements for federal funding. The current difficulty may be politically motivated or reflective of an anti-public transit bias in the agency. Congressional and state delegation members are working with the Kaine administration and MWAA officials and business and community leaders to keep the project moving forward. The outpouring of community support has been tremendous.

Please call the White House at 202.456.1111 between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. to express your support for the Dulles Rail Project. To sign up your business or organization as supporters of the Project, go to www.DullesMetrorailNow.com. For more information on the project, go to www.dullescorridorrail.com.

Around the Capitol with Delegate Ken Plum

Governor Timothy M. Kaine appointed me to his Commission on Climate Change. The commission is charged with preparing a Climate Change Action Plan that will inventory Virginia’s greenhouse gas emissions and identify actions that need to be taken to achieve a 30 percent reduction goal. Suggestions and ideas for the Commission should be sent to me at kenplum@aol.com.

Bills to repeal the abusive driver fees that were enacted last year as part of the transportation funding package have passed both houses of the legislature with emergency clauses to make them effective immediately. About 170,000 persons signed an online petition against the fees soon after they passed last year. Still to be resolved is whether persons who have paid the fees will get their money back and if so how the refund process would work..

Delegate Ken Plum's Weekly "Virginia Report"
on Reston Comcast Channel 28

View Delegate Plum’s Virginia Report online at http://www.rctv28.com/videosVR.htm.

Tune in to Reston Comcast Channel 28 on Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. and on Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m. for “Delegate Ken Plum’s Richmond Report.”

Announcements

Delegate Plum has a series of practical and informational materials dealing with natural gas safety and energy cost management. Email kenplum@aol.com with your name and address to receive these free brochures.

Virginia Health Careers, an engaging and informative sourcebook for Virginia students and adults considering new career paths, is an initiative of the Virginia Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program and the Virginia Health Care Foundation. The manual is available online at www.ahec.vcu.edu.

The Virginia Prepaid Education Program (VPEP) allows you to lock in the cost of future tuition and mandatory fees at Virginia’s public community colleges and four-year universities. VPEP contracts are available for newborns through ninth-graders during a limited enrollment period that ends February 29, 2008. For more information, visit www.Virginia529.com or call toll free at 1-888-567-0540.

The College Leaders Program at the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership gives students who are dedicated to community and political engagement a chance to receive in-depth classroom instruction and hands-on training in practical politics. Students meet the people who affect policy, including elected officials, members of the news media, and the state’s most distinguished business and non-profit leaders May 31 through June 28, 2008, at the University of Virginia. Application deadline is March 2. If you have questions about the College Leaders Program contact Chris Wrobel, Assistant to the Director of Youth Programs, at christopher.wrobel@virginia.edu or 434.243.2470. Financial aid is available; potential applicants are strongly urged to apply regardless of financial concerns.

The Virginia Alzheimer’s and Related Diseases Research Award Fund (ARDRAF) established by legislation Delegate Ken Plum introduced is the most productive state-based seed grant program in the country to stimulate research on dementia, according to the Virginia Center on Aging. The program provides a return to Virginia of $9 for every $1 in General Fund appropriation.

The Artisans Center of Virginia supports and promotes the culture of Virginia artisans through education, entrepreneurship, research, gallery and exhibitions. Find out about the Center at www.ArtisansCenterofVirginia.org or call 877.508.6069. Visit the Center at 800 West Broad Street, Willow Oak Plaza, Waynesboro, Virginia. Take Waynesboro Exit 94 off I-64 and follow the brown signs North to the Artisans Center.

Calendar of Events

Share your thoughts at a panel discussion hosted by the Reston Association, "Making Meaningful Connections: How local Organizations Can Reach Out to a Diverse Community" on Wednesday, January 30, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at RA's main conference room at 1930 Isaac Newton Square. A light dinner will be provided, and translation services and child care will be provided. To register, call Karen Monaghan at 703.435.6514.

“Seeds of Independence: Freed People’s Settlement on Mason Neck” will be presented on Sunday, February 3, 2:00 p.m. at the Gunston Hall Visitors Center. Learn about the origins of Shiloh Baptist Church and cemetery and a Negro School established in the late 19th century on land once owned by George Mason and the search today for the Log-Town slave quarter built at Gunston Hall in the 1700s. Call 703.550.9220 for information and registration.

Join Congressman Jim Moran in Alexandria on Tuesday, February 5, 7 to 9 p.m. for a meeting on the future of energy in Virginia and a discussion about moving Virginia away from coal-based energy and toward conservation and renewable energy generation. The event is free and is sponsored by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and the Sierra Club at Lyles Crouch Elemenetary School, 530 South St. Asaph Street, Alexandria.

The annual Polar Plunge at Lake Anne will be held on Saturday, February 9, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Take a full winter dip, a "Chicken Dip," or sponsor a brave plunger. Registered participants will plunge into Lake Anne to raise funds for Camp Sunshine. Registration forms and pledge sheets are at www.freezinforareason.com. Spectators are welcome.

The Democratic and Republican Presidential Primary Elections will be held on Tuesday, February 12. Polls open at 6:00 a.m. and close at 7:00 p.m. go to your regular polling place to vote. visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/eb for information about voting absentee in person or by mail and to download an application for an absentee ballot.

A special groundbreaking event to celebrate the beginning of the major restoration and repair work on Reston’s streams will be held on Tuesday, February 12, 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. at the United Christian Parish Church, 2222 Colts Neck Drive in Reston. This landmark project was made possible through the collaborative effort of innovative leaders in the community who have a passion for preserving Reston’s treasured natural environment. RSVP to karen@reston.org.

Bid on treasures from the past at Reston Museum's "Attic Auction" on Thursday, February 12, 5:30 p.m. Live bidding begins at 6:30 p.m. Visit www.restonmuseum.org for more information about the Museum.

Authorized and Paid for by Kenneth R. Plum

Delegate Kenneth R. Plum | 2073 Cobblestone Lane | Reston | VA | 20191