Laboring Virginia
An instructive session at the State Capital
Tuesday’s Virginia Senate Commerce and Labor Committee meeting deserves watching. You can pull these things up on-line and watch them at your leisure. It offered some clarity on the divisions in this state.
The particulars of the debate — the cost of retail electricity — are less important than the regional dynamics. A Republican representative of Southwest Virginia sought to relieve economic pressure on his constitutents and the ruling, majority Democrats did not give a hoot.
There’s calculation here by Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell: He’s cutting rural Virginia loose. He would never say so in specific terms and may make occasional gestures in its direction, but that’s Trumpland down there and in fundamental disagreement with what his caucus believes and desires.
It’s jarring to watch. There were once many, many Democrats representing the rural reaches of Virginia. The influence of Northern Virginia, despite a stumble here and there, continues to grow and Surovell knows it. Why worry about the unattainable and, in his eyes, the unattractive?
I worked for the last Virginia governor from Southwest Virginia and that was nine governors ago. Jerry Baliles grew up in Patrick County. That’s not far Southwest Virginia, but far enough to qualify so far as Northern Virginia is concerned. We knew what Nothern Virginia represented, but rural Virginia never left our active interest. It mattered.
Northern Virginia blew past the Rappahannock River some time ago and will arrive on the banks of the James soon enough. It will then move east and west along the corridors of I-64 that extend from Richmond. Once that happens, rural Virginia will be on its own politically. It’s close to that now and, as I say, Surovell knows his own Democratic caucus, as he must.
What arrests that trend? Republican moderation. Republican courage. Republican integrity. The GOP should become what the Democrats once were: About Virginia – first, last and always. They must be “Virginia Republicans.”
The Democrats who I came up with were mostly “Virginia Democrats” – a thing apart, a blending of things not altogether given to blending.
People such as Doug Wilder choked on the phrase. Virginia Democrats? Wilder discovered what that was as a young man and never forgot.
Wilder – at least in my lifetime – was the single most talented person to take a political stroll through Virginia and, in the early stages, ran into one hurdle after another.
But the Virginia Democrats, as they evolved, still got Wilder to the top of the heap. He could not have done it without them and the doing of it made us proud to be Virginians. While Wilder’s choices after his election as governor were more mixed, he’s still a source of pride.
Say this about Wilder: You will get a critique of the world out of him, but he will always remain true to Virginia. He’s never flinched on that part.
As for the current crop of Democrats, you see ambivalence to the point of hostility on the subject of Virginia. It’s a more than a bit odd, given the circumstances.
Everything that comes out of Surovell’s mouth ends up an expression of national Democratic Party preferences. He justifies his politics on a negative: Defeat them. Defeat the Republicans. He resides in a simple world.
But does that end up with something useful to Virginia as a whole? Nope. It’s almost always too much.
Could the GOP moderate itself and become more attractive to those voters not committed to the extreme ends of ideology?
Theoretically, yes.
Practically? It would take some effort and expose moderation’s adherents to challenges. Trump has revealed Democratic Party vulnerabilities in Virginia, but in highly acerbic ways and, if Virginia Republicans try to swallow the whole Trump menu, it will keep the Democrats going.
So, yes, it’s not without political risk. You would have to be brave. And smart.
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As these legislative committee gatherings go, Senate Commerce and Labor had more life to it than most.
That was encouraging, because this – meaning the process of making public choices – is literally about life. If it ends up flat, inert and uneventful, then you can hardly say it’s real and true to the society in which we reside.
Too much legislative work is being done this session before too few people – on both sides of the dais. Not so long ago, the practice of having poorly attended subcommittees make the key decision on the life of a bill was frowned upon, but the legislature has returned to the practice.
It’s convenient in a time-constrained legislative session – that’s partly why it’s allowed. But it is so bloody ironic. The 21 people running the Virginia Senate – the Democrats – are predominantly progressives and have presented themselves as a break with history and agents of a better world. But they have fallen into the same old, sorry, arrogant legislative habits of times long past. Everything old is new again.
If you are new to the General Assembly – most of the senators and delegates are -- and you wish to celebrate your newness, then why not embrace and encourage new things? Why not approach the law-making process in fresh and creative ways? Has anyone ever wondered why these legislative sessions begin in January and end so quickly?
The single most striking new thing about these modern, more advanced Democrats is not them, but the building. The old General Assembly Building opened for business in 1978 and, lord help me, I got that there before that, when everyone made do in what had been the Hotel Richmond – or what is sometimes known as the Ninth Street Office Building.
Some of the old Hotel Richmond signage may still be found and it was once a true cockpit of political Virginia – the oldest of its category while still in business as a hotel. Statewide campaigns were directed from within its meeting rooms and certain numbered rooms were much coveted.
And what is the Hotel Richmond’s category? Lodging adjacent to the State Capitol, basically. There were hotels on that block going back to the 18th century.
It wasn’t just that the legislators lived there and ate there, they also made the legislative decisions there. The lobby was often a workable place to sort out differences. They would then just stroll over to the Capitol and ratify their choices. The process was far more opaque than now.
There’s always a pull toward keeping the curtain drawn. You see that happening in Richmond now. Even with all the fancy spaces, comfy chairs and giant TV’s, would some of them be content to meet unannounced in a closet? Sure. Because there’s less grief involved.
Of course, there’s considerably less democracy, too.
This new building will shape thing but in ways not well anticipated, I suspect, and may have already. A few years ago, Jack Brown, a Kings College lecturer in London, did a wonderful little book called, “No 10: The Geography of Power at Downing Street.” He begins by quoting Churchill on the 1943 rebuilding of the bomb-damaged Houses of Parliament:
“We shape our buildings and afterwards our building shape us,” said the great man.
That happens to be true. The Virginia Governor’s Office once occupied the third floor of the State Capitol and it was a far, far better arrangement. Familiarity may breed contempt, but it helps keep everyone honest, too.
The layout, the architecture of a public building – executive, legislative or judicial -- can strongly influence what happens in the building. I’ll probe that more later.