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Speaker Summaries
“We Want Our Leaders to Get Along!”Mayor’s Chief of Staff Says
Mayor Dwight Jones’ Chief of Staff, Suzette Denslow, told Richmond First Club members January 6 that her boss is working toward ‘getting along’.
“He reached out to the new Governor. They’re not of the same party, but ‘who cares?’ Richmond is the capital city,” she said. Likewise, he visited the boards of supervisors of Chesterfield and Henrico counties. Previous mayors have not done that, she said. With the Richmond City Council, “We’re working together when we can and we’re civil about it.”
“We have to focus on the good things,” she said. And she reeled off a very long list of “good things” that are happening or have happened in Richmond. Included were Mead Westvaco and Altria locating in Richmond, Riverfront housing, the Hilton Hotel, baseball, James River Canal Walk.
"Leaders make it happen,” she said. “The leadership has to convince people to come to Richmond. We have so much to offer.” "We have to focus on the good things,” Denslow said but used examples from the Richmond Times-Dispatch to suggest that that doesn’t always happen.
Her greatest concern was how the news was played that Richmond has dropped 50 cities from 49th to 99th in city crime rankings. The ranking by Congressional Quarterly Press was based on 2008 crime data.
The story was played as a short under the Metro listing of “News Near You” on December 5. That, she said, is a perfect example of “good news” that was practically ignored in newspaper coverage. The one paragraph short said the Quarterly Press ranked Richmond fifth in crime nationally in 2005. The astonishing drop to 49th from fifth in four years was attributed by Police Chief Bryan T. Norwood to community partnerships, close work with the commonwealth’s attorney’s office and the Cooperative Violence Reduction Partnership that includes local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.
In two other examples of what she believes are unfair portrayals of Richmond city crime, she provided copies of murder reports in the Times-Dispatch on the same day, April 14, 2009. A front page story reported on a Henrico murder with the headline, ‘Delivery driver was a ‘good person’. The story was about the robbery and killing of a Chinese food deliverer.
On the Metro front a very large headline read, “Man Killed in Richmond.” Was the Henrico man a good man and the Richmond man wasn’t , Denslow asked?
A Richmond First member said, yes, there is a lot of good going on in the city but unemployment continues to be a serious problem. “What is the mayor doing to address unemployment?,” she said.
Denslow replied, “We’re looking at workforce needs and the education system. “We want the drop-out rate to go from 31 percent to zero. We all know people who are looking for jobs.”
Richmond will be celebrating its sesquicentennial, she said. But, before that, she invited Club members and the public to attend Mayor Jones” State of the City annual address Tuesday, Jan. 26, at Richmond Center State, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
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Limitations on Virginia Governor and Government Hurt the State
December speaker summary - Bernie Niemeier and Mike Brooks on the Dillon Rule, Two-term Governors and more
“Virginia’s governor has about 18 months to accomplish anything.” And that isn’t long enough, according to Bernie Niemeier, the new owner and publisher of Virginia Business magazine.
As the only state in the nation that doesn’t allow the governor to succeed him or herself, Niemeier told the Richmond First Club December 2 that Virginia’s governors have control of their own budgets for only two of their four years in office.
Niemeier and Dr. Mike Brooks, professor emeritus of urban planning at VCU, spoke about handicaps to governing in Virginia.
“But,” Niemeier asked, “Is there the political will to take it (allowing two terms) on?” If two-term governor legislation had passed last year, the first time a governor could succeed himself would be 2017. Some fear the lengthier term would give too much power to the governor.
Career politicians, career lobbyists and bureaucrats hold too much power now, he said.
Niemeier believes the one-term limit stymies accomplishment and leadership.
He also believes that the moratorium on annexation, now extended to 2018, creates financial challenges for cities that have led some, such as South Boston, to become towns to operate under county governments. Fairfax County, he said, is exploring becoming a city because it is larger than any of Virginia’s independent cities. The independent city and county system creates unfair collection and distribution of resources, Niemeier said.
In response to a question about the seeming ability of Hampton Roads governments to work together more cohesively that the Richmond region, Niemeier agreed. “Hampton Roads is different because of its diversity. That is probably the influence of the military.”
Virginia Business has an office in Hampton Roads so he is there frequently. He cited a regularly sponsored Hampton Roads regional meeting that attracts about 1,100 attendees. Compare that to Richmond’s second Crupi report presentation that drew about 300 people. “We don’t see the same level of civic engagement that you see in Hampton Roads.”
They would say that they don’t have regional cooperation, he added. “But Mayor Paul Fraim (Norfolk) has done a wonderful job. They have a very, very impressive downtown.”
Mike Brooks Laments Failure to Use Survey Results
A former president of Richmond First Club, Brooks reviewed the results of a study on the Dillon Rule (resulting from an 1868 court case that local governments have only those powers given them by the state) by the Club in cooperation with the Virginia Municipal League and the Virginia Association of Counties.
Conducted eight years ago, Brooks said the results were never made available to the public. The 19 per cent response rate was low. However, the 131 responses were revealing. Surveys were sent to local governments across Virginia.
“We got a long list of things they wanted to do but couldn’t do,” Brooks said. “The list was the most valuable part of the report.” The list included such items as the inability to make local laws on guns in bars or signage.
Asked about preferences for home rule or sticking with the Dillon Rule, 49 percent preferred home rule, 39 percent had no opinion and 12 percent wanted to retain adherence to the Dillon Rule. They were mostly small town governments, Brooks said.
The Dillon Rule has long been praised by the state Chamber of Commerce and it is highly favored by lobbyists, he said. On controversial issues, it is much easier for lobbyists to deal with one entity—the state—rather than individual local governments. Brooks used gun legislation as an example. The National Rifle Association can kill state level legislation much more easily than would be possible if gun bills could be handled by local governments.
Dysfunction in Virginia is a result of the Dillon Rule, Brooks said. Leadership and advocacy for change is required to eliminate Dillon. That hasn’t surfaced.
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Suit tells Richmond First Club that change will come quickly with new administration
Terrie Suit was still exuberant from the Republican victory celebration of the night before when she spoke to Richmond First Club Wednesday, Nov. 4.
Change would start immediately, she said. A McDonnell staff member told her at the victory party that the first planning meeting for the new administration would be at 7 a.m. the next morning.
Suit, a former Republican delegate who represented Virginia Beach was Invited to speak on redistricting because of her former membership on the Privileges and Elections Committee when she served in the House of Delegates. Nonpartisan redistricting is an issue of emphasis for Richmond First Club.
At the lunch meeting, Suit read from the McDonnell campaign website: “Whether through legislation or a Blue Ribbon Governor’s Panel, Bob McDonnell will ensure bipartisan citizen involvement in the state legislative and Congressional district redistricting process in 2010-11.”
“He keeps his word,” she said. Richmond First members were urged to contact the McDonnell transition team to relay support for the last opportunity for 10 years to change the redistricting process. “Bob’s creation of a commission will have a huge impact.”
Since re-districting was not a bigissue in the campaigns, Suit said it will be important for supporters to press the governor to follow his promises.
Suit was on the subcommittee that killed legislation in 2008 that would have set up a commission. Political voting districts are changed every decade after the census. “The process is inherently political,” Suit said. Some P & E committee members are totally opposed to a bipartisan plan. But, she pointed out, there will be new members of committees after this election.
Asked how to get the attention of the new administration, she advised, “Send multiple letters multiple places.”
The transition team will be named very quickly. State agencies will prepare briefing books describing what action is underway in each agency so the new administration can become informed on the business of the Commonwealth that it is about to take over.
“It’s like a business that has been sold to a new owner,” she said. “They will have to decide who they put in positions and who they need to keep. There are approximately 300 agency heads and executive branch appointments to be made immediately.”
There wasn’t a great change between the Warner and Kaine administrations because they were of the same party. Between the Allen and Gilmore administrations, changes were fewer as well. The Attorney General’s office, also, will see limited change with the same party in charge, Suit predicted.
She reviewed changes that the House elections will bring about. There will be reorganization as Republicans gain one to two seats on each committee as a result of the eight seats they have picked up.
The 2010 session, she said, will likely emphasize ethics legislation. That will be prompted by the questions involving Del. Phil Hamilton (R-Newport News), a long time delegate and vice chairman of the Appropriations Committee, who sponsored a budget amendment for Old Dominion University and also sought a job at the university.
The loss of Hamilton will be felt because of the massive 27 percent of the budget devoted to Medicaid. “Hamilton,” she said, “is the guy who understands it.”
But she was sympathetic with the plight of elected leaders. Financial pressures on delegates are immense. When she decided to run for the House, her employer told her she would have to give up her bank job—the time demand would be too great. She was allowed to stay only after then Governor Jim Gilmore intervened with the bank. Delegates are paid $17,760 yet their service is now year-round for commissions, committees, constituent work and fund-raising.
Excited about the executive branch Republican victory, Suit has no regrets about having resigned from the House to take a lobbying job with Williams Mullen law firm. Her Navy seal husband retired two years ago and the pressures on a politician take a toll, she said.
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Does Virginia need tax reform?
Politicians Need to Look Under the Rocks
Revenue Sources Are There; Cuts Are Killing Va.
(highlights of Mr. Cassidy's presentation to the Richmond First Club on October 7, 2009)
When Michael Cassidy visits the General Assembly during legislative sessions, he spends much of his time in the House Finance Committee. But few folks are there. They’re all in the Appropriations Committee.
Getting the public interested or concerned about resources is challenging, Cassidy told the Richmond First Club at its October 7 meeting.
The House Finance Committee is the body that makes the laws that bring in revenues.The House Appropriations Committee spends the money.
In government, as in all of life, spending is more fun than producing resources.
Candidates running for office need to remember that when governments don’t have money, you’re talking about what pays for police and fire protection, children’s schools, health care and elder care. These public services are at risk with the billions cut from Virginia’s budget with more cuts to come in Governor Kaine’s final budget.
Cassidy is the executive director of The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, an organization initiated in 2006 to bring independent analysis to state finances.
He compares the present state financial situation to his large Boston family’s challenge in the 70s. In those tight times, his family cut costs. His father kept the thermostat so low the family shivered. They had to dip into college savings and his mother went back to work.
Likewise, Virginia has cut costs and used savings (the Rainy Day fund) but, Cassidy says, the state has not looked for more revenue sources and they are there.
“In 2009, we had a nine percent drop in state revenues. The state budget needs to grow by six percent a year to keep up with costs. This raises the question of whether we’re cutting so much that we’re damaging our structure.”
“It’s up to us to do some truth telling in the campaigns. Virginia is 48th among the states in spending on Medicaid and 37th on education. As an example of the challenge of trying to find major savings in existing public programs, he said , “The Health Care Commission came up with interesting proposals (for improving health care).” But, he said, even an outside management consulting firm couldn’t find savings in the existing Medicaid program to pay for them since the program is already quite lean.
Politicians have been too quick to grant loopholes. Tax advantages or tax elimination are enacted with no sunsets. “They just go into the (state) code and they stay there. They don’t come under review like the appropriated side of the budget.”
Many of the funds from the 2004 tax reform legislation disappeared. “Almost before the ink was dry, we began giving it away,” Cassidy said. Elimination of the estate tax and tax credits for long-term care are examples of the ‘give away,’ he said.
Internet sales taxes have been successfully passed in some states but to make that and other important tax reforms happen in Virginia, ‘We need a champion. We could use your help.”
Virginia also needs revision of its unemployment laws. Workers getting re-trained or those with part-time jobs are handicapped by laws that restrict payment to those who are available for full-time work. Just four states have more “anemic” unemployment laws, Cassidy said.
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