Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 15, 1993 TAG: 9301150441
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
GOV. WILDER
A PASSIONATE plea for support of his legislative package to curb gun trafficking and violent crime was a focus of Gov. Wilder's opening speech Wednesday to the General Assembly.With good reason. Wilder has faced off against the powerful gun lobby. He will need a heap of passion - and cunning, and public backing - to convince lawmakers to see things his way.
But while gun control looms large in the '93 session, lawmakers should not shunt aside other important matters Wilder has put before them.
Wednesday night, for example, he constructively expressed support for ethics and campaign-finance reforms, and also for welfare reform.
The governor proposes pooling of federal, state and local welfare funds into a job-assistance trust fund, from which money could be drawn to train welfare mothers for specific jobs.
During training, participants would get support services in health care, child care and transportation. Once in the ranks of the employed, their taxes then would replenish the fund - repaying government for services received.
Wilder's proposal is similar to one advanced by a state anti-poverty commission. If necessary federal waivers could be granted, the idea sounds promising. The aim of welfare, after all, should not be merely to sustain those living in poverty, but to help them achieve self-sufficiency.
And doubtless it will please many lawmakers and Virginians that, like gun control, this proposal would require no additional state spending.
This is in keeping with Wilder's fiscally conservative management and opposition to tax increases. (Naturally, he did a little horn-tooting on that score Wednesday - it's his due.)
But what about school-funding disparities, or children's health programs, or alternatives to incarceration, or an earned income-tax credit for the working poor, for example? Regrettably, some state efforts do require the butter of additional money. Some governor, some day, will recognize that.
Apparently not Wilder. Neither his fiscal acumen nor his initiatives - including the gun-control crusade - are to be disparaged. But Wilder is notably attracted to causes that can be done on the cheap.