Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 23, 1995 TAG: 9502230045
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY L. GARLAND
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
When I arrived in Richmond 25 years ago, about the only non-state agency receiving public funds was the United Daughters of the Confederacy. It came in for a few thousand to tend the graves of Confederate soldiers, and still does.
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, then holding a decidedly second-rate collection, was a full-fledged state agency in which most of us took great pride. But the bulk of Virginia attractions - Mount Vernon, Monticello, Colonial Williamsburg, etc. - got by without state support and still do.
When a Virginia Museum of Science was located in Richmond in the '70s, legislators from other parts of the state began to ask, "If Richmond is going to have both the fine arts and the sciences, why can't we get something back home?" Roanoke wanted state money for its own science museum plus an art center. Norfolk put in for the Chrysler. Hampton wanted an Air and Space Museum; Staunton a showcase for frontier culture; and Martinsville felt it was perfect for the Virginia Museum of Natural History.
Roanoke had especially big eyes. During the go-go governorship of Gerald Baliles, when the money poured in for a time, the Star City believed it had won a state commitment worth tens of millions to build Explore - an entertainment and educational complex to honor the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804, launched not from the banks of the Roanoke but from the Missouri. While the expected flood of money turned into a trickle, Roanoke managed to land a hook in the state budget for no less than seven local attractions.
The key to winning the game was getting your project designated a state agency. That made pulling the plug almost unthinkable. The late A.L. Philpott, when speaker of the House, easily persuaded his colleagues that Virginia needed a museum of natural history in Martinsville. By the merest coincidence, it happened to be in his district. It has been the subject of recent controversy by reason of disappointing local support. But it was down for 34 employees and $4.2 million in the 1994-96 state budget. Allen proposed a minuscule cut of $58,000, which may not stand.
From the $8.9 million budget of the state Museum of Science, the governor would have taken $629,000. The Museum of Fine Arts, expecting $20.7 million, would have been cut almost 10 percent. But the howls of protest from Richmond's finest made it seem like the rape of the Sabines. They even ran a full-page ad in the local paper decrying the cuts: Hell hath no fury like a culture vulture scorned.
But the governor's ax would have fallen hardest on those many private ventures spread to the four corners of the commonwealth. In droves they had persuaded their local legislators to talk to their colleagues in the world's oldest political tongue: "Fund my project and I'll help fund yours." I count an amazing 64 of these entries in the current budget, including the Historic Crab Orchard Museum, wherever it may be.
This entire group was counting on about $5 million from the state in the fiscal year beginning July 1. Allen wanted that cut in half. He should have known it wouldn't fly.
It surprised me that Allen had a dog in this fight. When he kindly granted an interview last March, we discussed this subject at length because he had just come from a speech at Poplar Forest, designed and lived in by Thomas Jefferson. A private foundation is restoring the property and hopes to operate along the lines of Monticello.
Legislative benefactors had secured $1 million for Poplar Forest in this budget. I asked the governor if he didn't think this sort of thing was getting out of hand. He took the opposite view, holding it a good idea to encourage private initiatives with state dollars. Obviously, something changed his mind.
Well, is it a good idea? You can make a case. But there are two minor objections and one major concern. First, there isn't much accountability for these funds. Second, left to their own devices, we have dozens of little empire-builders at work, all promoting ever-expanding designs. My guess is that much that is second-rate is being sold as greatly meritorious.
The more serious side is the extent to which these relatively small dollars are driving the legislative process. I know for a fact that many groups of influential citizens measure the effectiveness of legislators by their skill in squeezing the state teat. This gives undue influence to those few occupying senior posts on the money committees. If you're asking Sen. X to get you that $25,000 for the shuffleboard museum in Paint Bank, you're going to be circumspect when his bill comes up before your committee.
Sen. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County, got the Senate to adopt a budget amendment reducing state funding for any of these entities not raising at least 30 percent of its budget privately. That sounds sensible. But, apparently, that would be a threat only to the Museum of Natural History in Martinsville, which raises only 13 percent of its budget from private donors. That is made suspect by the fact that Bell had previously tried to merge the museum with Explore in Roanoke, and his amendment may not survive the House.
Allen was hoist on his own sensible question of Dec. 19: "Is this activity, no matter how well-intentioned or entrenched, essential for state government and taxpayers to provide?" But a governor shouldn't start a war he can't possible win - certainly not when so little money is at stake. All his culture cuts would have saved only $5 million and change, or about what is spent on Medicaid in a day.
Ray L. Garland is a Roanoke Times & World-News columnist.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995
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