Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 22, 1995 TAG: 9506220030
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ray L. Garland
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
That leaves three black-majority districts still occupied by white delegates. One assumes that sooner rather than later they will be claimed for their intended purpose, but not this year. After surviving strong black challengers in the primaries of 1991 and 1993, all three of the white delegates holding these seats were renominated this year without a fight. It should be noted that the capital's old black leadership backed Ball, arguing that his chairmanship was too valuable for Richmond to lose.
On the other side of the coin, no white-majority district is now held by a black. The last person to do that was Robert Scott, elected to the 2nd Senatorial District in 1982 when Republican Herbert Bateman was elevated to the Congress. Scott was three times re-elected in the same district.
In the 1991 reapportionment of assembly seats, Scott protested the move to concentrate as much as possible of the black population of Newport News and Hampton in his senatorial district. But when that same reapportionment created a black-majority congressional district, he stood for it. It may be presumed Scott can hold the Third District so long as he has an interest in doing so.
While former Gov. Douglas Wilder held an overwhelmingly black senatorial district from 1971 until his election as lieutenant governor in 1985, he was originally elected in a white-majority district in 1969.
There may be a connection between Wilder's first race and the fact that when he sought statewide office in the 1980s, he adopted a basically conservative pitch that won strong though not majority support among white voters. I do know Wilder was proud of the fact he won his political spurs in a white-majority district, albeit in a three-way race with two white opponents.
Scott never had Wilder's flair nor brains. But he is by any standard a person of considerable capacity who, like Wilder, could have had a future outside a ghettoized district. He still might, of course, though his voting record in Congress is one of almost unadulterated liberalism. That could prove quite a hurdle to overcome should he decide to seek statewide office anytime soon, as he has hinted.
That's the heart of the matter for those black politicians who serve districts especially tailored for them. While nomination is tantamount to election and the assurance of a long tenure, there is little incentive to appeal to a larger and more diverse electorate. By existing in an echo chamber of ideas, they seem to lose the subtle ear that made Wilder viable as a statewide candidate. Since whites dearly love black conservatives, the next Wilder may very well run in Republican silks, though none is yet on the horizon.
The pressure from the federal courts and the Department of Justice to create as many black-majority districts as possible, no matter how grotesquely shaped, has done two things. It has served to marginalize black politicians while making it easier for the GOP to make inroads in surrounding areas. That is, concentrating the black vote in a few districts where it is overwhelmingly strong has actually weakened black political influence. Republicans in lily-white districts don't have to worry about the black vote, and Democrats can take it for granted.
The man who beat Ball, Richmond personal-injury lawyer Donald McEachin, is undoubtedly a man of considerable force and ability. The same can be said for other black members of the assembly. Some, like Dels. Jerrauld Jones and William Robinson of Norfolk, have already made a name for themselves as highly effective legislators. Others, such as Sens. Louise Lucas of Portsmouth and Henry Maxwell of Newport News, are well-regarded after only a single term. But it's hard to imagine any of them following Wilder into higher office.
It is to Ball's credit that he accepted a black-majority district in 1991 and held it for two terms. Even in losing he got a respectable share of the black vote. It is also to his credit that as the oldest member of the assembly, he still had the appetite after 12 terms in office to battle for one more in a race he had to know would be tight.
Ball certainly has nothing to be ashamed of other than the blatant pitch he made to voters that the pork he could deliver as chairman of Appropriations made him too valuable to lose. A man of little formal education, he began his career appropriately (in view of his claim of expertise in slicing pork) as a butcher. But buying and selling motels and other real estate in the fast-growing Richmond suburbs made him a millionaire many times over.
That Ball dearly loved the pomp and deference that traditionally surrounds a chairman of Appropriations was clear to all, and not always very attractive. Less clear is how good he was at watching the state's purse during an era when spending doubled and then doubled again. My own reading of him years ago was that of an amiable buffoon expert at the fine art of toadying to senior Democrats. He rarely asked whether a measure was good or bad but only who wanted it.
Two long-serving members of the committee agreed Ball was over his head in understanding a state budget now exceeding $16 billion a year. But both gave him high marks for giving the job of chairman all he had to give, and spoke highly of the professional staff Ball assembled to assist the committee in its complex task. He also won praise for dividing the work on the budget among subcommittees and expediting the flow of business before the full committee.
There can be no question, the budget process is much better now than when Ball assumed the chairmanship in 1990. He has now made his exit with becoming dignity, and even his critics will lament the political passing of a Virginia original whose like we will not see soon again.
Ray L. Garland is a Roanoke Times & World-News columnist.
by CNB