ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 8, 1997 TAG: 9701080026
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
CAN L. F. PAYNE have his water and drink it, too?
As congressman from the mostly rural 5th District, Payne was a leader of the opposition to the controversial pipeline to transfer water from Lake Gaston in the Roanoke River basin to fast-growing Virginia Beach. Now, as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the statewide post of lieutenant governor, he says Virginia Beach has a legitimate need for the water.
While not necessarily incompatible logically, the two views are in tension politically. If Payne hasn't exactly reversed position, he certainly has shifted gears. And in doing so, he has raised anew a classic problem of representative democracy: Is the job of elected officials simply to echo and advocate the prevailing sentiments and interests of their constituency?
We're inclined to answer "no" in most cases, in recognition of the value of leadership, the imperatives of personal integrity, and the importance of taking the big picture into account. But either answer, yes or no, can court trouble and lead to public cynicism. A representative who fails to conform to the sentiments and interests of his district can be accused of breaking faith with those who elected him. A representative who abides by that course, and then seeks to change constituencies as Payne is doing, can be accused of unprincipled inconstancy.
The project has cleared enough regulatory hurdles for construction of the pipeline to be nearing completion, but Payne cannot very well bury the matter as a done deal and thus a dead issue. Lawsuits by pipeline opponents could still block the actual transfer of water, turning to waste the millions already spent by Virginia Beach. The most imminent threat is a suit in federal court by the state of North Carolina (into which the Roanoke River flows from Lake Gaston) and joined by the attorneys general of 26 other states.
Moreover, Virginia foes of the project continue to fear that, even if this particular project will not damage the river or threaten the economic interests of localities upstream from Lake Gaston, a precedent has been set that in the future could hurt relatively water-rich but voter-poor areas of the state.
Payne's answer to the political dilemma is to focus on the process and on the future. He is calling for a statewide water policy that will preserve the rights of all regions in water disputes.
That answer happens to be not bad, from a policy as well as political perspective.
Perhaps the most striking aspect of the entire decade-and-a-half pipeline dispute has been the absence of the state as a conciliator, or even much of a player at all. To the lack of coherent state water planning and policy can be attributed the breakdown of a negotiated agreement between Virginia Beach and North Carolina. To that lack, too, can be attributed much of the fear and resentment that lingers in rural Virginia toward thirsty big-city neighbors.
LENGTH: Medium: 54 linesby CNB