THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 26, 1994 TAG: 9406250091
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Medium
DATELINE: 940626 LENGTH:
The balanced-district plan was not a creation of the CCO in either content or nomenclature. The CCO signed on to the plan in the fall of 1991 as an issue of major concern to the citizens of Virginia Beach and pursued it through the terms of three presidents. On three separate occasions, votes were held affirming support of the balanced-district plan. Other civic organizations joined with the CCO in advocating the plan and were crucial to the success of the petition drive: the League of Women Voters, the Citizens Action Coalition Inc. and the Great Neck Association of Civic Leagues.
{REST} The debate over the balanced-district plan ran for three years. The plan was the subject of forums on Virginia Beach Television featuring Mayor Meyera Oberndorf and the chairman of the mayor's committee describing the plan and answering call-in questions. Candidate forums prior to council elections in 1992 as well as this year featured questions on the plan and were also shown on VBTV. The plan was debated between the mayor and Councilman Linwood Branch before United We Stand and between Maury Jackson, chairman of the CCO Standing Committee on Reapportionment, and former Mayor Pat Standing on WAVY-TV.
There were interviews on two talk-radio stations, numerous letters pro and con in the Beacon and a cover story in the Beacon on the petition drive.
Maury Jackson made numerous visits to civic leagues throughout the city explaining the plan. Hundreds of copies of a pamphlet called ``The Need for Electoral Reform in Virginia Beach'' were distributed to civic leagues and were handed out during the petition drive to those who had questions or were uncertain about the balanced-district plan. Invariably they returned to sign the petition.
As the election approached, full-page ads pro and con were featured in the Beacon, particularly by a group calling themselves the Citizens Coalition for Good Government that explicitly denounced the balanced-district plan.
Here are the facts:
Signing the petition did not represent an endorsement of the balanced-district plan. It was a request to put the issue on the ballot in May for citizens to decide in the voting booth. Signing the petition was an endorsement of the right to choose.
22,759 signatures were required on the petition. Close to 28,000 signatures were obtained.
In the voting booth, 21,108 or 52.7 percent of those who went to the polls voted yes to the balanced-district plan. The plan won in 66 percent of the precincts. Ninety-one percent of those voting cast ballots in the referendum.
The accusation that many of those who voted yes didn't know what they were voting for is clearly refuted by the fact that more than 18,000 voted no. Were they the only intelligent voters? Everyone knew what they were voting for, and a clear majority said yes to electoral reform.
Over a three-year period the CCO met its obligation to communicate the issues in a truthful and forthright manner and to follow the demands of its members. The CCO took a leadership role which has become controversial because of its success. So be it. Now it is up to City Council to request a charter change from the General Assembly as was mandated by the vote on May 3.
L. K. Fenlon Jr.
President, Council of Civic Organizations
of Virginia Beach
by CNB