THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 2, 1995 TAG: 9412300035
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
When the 1995 General Assembly opens, members will have one eye, presumably the right one, on the electorate. All 140 seats - 100 in the House, 40 in the Senate - will be on the ballot in less than nine months.
Democrats' majorities in both chambers are precarious. If they didn't know already they learned this past November that the people are angrier at them than at Republicans. Democrats also know that the GOP will fight with more ammunition and vigor than ever to gain legislative control two years after they reclaimed the Governor's Mansion.
Still, we hope the lawmakers' other eye is on what's good for the state.
This may not be easy. Governor Allen has piled the legislative plate so high that his first year has been compared with the late Harry F. Byrd's in the 1920s and Mills Godwin's in the 1960s.
It's probably piled too high. And to the risks of overwork add the potential voting-booth consequences of bucking the popular conservative governor.
This session will deal with major new Allen-generated spending demands even as the governor pushes a state-income-tax cut. Financial forecasters warn that the 1994-96 budget is $500 million short of revenue. Renewed assault on state agencies' and institutions' appropriations, following four years of recession-caused cutbacks during the Wilder administration, seems inevitable.
Will Virginia, planning to spend $2 billion on prisons in the new no-parole era, also invest enough in inmate education, training and treatment? Virginia should because reducing recidivism must be a serious goal of any intelligent fight against crime. Inmates who return to society prepared to succeed are less apt to end up behind bars again.
Will the commonwealth, blessed with a solid higher-education system that's been under attack since 1990, cripple that system further by shortsighted denial of needed state funds? Effective, sufficient colleges are essential to the commonwealth's economic future.
Will teacher salaries continue to lag, hence discouraging many bright Virginians from entering the classroom and thereby blunting efforts to improve instruction? Bashing public education in Virginia is popular sport among those unwilling to acknowledge that pupil failures owe more to lack of support at home than to quality of instruction at school. Given the challenges that teachers face today, attracting the most gifted becomes even more crucial.
In the anti-welfare public climate, will welfare reform translate to punishment of the poor? If so, this will work against making more Virginians productive, reducing crime, improving overall school performance and fostering good health through preventive care.
Virginians in the coming weeks ought to keep their eyes focused on Richmond - and keep them open! by CNB