THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 1, 1995 TAG: 9502010458
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GUY FRIDDELL
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
As severe as proposed bone-deep cuts in the state budget bid to be, an even deeper round two years hence would gouge into the very marrow of state services.
For this biennium of fiscal years, 1995 and 1996, the proposed cut is $403 million.
For the next biennium, fiscal years 1997 and 1998, an additional $725 million would be axed if Gov. George Allen's program clears the General Assembly.
And even that amount would swell should there be salary increases for state employees, teachers and college faculties.
At that point, the Commonwealth would be bleeding like a steer being worked over on a hook at a Chicago slaughterhouse.
As the House and Senate finance committees prepare to vote this week on the governor's proposed slashes, debate has focused on such major targets for carving as schools, colleges, mental hospitals, police.
But, with the eye of a chicken hawk circling high in the summer sky, the Allen administration detects the merest biddy - and pounces.
To gauge the proposed thorough paring of the budget, consider a modest item that brings multifold revenues to the state's coffers: the Virginia Salt Water Fishing Tournament.
That may not seem a significant item. It amounts to only $145,000, but Governor Allen saw fit to set it up for criticism in his budget address.
The tournament draws competitors from the 50 states and a dozen foreign countries. In its annual 10-month run from March 1 through Dec. 31, tourists flock to marinas, hotels, motels, campgrounds, restaurants, gas stations, tackle shops and stores.
For those months, Virginia is for Fishermen.
The tournament awards laminated plaques, ready for hanging, for record catches in weights and sizes covering 23 different species.
In its 38 years, the tournament has awarded more than 105,000 plaques to fishermen.
Other East Coast states have copied Virginia's idea, but the Old Dominion's original tournament is the prime one.
If Allen has his way and abolishes it, the other states would be gleeful at the demise of the Moby Dick of tournaments.
It has succeeded in boosting tourism. In an increasing role in conservation, it has built a solid data bank on trends. More than half the catches, after being weighed and measured, are released.
It is celebrated in magazines, and its creative director, Claude Bain, appears on national television. That this worthy event and many others are on the chopping block raises questions about the butcher.
The cuts are supposed to help offset proposed tax reductions.
But that the governor would even consider reducing taxes in the face of a $2.1 billion program for building prisons and $350 million for paying back debts to federal retirees suggests that he and his Cabinet are short on common sense. by CNB