THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 8, 1995 TAG: 9507090003
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
Jim Hunt, North Carolina's Democratic governor, knows politics when he sees it. He saw it in all its un-glory in Virginia these past few weeks.
``Political bickering'' in the Old Dominion, Hunt said in a press release Thursday after the latest Gaston negotiations collapsed, ``won out'' over an agreement that offered all the communities concerned the best deal pos-si-ble for the state as a whole.
Virginians didn't need Carolina's governor to tell them that water stopped being the issue in this commonwealth many moons ago. Their own politicians have made their priority - power in the General Assembly, not water in the pipeline - abundantly clear.
Gov. George Allen is in a political battle royal with a Democratic legislative leadership at least as determined as he and his fellow Republicans to make political hay of Gaston water in this legislative election year.
We've got news, guys. The partisans involved can declare right quick which party's the villain and which is the hero. But a public that doesn't march along party lines is disgusted with politics as dirty as their unwashed cars. Citizens' reaction is if proverbial, prudent too: A plague on both your houses. They have until November's elections to sort out who has really supported the Gaston deal and deserves their support and who are the bums to throw out.
Their decision wouldn't take 24 hours if Governor Allen reissued this call to legislators: Those of you who can check your political potshots, personal ambitions and unrelated business at the door, meet me in Richmond tomorrow, high noon, to pass the agreement that should have passed last week.
Smart legislators will show. Smart voters will know their names. by CNB