THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 18, 1996 TAG: 9609180435
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 113 lines
Can regional cooperation become the litmus test for political candidates throughout Hampton Roads?
J. Daniel Ballard, a retired advertising executive and longtime confidant of some political leaders, is trying to make it so.
Ballard isn't running for any office, but he's been on the campaign stump since last spring.
With the next General Assembly election more than a year away and the next municipal elections scheduled for the spring of 1998, Ballard is trying to build a grass-roots groundswell to elect only regionally minded candidates.
``Citizens should demand, insist and know that candidates are looking at the good of the region as a whole,'' said Ballard, 63, whose own regional credentials include spearheading the ``Virginia Waterfront'' tourism-marketing effort in 1993.
Since then, Ballard has come to believe that Hampton Roads politicians don't have the desire or will to act in the best interests of the region as a whole.
He contends that Hampton Roads continues to fall further behind competing economic regions, such as Charlotte, because of the internal bickering and jealousies.
And, he's bringing that message to various community groups, urging them to vote out most - sometimes all - local incumbents.
For example, on Tuesday Ballard brought his pessimism to a luncheon meeting of the Optimist Club of Norfolk at Ghent United Methodist Church.
``We've spent all these years squabbling over petty issues because we have petty politicians,'' Ballard told the Optimists. ``My message to you is to think of how the grass-roots efforts, the people of these communities can rise up and say, `We need new political leadership. We want politicians who are aware of, and alert to the real deal.' ''
For Ballard, the ``real deal'' means getting the jurisdictions to cooperate well enough to compete with other regions and attract thousands of better-paying jobs to Hampton Roads.
``If you want to be sure that your children and grandchildren have jobs and this place grows . . . start looking for different politicians,'' he said, adding ``because if we don't get them, it's really going to kill us.''
Ballard said he sees a need to begin fostering a regional political attitude among voters, no matter how large or small the group. About 20 people attended his talk on Tuesday, and he even promotes the idea at home with company and with acquaintances at a local coffeehouse.
``My goal is to get enough people talking about this, chatting with each other about this, so that they start telling the politicians, `Why the hell can't you work together!'
``I think politicians need to hear this from common, average people.''
There weren't any elected political officials in the audience on Tuesday. But in a telephone interview later, Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf said Hampton Roads cities are ``taking more steps forward than we ever had in the past.'' She noted how the cities are working together through regional organizations and programs, such as the Hampton Roads Partnership, the monthly Mayors and Chairs meetings, and the Plan 2007 economic-development project of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.
Oberndorf said she, too, believes that voters should challenge politicians on issues, but she suggested that citizens will recognize that regional solutions aren't always in everyone's best interests.
``If he feels that he can get his concepts promoted from the grass roots up, then certainly, that's what a democracy is all about,'' she said. ``But people will have to determine what is in the best interests of their quality of life.''
Ballard said he has come to expect political leaders to dispute his contentions.
Most Hampton Roads elected officials, Ballard said, have become too focused on narrow issues within the bounds of their own cities. He described several possible reasons:
A growing belief that voters want local needs taken care of first instead of the issues facing the broader community.
The move toward wards for city councils and single-member districts for the General Assembly.
The natural inclination of candidates to put getting elected and re-elected ahead of other political purposes.
The difficulty of reversing the momentum of long-held resentments stirred by historical factors, such as white and middle-class flight out of the core cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth.
Ballard also blamed the news media, particularly The Virginian-Pilot, for reinforcing the separations. He noted that this newspaper publishes different community-oriented sections for each city, contending that the practice contributes to the parochialism.
``We're struggling under all these yokes,'' he said.
For years, Ballard said, he's promoted regional efforts when speaking to and working with various political and business groups throughout Hampton Roads.
``I went into it naively,'' he said. ``I thought you'd just have to present the case that this region would prosper if all the cities worked together.''
Ballard said he's recently given up on most established institutions and the current crop of elected officials. ``I have nothing against any of them, personally,'' he said. ``But I think they all should be tossed because I don't have any other answer for it.''
He sees community groups and like-minded individuals as the only source of hope for achieving more cooperation.
Ballard said his remarks have been generally well received. The only debate has come when elected officials were in the audience, he said.
On Tuesday, Ballard's words drew support from Peggy Lee of Chesapeake, president-elect of the Norfolk Optimists, and Richard Bowers of Virginia Beach, a past president of the club.
Both said they've begun to see the possibilities for change if enough citizens start pressing political candidates on regional cooperation.
``People are the grass roots. They have to step forward,'' Lee said. ``There's too much territorialism. I think he's absolutely right.''
But Lee and Bowers disagreed with Ballard's pessimistic tone.
``I think it was a very optimistic message. He's saying that we need to change something and that we can change it,'' Lee said. ``Anything is attainable if you don't give up.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by LAWRENCE JACKSON, The Virginian-Pilot
J. Daniel Ballard
KEYWORDS: REGIONALISM by CNB