If I get another call from another PAC or campaign worker telling
me if their opponent is elected people will die or the world will come to an
end, I may just go hunting for campaign workers. There is a bumper crop of them
in Virginia this year. I hear they taste like chicken. I’m thinking weasel.
Doesn’t weasel taste like chicken too?
Virginia is a “swing” state meaning the election is too close to
call. Because the future president needs our 12 votes to win the election,
millions of dollars have been wasted on cheesy television ads and banks of
telephone workers. I’m averaging two calls per day. Not one has offered me cash
for my vote. I am open to offers. Mr. President, Mr. Romney, considering what is
at stake, I’ll start the bidding at $100. Momma needs a new pair of
shoes.
Despite my disgust at both campaigns, I will be voting on
Tuesday. Virginia has a constitutional amendment on the ballot. Unlike
California where ballot propositions are as numerous as presidential
commercials, Virginia generally lets elected officials make decisions and
limits public intervention to only the most important issues. This year the
public will vote whether or not to forbid state or local governments from
taking private property for private gain or private enterprise.
This issue has been bubbling under the surface for a few years.
The government taking of private property, also known as “Eminent Domain”has
traditionally been limited to public projects such as roads, public buildings,
or utilities. However, in recent years public bodies have been using eminent
domain to take private property from one owner and give it to another private
party. Usually under the guise of “revitalization” where local elected officials
decide an underutilized area would be better used for shops or a tourist
attraction or high-rise apartments.
To make this happen, the government would send notice to property
owners standing in the way of the new project and give them an offer they can’t
refuse. Currently, the government must pay the property owner fair market price
for the property which is generally a relatively low price. Once the government
has secured ownership of the property, it turns ownership over to a private
developer who transforms the property into the utopian shopping mecca where
people would flock with smiling faces and open wallets.
Sometimes the project is a success and sometimes government
officials are left with egg on their faces. In Chesterfield County used public
funds to make a huge bet on a private sports company that backfired. As the
company was blowing up, the people wholesale voted the incumbent board of
supervisors out of office and replaced them with whoever else was on the
ballot.
Before the bums can be thrown out, a lot of damage can be done.
In reaction to a few outrageous cases, the Virginia General Assembly enacted new
legislation designed to protect private property owners from having their land
seized for other private use. The law came too late for some who had lost
confidence in the whims of elected officials. So we get to decide if our
constitution should be changed. The question on the ballot is:
Shall Section 11 of Article I (Bill of Rights) of the Constitution of
Virginia be amended (i) to require that eminent domain only be exercised where
the property taken or damaged is for public use and, except for utilities or the
elimination of a public nuisance, not where the primary use is for private gain,
private benefit, private enterprise, increasing jobs, increasing tax revenue, or
economic development; (ii) to define what is included in just compensation for
such taking or damaging of property; and (iii) to prohibit the taking or
damaging of more private property than is necessary for the public use?
A simple yes or no will do.
If the ballot question passes, the Virginia Bill of Rights will
be changed to stipulate that no private property shall be taken if the primary
use will be for private gain, private benefit, private enterprise, increasing
jobs, increasing tax revenue, or economic development. There is another sentence
that the compensation for taking private property will be “just”and include lost
profits and lost access.
Opponents of the amendment point to the provision for lost
profits and access as an unnecessary burden on governments when taking
property. They contend that the only winners if the question is approved will
be lawyers. Currently, lawyers are already the only winners when private
property owners fight city hall trying to fend off government land grabs. I say
let the government pay some lawyers!
There is a second amendment to the Constitution regarding the
General Assembly Veto Session. This is an ironic ballot question as veto
sessions in Virginia were not necessary for many years as the Governor and
General Assembly could agree on legislative language during the regular session
and go home happy with whatever compromises they generally agreed to. Lately,
however partisan bickering and ideological intransigence have resulted in
contentious sessions and equally contentious Veto Sessions. Politics in
Virginia used to be so cordial.
I guess the old Virginia politicians have been replaced with weasels.
Happy hunting next Tuesday everyone!
me if their opponent is elected people will die or the world will come to an
end, I may just go hunting for campaign workers. There is a bumper crop of them
in Virginia this year. I hear they taste like chicken. I’m thinking weasel.
Doesn’t weasel taste like chicken too?
Virginia is a “swing” state meaning the election is too close to
call. Because the future president needs our 12 votes to win the election,
millions of dollars have been wasted on cheesy television ads and banks of
telephone workers. I’m averaging two calls per day. Not one has offered me cash
for my vote. I am open to offers. Mr. President, Mr. Romney, considering what is
at stake, I’ll start the bidding at $100. Momma needs a new pair of
shoes.
Despite my disgust at both campaigns, I will be voting on
Tuesday. Virginia has a constitutional amendment on the ballot. Unlike
California where ballot propositions are as numerous as presidential
commercials, Virginia generally lets elected officials make decisions and
limits public intervention to only the most important issues. This year the
public will vote whether or not to forbid state or local governments from
taking private property for private gain or private enterprise.
This issue has been bubbling under the surface for a few years.
The government taking of private property, also known as “Eminent Domain”has
traditionally been limited to public projects such as roads, public buildings,
or utilities. However, in recent years public bodies have been using eminent
domain to take private property from one owner and give it to another private
party. Usually under the guise of “revitalization” where local elected officials
decide an underutilized area would be better used for shops or a tourist
attraction or high-rise apartments.
To make this happen, the government would send notice to property
owners standing in the way of the new project and give them an offer they can’t
refuse. Currently, the government must pay the property owner fair market price
for the property which is generally a relatively low price. Once the government
has secured ownership of the property, it turns ownership over to a private
developer who transforms the property into the utopian shopping mecca where
people would flock with smiling faces and open wallets.
Sometimes the project is a success and sometimes government
officials are left with egg on their faces. In Chesterfield County used public
funds to make a huge bet on a private sports company that backfired. As the
company was blowing up, the people wholesale voted the incumbent board of
supervisors out of office and replaced them with whoever else was on the
ballot.
Before the bums can be thrown out, a lot of damage can be done.
In reaction to a few outrageous cases, the Virginia General Assembly enacted new
legislation designed to protect private property owners from having their land
seized for other private use. The law came too late for some who had lost
confidence in the whims of elected officials. So we get to decide if our
constitution should be changed. The question on the ballot is:
Shall Section 11 of Article I (Bill of Rights) of the Constitution of
Virginia be amended (i) to require that eminent domain only be exercised where
the property taken or damaged is for public use and, except for utilities or the
elimination of a public nuisance, not where the primary use is for private gain,
private benefit, private enterprise, increasing jobs, increasing tax revenue, or
economic development; (ii) to define what is included in just compensation for
such taking or damaging of property; and (iii) to prohibit the taking or
damaging of more private property than is necessary for the public use?
A simple yes or no will do.
If the ballot question passes, the Virginia Bill of Rights will
be changed to stipulate that no private property shall be taken if the primary
use will be for private gain, private benefit, private enterprise, increasing
jobs, increasing tax revenue, or economic development. There is another sentence
that the compensation for taking private property will be “just”and include lost
profits and lost access.
Opponents of the amendment point to the provision for lost
profits and access as an unnecessary burden on governments when taking
property. They contend that the only winners if the question is approved will
be lawyers. Currently, lawyers are already the only winners when private
property owners fight city hall trying to fend off government land grabs. I say
let the government pay some lawyers!
There is a second amendment to the Constitution regarding the
General Assembly Veto Session. This is an ironic ballot question as veto
sessions in Virginia were not necessary for many years as the Governor and
General Assembly could agree on legislative language during the regular session
and go home happy with whatever compromises they generally agreed to. Lately,
however partisan bickering and ideological intransigence have resulted in
contentious sessions and equally contentious Veto Sessions. Politics in
Virginia used to be so cordial.
I guess the old Virginia politicians have been replaced with weasels.
Happy hunting next Tuesday everyone!