©2008 Michael Miller
Boy, I sure am glad that I am not a Montgomery County Supervisor.
I once had political ambitions. It all started back in the spring of 1972, when I was in Mr. Lovejoy's 11th grade American Government class. Since this was an important election year (the most important election ever, according to the news media), Mr. Lovejoy decided we would stage a spring political campaign to mimic the events on the national stage and provide us with a better understanding of the nuts and bolts of the political process.
We all know that unlike the reality of national politics, at the high school level, being elected for something is more about popularity than capability. And at the high school level, the world is divided into three groups: the jocks, the egghead/geeks, and the great unknown masses. Since I was a good student and I played sports, I could reach across the aisle and build bridges between the jock party and the geek party. I was popular enough that the cheerleaders would let me hang out with them and talk to me like I was their older, smarter brother that they could confide in safely, because it's not like they were ever going to actually consider me as a real human being. Still, being in the presence of cheerleaders can be its own reward, to a gangly adolescent person of the male persuasion.
Anyway the point is that I was not popular enough to run for president, but I was popular enough to run for the Senate, which office I won handily.
So, after a generation or so of doing real work, I decided to check into this politics thing again. I had met several politicians during my business travels, and frankly, got the feeling that the only thing that separated a congressman or president from somebody like me was a privileged birth and several tens of millions of dollars. Lowering my sights somewhat, I began to volunteer for locally appointed positions so that I could see how this political thing works at the grassroots level.
Being on various boards and commissions has allowed me to get a firsthand, backstage look at county government and has, once and for all, cured me of any desire to be involved in local elected office. See, I just could not maintain my sanity if I had to deal with all the complex issues facing our Board of Supervisors.
For example, even though Montgomery County is the most prosperous region in southwest Virginia, as a Supervisor whose goal is to be re-elected periodically, I don’t see how I could keep myself from voting to increase property taxes to a reasonable level that would provide the infrastructure and school systems needed for a growing region of 100,000 population.
And then there is that nasty intermodal rail facility thing. As a supervisor from that district, I would be forced by desire to retain the support of all six registered and extremely vocal voters in my district to go against the common good of the region and actually threaten to sue the state or the railroad or somebody if they ever tried to install such a facility that might eventually provide jobs to some of the young people who live there. As a Supervisor, I would recognize that the good of the few (vocal voters) outweighs the good of the many, when it comes to elections. Besides, it’s nice to have a peaceful, bucolic home place for the grandkids to visit after their parents move away because there are no jobs.
And there are the complex financial calculations involved. Like when we have the county staff set up a spreadsheet to determine the projected annual rate of cost increase of building a new County Courthouse when making the commitment is postponed by one, two, five and ten years. I was a math major in college, and the logic just escapes me.
But most of all, I just could not find it in my public-serving self to postpone the important business of the County to spend valuable time trying to decide how to prevent the state government from knowing exactly how the county decides to eliminate $364,508 from its budget, or to study the problem of feral cats that plague all six voters in Elliston and apparently serves as an embarrassment to the whole county.
I just don’t know how I could justify entertaining the construction of a $2 million cat-holding and euthanizing facility while at the same time rejecting the governor’s proposed incentive package for the intermodal rail system, especially after telling him I was in favor of it.
No, you’ve got to hand it to those Supervisors. They have a thankless job and I would not want any part of it.
At least until the next county election cycle.
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6 comments:
Can we ship the cats using the Intermodal facility?
and dont forget the $150,000.00 ($75,000 a piece) both the BOS and BBurg Town Council will spend on a "design contest" that defines the best use of OBMS.
I can give them a couple of the "best use" ideas for a helluva lot less than $150K.
government everywhere finds ways to waste money. My home town council, for example, had a small 1-acre park at the oceanfront that was little more than open grass with a couple benches on it. They out out an RFP for maintaining the site that had a contract value of nearly $100,000 a year! I saw that and thought I could do a darn good job of upkeep for less than half the price, but it turned out the whole thing was a long-developed ploy to pawn the land to developers, citing economic benefit for the city (of Virginia Beach). The city then used emminent domain to remove legitimate businesses in the area for a Hilton and adjacent parking deck (even though this was not a public use situation), and proceeded to "sell" the park to the developers for the hotel. Most citizens were highly opposed, since it was discovered that the developers were convicted felons...but they managed to buy the entire city council in that election cycle (but even though the Virginian Pilot knew this, they didn't run it until after the election). When the fallout came down from the council buyout, none of the council folks won re-election or even sought it, but by then the deal was done. Long and short of it, even local governments can find superb ways to waste money, ignore the rule of law, and generally find ways to hurt their citizenry. Gotta love it.
For the record, I generally do respect the BOS most of the time. They sacrifice a lot of their personal time to attend meetings and work sessions and attend board and commission meetings. Plus, in my experience, they are very approachable when you have a problem.
However, they are keenly aware of the attitudes of the voters around here, and know they cannot be re-elected individually if they act against the expressed desires of the vocal minorities in their respective districts. And, to be fair, they have a very tough job in managing the finances against the needs of the county given the way the state limits the power of local government.
But I am more interested in seeing people take a stand for what is right no matter what the personal consequences. I would always vote for such a person.
First of all, I absolutely LOVE your blog entries. I always manage to get a laugh out of the cynical and sarcastic - yet highly amusing - views. And, for the most part, I concur!
I, too, had an interest in government ... though more as a 'behind-the-scenes' character. In our mock elections in high school, I drew the campaign cartoons, designed flyers, wrote slogans and stayed otherwise silent while watching our candidate rise to the top. He eventually won, but, as you have attested, more due to the fact that he was popular.
I enjoy observing the BOS and watching their antics. I really enjoy listening to Gary Creed ... he often brings up valid points that no one else seems to think of.
In the case of the intermodal, I am not opposed, but I have also spoke with many residents throughout the county that are. Being as unbiased as possible, I have found ways to see things from their POV, as well.
Thanks. The intermodal definitely has some downside locally. I don't blame those folks who don't want it in their backyard. I didn't want the farm behind my house to be rezoned residential and have 500+ houses built on it either, but that's called growth. The house I live in used to be a farm, also, and no doubt somebody like me was equally upset when our neighborhood was built. So I do get their POV.
But it is my belief that the minority opinion has too much power around here, and so I like to try to stir up the silent majority to assert themselves. Unfortunately, I think my main effect is really to make the minority angry rather than to motivate the majority.
sigh....
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