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Va. suffers from Freshmanitus
Op-Ed by Brian Kirwin, Daily Press – 2/16/2011
Virginia is suffering from a case of Freshmanitus, and it's starting to really hurt us.
The recent announcement of Sen. Jim Webb calling it quits after a single term ensures at least an 18-year block of non-consecutive Senate representation.
Sen. John Warner, Virginia misses you!
Does anyone think Virginia, or our military in general, would be under such assault with John Warner at the helm on the Senate Armed Services Committee?
Recent slashes to U.S. Joint Forces Command, moves to take carrier groups to Florida, and huge question marks over the future of NAS Oceana as a Master Jet Base and home of future classes of jet fighters are starting to create a major economic shift for Virginia, and not in a good direction.
After Warner's retirement, Virginia's other Warner, Sen. Mark Warner, has yet to make a mark, and his Banking and Commerce committee assignments aren't exactly measuring up to what JW's chairmanship brought us.
And I'm willing to bet a shiny new nickel Mark Warner is too executive-minded to stay a senator for too long. Governor again, maybe, but senator for decades? I doubt it.
Meanwhile, California's two senators share 36 years of Senate seniority.
Virginia's Freshmanfest doesn't stop at the Senate, though.
Only four of our 11 Congressmen have served continuously since 2000, and none of those four senior legislators serves on the House Armed Services Committee. Rep. Bobby Scott's committee assignments, Judiciary and Education/Workforce, do not pack the same regional punch.
No wonder Virginia has become a target for other states looking to attract military assets and decisions made for more than a few political considerations.
Help is on the way, but will it come soon enough?
Rep. Rob Wittman (1st District) and Rep. Scott Rigell (2nd District) are recent additions to the House Armed Services Committee, joining Rep. Randy Forbes (4th District), but they are very recent additions. With Virginia's Rep. Eric Cantor as the new House majority leader, perhaps they can reverse the tide.
But a lot of Virginia's lack of influence is self-inflicted. The 2nd District, with one of the highest concentrations of military personnel in the country, has had five different Congressional representatives in the past 12 years.
Virginia prides itself on political revolving doors of one-and-done governors and a swing state status that has alternated parties lately.
And it's killing us.
Our one-term governorships ensure that every Virginia governor is listed as a potential presidential prospect. It also makes it likely none of them will ever be.
Four years as governor just isn't enough to convince America that you've got the mettle to become leader of the free world. That's bad news for Sarah Palin, but worse news for Virginia.
George Allen had presidential aspirations. Mark Warner's name was floated by many. Jim Gilmore and Doug Wilder actually ran, not that many noticed. Tim Kaine? I'm betting most people don't remember he was governor.
Virginia has gone from the Mother of Presidents, with eight, to the Great-Grandmother of Presidents, since we have to go back to Woodrow Wilson to find one.
If a Virginia governor has any inkling at all to making an executive crossing of the Potomac, he would stop Virginia's revolving door long enough to make a national impression.
National politics is still a seniority system, and for the time being, it's a system that's working against us.
Contact Kirwin at brian@rourkpr.com; read more at BearingDrift.com.
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