Terry McAuliffe wins election as governor again in November and that’s it. The Democrats roll on. Why does this have to be complicated?
Dr. Bold blew the doors off the joint in Tuesday’s primary and the immediate reaction was to say, “let the games begin.”
It’s game over. Terry has already been out making nice with his former rivals, state Sen. Jennifer McClellan and Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, waving to the crowds, bragging about the 200,000 jobs he created as Virginia’s 72nd governor, on his way to becoming the 74th.
Boisterous. Impetuous. Confident. Loud. McAuliffe grins to his opponent, GOP Glenn Youngkin, “Bring it on.”
And, Terry says, bring on Donald Trump, too, your bosom buddy, Glenn. Yeah, get that guy to come into Virginia. Please, oh, please.
What can Youngkin do? Well, whatever he does, he’ll have plenty of money to do it with. These two campaigns, with the spending that’s anticipated, may be an economic boost for the commonwealth by themselves.
Here comes the next 200,000 jobs created: campaign workers.
Not that he’s asking for my advice, but Youngkin needs to get creative and might well play to his claim to fame: money. Everybody likes money and, as David Mamet once wrote, “that’s why we call it ‘money.'”
That line didn’t make much sense, but you got it. Money. It binds the universe, we love it bunches, and Democrats are notoriously gleeful when it comes to taking yours and passing it around.
Glenn could talk about that, point to what’s going in D.C. and strongly suggest that Virginia, under the Democrats, is about to go “cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs” on spending. He would not be far from wrong, based on Democratic Party expressions of intent.
But he could go deeper on finance still and do so, potentially, to his benefit — not to mention ours.
Youngkin made a gazillion on investments, so talk about how that gets done, how you manage risk, and the ways money becomes more money.
How about a few Youngkin seminars around the state? The man has obvious talents, so he could show that he understands this stuff (money) better than McAuliffe.
Put a lid on the business about being an “outsider,” too, because, once you get elected governor, you’re the “insider” and big time. Show what you would do on the inside.
Here’s an example. There’s a thing in Virginia called the Commission on Local Government and it’s charged with assorted responsibilities, including a periodic report on “Comparative Revenue Capacity, Revenue Effort, and Fiscal Stress of Virginia’s Cities and Counties.”
This report was issued last July and defines fiscal stress as “the aggregation of analyses on the comparative revenue capacity, revenue effort, and median household income for Virginia’s cities and counties.”
True, it’s not exactly scintillating reading. But essential to understanding the relative financial status of governing in the commonwealth.
Youngkin could look at that report and tell us what he thinks in idiomatic English. It would be interesting to hear.
“The average stress value for Virginia’s cities is significantly greater than the average for its counties,” the report says. That has meaning in real, street-level ways — to people who live and work, particularly in condensed urban areas — and it would take some insight to tell why.
A governor should be able to do that.
And maybe that’s the key. Youngkin needs to be governor now, not later — at least in terms of what he discusses, explains and advocates.
Virginia’s system makes local government subordinate to the commonwealth. Cities and counties function as administrative units of Virginia.
That’s a political opportunity for a gubernatorial aspirant. The 2020 report says that there are 24 high stressed localities in Virginia and 22 of them are cities. Since fiscal year 2017, only two localities improved their stress category while five localities declined.
How come? What should we do about that?
Glenn can tell us and strut his stuff in the process.
What about stark economic disparities — urban versus rural — in Virginia? Does the structure of Virginia contribute to that problem? (Hint: yes.) Got any thoughts about that?
What about all the many, many funds in Virginia, including pension funds? Are we managing these funds efficiently? How can Virginia do it better? Hello, Glenn.
If Youngkin does brawn, he loses. McAuliffe will eat him up. Tuesday’s primary, in technicolor, demonstrated how very, very good Terry is at politics.
So Youngkin might wish to do governing instead. Instead of brawn, he does brains. If Glenn Youngkin goes that route, everybody wins.
After writing editorials for the Daily Press and The Virginian-Pilot in the 1980s, Gordon C. Morse wrote speeches for Gov. Gerald L. Baliles, then spent nearly three decades working on behalf of corporate and philanthropic organizations, including PepsiCo, CSX, Tribune Co., the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and Dominion Energy. His email address is gordonmorse@msn.com.
