The election season, that is. And none too soon; the public’s tolerance for the last six months of non-information, distortions, lies, and innuendo by the gubernatorial candidates is about to change from nausea to actual throwing up. On the positive side of what each plans to do, if elected, we have been treated to an excellent demonstration of smoke and mirrors layered over by, “Trust me.”
So much has been written about the poor choices we are given and their dismal performance that one hesitates to add anything further. I cannot recall a time when major newspapers failed to endorse either candidate but The Roanoke Times and The Richmond Times Dispatch took that position, as did The Lynchburg News and Advance. All are Berkshire Hathaway newspapers but when Warren Buffett speaks we might do well to remember the old admonition, “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen.”
The only time I can recall a state election for governor that offered such a feeble choice was in Louisiana in 1991 when Edwin Edwards, accused of racketeering, ran against David Duke, an avowed racist who celebrated Hitler’s birthday. There was a bumper sticker that said, “Vote for the Crook.’ Edwards won in a runoff by a 2:1 margin, but the whole country thought Louisiana had been afflicted with Bayou brain.
One very likely outcome of our election will be that most voters stay home. That default position never accomplishes anything other than forfeiting your right to complain about the government, an armchair activity that is quite addictive.
There have been suggestions of casting a vote for libertarian Robert Sarvis who seems a genuinely sincere young man but has no backing of significance and little to recommend him other than his civility.
There will be two casualties on November 5. First, the state of Virginia. Whoever wins will have an uphill fight to overcome the freight train of baggage that will accompany him to the governor’s mansion. It may be that we will rejoice that ours in the only state that does not allow the governor to succeed himself. To think the General Assembly can offset potential disaster seems a forlorn hope.
The second casualty is not so obvious. When then Lt. Governor Bill Bolling, heir-apparent to the governorship, agreed to step aside for Bob McDonnell in 2009 the understanding was that he would be the nominee in 2013. Ken Cuccinelli was elected Attorney General and, at least in the public perception would get in line behind Bolling. We all know he had other ideas and was disingenuous to his personal agenda.
The powers that be in the Republican Party decided to have a nominating convention which Cuccinelli could control rather than a primary which the general consensus believed Bolling would have easily won. Bolling did not choose to run as an independent, although many think he would have won the general election given the weakness of the presumed Democratic nominee. Now the only option for the gentleman who has served the Commonwealth with such patience and distinction is a write-in vote which would be an exercise in futility. He deserved better treatment than his party gave him.
We shall see and we shall survive but we are edging closer to the political phrase that has come to characterize South Carolina: “We don’t make this stuff up!” Just ask Jay Stanford, their disgraced governor who was then elected to Congress, assuming he’s not “hiking the Appalachian Trail.”
– Hayden Hollingsworth