Mike Lawry
The FAIR Act Is Anything But Fair
Virginia had been praised as a model for the nation when it decided to move the creation of legislative districts to an independent nonpartisan commission rather than the partisan politicians and to be one of the few states to have done so. The change was the result of an election with a vast majority of voters of both political parties and independents voting for it overwhelmingly.
But rather than maintain this high ground politically, the Democrats decided to violate the state constitution and the vote of the people and change the rules. Having control of the legislature and governor’s office, they adopted an extremely biased map creating a politically plotted districts to ensure Democrat districts. The change requires a vote of the people to make the change. The Democrats created a partisan misleading explanation of what the bill would do and called it the Fair Act, which is anything but fair or in the best interests of the people of Virginia.
The argument for the bill is Trump wanted Texas to redistrict to create new districts favorable to Republicans. Because of this, Democrats want us to return to the old system of partisan legislative districts.
Eleven states are listed as having extreme partisan legislative maps. The idea of nonpartisan commissions to draw up legislative districts was being called for and Virginia cited for its recent election victory but Democrats have used their election victory to overturn the election and state laws to return Virginia back to the old partisan way of doing things.
Fortunately, many people in both parties and independents are calling on Virginia voters to vote no on the April 21 amendment. The map is so partisan it would split Augusta County into three separate districts, all tied to Northern Virginia, for example. Many of these new districts seem to be designed to reduce the influence of rural areas.
There have been several letters to the editor calling for people to vote yes to the new redistricting plan but not calling for fairness but for Virginia to counter the Texas redistricting plan and to stop Trump. First off, what Texas or any other state does should not dictate what we do in Virginia. Secondly, many states like our neighbor Maryland have long had gerrymandered districts strongly favoring Democrats. A logical counter argument is Republicans should redraw our districts to offset Democrat policies in that state.
For this reason, it can be hoped Virginia will continue to lead the nation in doing what is right and not play the political games played in other states. Right is right and wrong is wrong and as the old saying goes, two wrongs don’t make a right. It can be hoped Virginia can continue to be an example of good government and not join the 11 states that negatively have extreme partisan legislative districts.
In another matter Virginians need to consider, are the many new tax proposals. The legislative session has proposed over 50 new tax proposals. That could significantly alter the tax landscape and raise concerns about their impact on residents’ budgets. Some that may sound good but could have very negative impacts on the state.
One bill calls for a 10 percent income tax bracket for individuals earning in excess of a million dollars annually. While this tax on the rich may sound good, see what has happened to states like California and New York. They found similar taxes have resulted in their wealthy moving to states with low or even no income tax.
This is but one of several “tax the rich” taxes approved by the legislature and awaiting the governor’s signature, along with new sources of revenue ranging from new gambling proposals to legalizing marijuana ventures. Virginians need to make the effort to check out the new proposed laws and make their feelings and concerns known.
One big question people need to ask is does Virginia need giant tax increases when the last governor left the state with a large government surplus? Also, where is all this new tax money going to go for what purposes?
