One of the most common tricks of the political trade is the strawman argument. Want an easy way to win an argument? Create your own argument, attribute it to the other guy and knock it down. You win the argument because you’re really just arguing with yourself.
The same thing is true with legislation. One of the easiest things for a legislator to do is create a problem and then solve it. There’s no risk, because you’re not really doing anything – you’re arguing with yourself. There are no opponents, no one lobbying the other side of the issue, little risk and the reward of being able to say you got something done. Unfortunately, the time you wasted on strawman legislation is time you could have spent on issues that matter.
My opponent has been touting a bill he patroned that was signed by the governor yesterday, HB 2105. The bill allows small businesses to charge for electricity, in an effort to remove a “regulatory obstacle” to electric vehicles. Under the current system, only public utilities could charge for electricity. Now, thanks to this legislation, any small business can buy a charging station, throw it out front and charge folks to juice up their Nissan Leafs and Chevy Volts.
Sounds great, right? Sure. That’s the point. But does it really solve a problem? No.
The regulatory burden is not what is keeping the electric car down. A lack of charging stations is not what is keeping electric cars from sweeping the market. And not being able to directly sell the electricity is not what is keeping small businesses and others from installing charging stations. The reason why we don’t see more charging stations in Northern Virginia is simple and obvious: lack of demand. No one is driving these cars because they’re hard to find, expensive and not practical enough for Northern Virginia commuters.
Right now, Nissan and Chevy combined have sold fewer than 10,000 electric cars nationally. Even throwing in Tesla and the other electric car manufacturers, there simply aren’t enough cars on the road to justify local businesses installing the stations. Have you seen a Volt or Leaf on the road? If there was actual money to be made here, I am confident that the entrepreneurial spirit of our small business owners would have led them to find a way to charge electric car owners to use a charging station without running afoul of the public utilities law. It took me about five minutes to realize that you can charge someone for a parking spot for half an hour that just happens to be next to an electric vehicle charging station without having to sell them the electricity – throw that in for free. You’re just paying for parking. Problem solved. No need to engage the legislature. How many “charging stations” do we see in coffee shops and airports for cell phones? Did they need legislation to ensure they weren’t being regulated as public utilities for providing that service? No. Why? They just don’t charge for the electricity. They make up the cost of providing that service by charging for things they can charge for, like coffee and peanuts. That’s the real “common sense” solution to this problem. Common sense says don’t pass a law you don’t need.
We’ve got crumbling transportation infrastructure in Northern Virginia, and legitimate transportation and energy issues that require innovative solutions right now. Saying this bill promotes national security and paves the way for the rise of the electric car just doesn’t hold up to closer scrutiny. David created a problem to solve. That’s not leadership. That’s politics.
We should expect effective leadership from our elected officials – meaning they focus on solving real problems that affect the day-to-day lives of our citizens. We have plenty of problems that need solving in Virginia. The last thing we need are politicians desperate for accomplishments running around creating new problems to “solve.”
David’s bill is a strawman and that’s not what we need in Richmond. It’s time for a new direction.
