Democrat Senator ditched campaign “conservatism”
By Brian Kirwin | Friday, December 30th, 2011 | PoliticsDidn’t take long for Sen. Ralph Northam to regain his true liberal big-government ways.
After campaigning all year about what a fiscal conservative he is, Northam attacked Gov. Bob McDonnell’s budget because it ending funding for a fish tournament.
A FISH TOURNAMENT!!! A $200,000 fish tournament? Is that the function of government?
During campaign season, Northam bragged about how aligned he was with Governor McDonnell and how conservative they both are. Six weeks later, Northam’s attacking his budget for special interest pork barrel spending and willing to put a fish tournament ahead of roads, schools and public safety.
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The right wants to jeer him. The left wants to censor him. Moderates usually want both. Brian Kirwin is a political consultant and public relations strategist in Virginia Beach with a lightning-rod flair. Brian also serves on the VB Arts & Humanities Commission and frequently appears on Hampton Roads theatrical stages, if only to prove that all actors aren’t liberals. Kirwin’s columns stir up debate and hit the political scene with no punches pulled.
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11 Responses to "Democrat Senator ditched campaign “conservatism”"
Actually, Northqam’s view is the fiscally conservative view, because the tournament, like many attractions that bring in visitors, suffers from the lack of government accounting. That is, many such events, like youth soccer tournaments, or the Junior Olympics, or the AAU Senior Olympics, or the National Cheerleading competition, bring hundreds of thousands of visitors to our region, who then pay room, meals, sales, and admission taxes, but no line item ever shows the impact of the event itself.
Regretfully, cutting an event because it does not make money ignores the fiscal impact. Same can be said of convention centers that attract conventioneers; the facility itself does not collect the tax revenue from visitors, but those visitors would not have paid the tax revenue if the facility did not host them.
Also, Brian, as you will know, the arts are victims of the same situation. Let’s say that the Wells Theater struggles, but of course, if the extra meals taxes collected at restaurants because of their shows went to them instead of to the City of Norfolk, their fiscal impact would look much better.
Bet they could then pay the actors more.
After all, Steven Spielberg deserved the money much more.
Mike, the Wells uses primarily Equity performers. Actor salaries are set no matter where the funding comes from.
Brian, thanks for the clarification. Of course my point was that the Arts often struggle, yet have a significant positive fiscal impact because they create activity yet don’t collect the taxes they help to generate. Same with stadiums, with convention centers, with tournaments.
I remember the letter from Gov. McDonnell which “Northqam” shoved in Loyola’s face at the ODU debate which praised and thanked “Northqam” for his help in “creating new opportunities for our fishermen… (citizens)”.
Brian: it seems you are not into fishing.
I’m not 100 percent I agree with you either BK. Barrett makes a really good point. And, if we spend money on films, business incentives, etc., it’s hard to justify pulling $200k for a tournament, unless it truly has no positive financial impact on the community.
Now the whole story. The Virginia Saltwater Tournament is self-supporting through funds acquired from fishing licensing fees. Virginia Salt Water citations are coveted throughout the nation and internationally. Non-residence pay a premium price for an out of state license. So this supposed “conservative” move we increase the sales of neighboring states with similar tourneys like Maryland and North Carolina and decrease income from fish licensing. Does one really believe that sport fisherman come here to catch food instead of a citation to hang on their trophy wall? Incidental tourism income; hotel, restaurant, commercial sales is just icing on the cake. But again, in the name of schools and roads, ridiculous innuendo is rational for a minute budget line item for a feel good political spin issue. This is a mistake, and I expect the Governor will man up when he is apprised of the facts.
Sorry, I thought conservatives were into that “proper role of government” thing
I’m sure that everyone here went out of their way to support tea party candidate Ben Loyola.
I’m just super certain of it.
Brian,
I think they are, but they’ve forgotten what that means. And they’ve gotten the idea that government should operate like a business, which means looking to gain market share in profitable areas. It’s the fallacy that made so many long for a “good businessman” to be President, when in fact we don’t want an executive who runs the country like they would run a business.
Thus, government should promote a fishing tournament, because government has their hands in all sorts of ancillary activities, collecting little tributes from the hotels, the eateries, and of course by selling people papers giving them the right to throw a line into the water and catch a fish.
Because we can’t imagine how society could survive if a man could grab a piece of string, put a hook on it, attach a worm, tie it on a stick, and dangle it in the water hoping some fish would bite it, unless government made sure that person had the proper license for this activity.
And now that we collect money from all these things, it’s obviously the government’s job to encourage people to do those things for which government can collect more money.
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