Newsroom Archive for 06/8, 2010

College Leaders Program Class of 2010
Day 10—Monday, June 7
Reported by: Dylan Colligan, Hampden-Sydney College

The dawn of June 7th was a particularly auspicious one for the young Virginians engaged in the College Leaders Program. Two of our number had left us temporarily to sit for the LSAT examinations in Richmond, armed with the best wishes of all of their classmates. In addition, there was a feeling of celebration in the air as both a participant (Emily Bowles–UVA) and a Youth Program Coordinator (Scott Van Der Hyde–Radford) had awoke that morning to find themselves a year older. It was refreshingly less muggy than usual as we began the now familiar trek from Bice House to Thornton for what the schedule informed us would be one of our busiest days yet.

The day was front-loaded with guest speakers, with Dr. Kidd's "Informed Citizen" discussion being held off until the afternoon. The first to present, decked out in full uniform complete with 22-pound gunbelt, was City of Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo. Chief Longo, who has served the city in that capacity since 2001, gave some background on his 25-year career in law enforcement and then spoke on the concept of "community policing"–the philosophy of integrating police officers more closely into the communities they protect–which guides his leadership of the Charlottesville force. Shifting gears between focused intensity and wisecracking, he pointed out a number of interesting parallels between the work of a police chief and that of more traditional political actors, reminding us that in both arenas, as in many others, "relationships are the essence of life." He also stressed the importance of the public's perception of one's actions, another key thing to remember in political life.

Following Chief Longo, we heard from Don Hall, President of the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association and Treasurer and Executive Committee Member of Sorensen's State Advisory Board. Mr. Hall, with the help of a VADA intern, set out to discuss the topic of lobbying, covering, as he put it, "what it is and what it is not." He challenged the traditional negative stereotypes of lobbyists, pointing out that the true point of the practice is to provide people with the ability to effectively address their government. With a particularly commanding presence, he introduced us to the various types of lobbyists that Sorensen alumni are likely to encounter, such as those in Richmond versus those in Washington, and single-issue lobbyists like himself as opposed to those who represent a number of different clients. He stressed unequivocally the importance of honesty in lobbying, in order to maintain one's personal and professional integrity. Finally, he talked strategy, walking us through the advocacy process using as a case study a 2003 bill that dealt with salvaged vehicle disclosure. This segment was enhanced by video clips of the actual floor debate on the the bill, complete with commentary by Hall which really brought home the intricacies of legislative strategy.

Now halfway through our speaker lineup, we took a sharp 180-degree turn from the practical to the theoretical, courtesy of Dr. Bill Shobe, Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Studies at UVA's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. Shobe began a lecture which seemed at the outset to be strikingly similar to Economics 101, but soon proved itself to be anything but. He proposed to answer the ambitious question, "Why do we have government?" For the next hour or so, Shobe, animated and effusive, led us on a rollicking journey through the principles of supply and demand and markets and government, using the humble Oreo cookie as his case study. After explaining how the market works, he then proceeded to explain the cases in which it doesn't work, and when government may be needed to provide the goods and services that the market cannot. Government, he explained, can step in to provide goods and services when property rights, the "rules of the game," are not clear enough to facilitate market-based voluntary transactions. He challenged us, as future participants in the public policy sphere, to do our best to reconcile government and market-based solutions, to examine why the private sector fails to meet certain needs, and to see if government is necessary to plug the gaps. Following his lecture, we broke for lunch, and Dr. Shobe agreed to "put his theory into practice" by accepting, as a token of our appreciation, a few of our Oreos.

After lunch we reconvened to hear from Steven Jones, Brittany Tyler and Tom Kramer of Virginia21, an advocacy organization designed to bring the concerns of Virginia's college students to the halls of power in Richmond. Jones, a 2004 CLP alumnus, shared memories of his Sorensen experience and told the story of Virginia21's beginnings in 2002 to its current status as a legislative force to be reckoned with. He highlighted a number of the group's successes, from getting more money set aside for college buildings to implementing fair textbook sale policies to securing a grant for community college students that transfer to a four-year institution. The handful of central staff at Virginia21 and their network of campus representatives has managed to keep college students organized and engaged to achieve these successes, while at the same time remaining completely and totally nonpartisan, which is no small feat in itself. Jones concluded by offering a preview of the group's upcoming projects in the fall, including forums with legislators, voter registrations drives and opportunities for students to work at polling places.

The course of the day then shifted to classroom instruction, with Dr. Kidd continuing to facilitate a discussion on "The Informed Citizen." Today's class covered a snapshot of Virginia's political history since the Civil War, tracing the rise of the Byrd Machine's conservative Democrats which kept a tight grip on state politics until forced into irrelevance by their national party's progressive shift under Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression. Then began a complicated period in which Republicans, once confined largely to the mountainous regions of the Commonwealth, began to gain ascendancy but struggled when trying to court African-American votes. This somewhat convoluted political history has left Virginia with a fiercely independent electorate which, rather than being strictly partisan, "leans" to the left or right. Dr. Kidd suggested that the state's transition was solidified by the election of a moderate, centrist governor in Mark Warner, who promised bipartisanship and generally eschewed social issues. Warner's two successors have largely kept to this model.

Finally, stimulated by an article by David Poole of the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP), we turned our discussion to campaign finance. This discussion ranged from the ethics of campaign contributions to the question of introducing the idea of public campaign funds to Virginia state races. This was a spirited discussion which ran right up until class ended at 5 p.m., at which point we hurried back to Bice for dinner. Some of us elected to attend the Charlottesville City Council meeting at 7 p.m., but much of the evening was taken up with diligent work on the preliminary reports for our group projects, at which many groups toiled long into the night before finally collapsing into exhausted but satisfied sleep.

Robert Hurt (PLP 2000) has won the 5th District Republican Primary tonight. He will face off against incumbent Democratic Congressman Tom Perriello in the November 2010 election.

Scott Rigell (PLP 2005) won the Republican Primary tonight in Virginia's 2nd District. Rigell will face incubent Democratic Congressman Glenn Nye this November.