Ware endorses one-term governor
By R. Lee Ware (R-65th) VIRGINIA HOUSE OF DELEGATES
"Virginia in the Vanguard" is the title of a new account of the commonwealth's politics in the late-20th century. The title purposefully harkens back to the early leadership of the old dominion in American political history. It might just as easily serve to characterize the remarks of Vice President Richard Cheney before the General Assembly on opening day.

Ware

The legislature convened for 2007 in a small brick church adjoining the Jamestown Settlement, marking the quadricentennial of Virginian society and culture. As we met in that church, the site of meetings of the House of Burgesses of old, the unpretentious yet dignified remarks of the vice president included a remembrance of the state's pioneering people and manner of governance.

He recalled the beginnings of representative government, the institution of private property, the defense of liberty, and the fact that eight Virginia-born men have shouldered the burdens of the presidency. Interestingly, as Mr. Cheney recited the litany of Thomas Jefferson's resume, he paused briefly to quip that Jefferson was also "the second vice president."

Our journey back to Jamestown for the ceremonial opening of the 2007 session allowed for a fitting recollection of the principles and purposes that those settlers so precariously began and which succeeding generations have striven, often enough tenaciously, to sustain here in terms appropriate to fond remembrance: "The Old Dominion." The sharp, cold wind that blew across the James River, and the bright, but low winter sun served to remind us, too, of the many difficulties and actual tragedies that our forebears both survived and surmounted in their time.

The press of the 46 days of the short session has since begun in earnest, but the ceremony in Jamestown provided a particularly inspiring venue for our convening.

One seemingly perennial issue that already has been joined is a proposal to abandon a prudent practice that dates to our earlier days as an independent commonwealth. That practice is the limitation of the governor to one immediate term in office. (As former Gov. Mills Godwin demonstrated, a governor can be elected to office twice - only not to consecutive terms.) In testimony to the wisdom of our forebears in limiting the power of government generally, and the powers of the executive specifically, all states originally hemmed in the governor's powers of appointment and also the term of office. A couple of states that allow governors to succeed themselves still limit governors to two-year terms.

In yielding to the inexorable tendency of government to expand in power and scope, Virginia's sister states have granted greater authority and longer tenures to their chief executives.

Virginia has wisely resisted the temptation. Some claim that our approach is outdated, and that advances in business practices and technological systems somehow require us to mimic other states in their "change" or "progress."

However, most advocates of a two-term executive seem to forget that Virginia's balance of power between the legislative and executive (and judicial) branches of government allots more direct power, for appointments and budget-crafting, to our governor than is enjoyed by the executive of 45 of the 50 states.

Further, advocates of altering the constitutional provisions regarding the governor might wish to consider several notes actually struck by Gov. Kaine in his address to the assembly in Jamestown. For as Gov. Kaine pointed out, Virginia has, under leadership from governors of both parties, maintained a vibrant and growing economy. We have several times been judged the best-managed state in the country in the last decade, and only recently a major publication asserted that Virginia is in fact the most business-friendly state from the standpoint of tax rates and the general operations of government. Further, Education Week magazine recently declared that Virginians enjoy the best conditions for children to grow up in.

For all these reasons and more, I continue to believe that Virginia's practice of not allowing a governor immediately to succeed himself is a prudent policy that has the added characteristic of being a tradition tested - and proven worthy - by the long passage of time.

One of my favorite of all the founders, Patrick Henry, well declared that he would be "guided by the lamp of experience" and not by pressures for "change" or "progress" or by "ideology." Just so, experience has proven the wisdom inherent in so much of Virginia's political order, not least is our constitutional provision for an executive that enjoys enormous power - but for only one term at a time.

Delegate Lee Ware represents District 65 in the Virginia House of Delegates, consisting of Powhatan County and western Chesterfield. During session, he can be reached via telephone at 698-1065 or through e-mail at Dellware@house.state.va.us.