Virginia Governor's Plan Sounds Familiar
I wrote yesterday about Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's hasty retreat from a controversial Confederate History Month proclamation. Some how the Guv left out any reference to slavery in his proclamation, an oversight he quickly corrected.
McDonnell is not pulling back, however, from another of his controversial proposals - a plan to eliminate state support for the Virginia public television and radio system. Much as Idaho Gov. Butch Otter proposed a four-year phase out of state support for public television earlier this year, McDonnell is asking the Virginia legislature to cut $2.2 million in state support over a four-year period.
The Washington Post quotes the governor's spokesperson today: "Due to a historic $4.2 billion budget shortfall, and because of the growing educational programming options on cable and through the internet, the Governor had to set priorities and make some tough decisions." Sounds familiar.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch says the McDonnell is "gunning for Big Bird" and notes that eliminating the modest amount the state devotes to public broadcasting has long been a priority of legislators in the GOP-controlled House of Delegates. McDonnell's proposal may not fare as well in the Democratic Virginia Senate.
As we know, in Idaho, the heavily GOP legislature refused to embrace Otter's budget recommendations to eliminate support for public television (and several other small agencies) and the governor quietly signed an appropriation a few days ago that gave the Idaho system the same type of percentage reduction in funding that most other state programs received. Otter also signed, in a public ceremony, legislation to provide a temporary tax credit for donations to public television and several other programs.
Also as in Idaho, the editorial and public response in Virginia has been in favor of allowing public broadcasting to take its share of cuts in a tough economic environment, but not use the downturn as an excuse to eliminate a vital service.
As the Virginia Pilot noted in an editorial: "A tough budget year shouldn't be used as an excuse to take a gratuitous swipe at local stations that are struggling to continue providing superior educational programming and insightful coverage of local and state issues during the recession."
In Idaho a massive show of public support for public TV sidetracked the governor's budget notions. We'll soon see if Virginians appreciate Big Bird as much as folks in these parts obviously do.
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