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A guide to political news, commentary and resources in Southwest Virginia

Preston Bryant is a Republican who has represented Lynchburg and part of Amherst County in the Virginia House of Delgates since 1996.

What April means

By Preston Bryant
APRIL 26, 2004

It's the warm spring rains that bring Virginia back to life and renew for so many what it means to be a Virginian, the pride of it all.

Traveling from the colorful grounds of our historic Capitol Square, where the sloping lawns are now in their deepest hues, through the increasingly hilly and mountainous ways of central and western Virginia, you understand why the dogwood is our state tree (and flower). They're at full bloom in pink and white, and when set against knotty pines and rejuvenated oaks they're at their photo best.

In the leafy suburbs of Richmond, Lynchburg, and Roanoke, the dogwoods take on a different flare when dropped next to shingled Cape Cods and painted-brick Georgians that are under-girded by vibrant red and white azaleas.

Zipping along a two-lane from Amherst County to Lexington, you cut through Rockbridge's mountains and sidle along the James River for a bit before hitting the Civil War town whose character is so much defined by Washington, Lee and Jackson. West of it all is the scenic Goshen Pass that takes you to some of the nation's best trout fishing.

While April may have been the cruelest month to a war-weary T. S. Eliot -- a mixed-message time of the year, he said, where lilacs grow from dead land, memory is muddled with desire, and dulled roots are stirred by new rains -- it's hardly cruel for any Virginian, or even the unfortunate who are born elsewhere, now traveling across the Old Dominion.

And for battle-scarred Virginia pols whose jobs were to have been completed six weeks ago, it's the crisscrossing of the countryside on all-too-frequent trips to and from the Capitol that remind them why they do what they do, why they forego time with family and neglect their businesses to serve a state whose landmarks are among the most historic and whose people and enterprises are among the most forward-thinking. It's the scenic byways and small towns and old universities and new technologies and friendly people who inspire the sacrifices. And the dogwoods, too.

All of these good things, however, have been beset the last couple of months by the stop-and-go (mostly stop) of state budget negotiations. The new biennial spending plan that was to have been completed in mid-March is still incomplete. And in a number of ways this puts at risk the byways, towns, universities, businesses and people who are dependant on a properly functioning government.

But as the warm rains come, so does hope, springing eternal, that as we round out the month so will we the budget. Lilacs will grow from a frustrated political landscape. Bad memories of GOP infighting will be replaced with desires of party healing. And a legislature that has dulled the roots of an electorate's confidence in its government will give reason for a restored faith.

It will be this last week in April, many believe, when we'll see the state Senate act positively on a revenue plan passed two weeks ago by the House of Delegates, where a most modest sales-tax increase (a mere one-half of one percent) on non-food purchases will be offset by cuts both in income taxes and sales taxes on groceries. Such balanced reform will allow Virginia to responsibly invest in under-funded core services like secondary and higher education, public safety and health care while achieving the kinds of tax cuts many have long wanted.

If it's early in the week that the two chambers will agree on a tax-reform plan, it'll probably be later in the week that a new two-year state budget will be completed. First come revenues, then comes spending. And when all's said and done, schools and universities and sheriffs' departments and hospitals will all be better off.

Then legislators who've labored much, much longer than any wanted will be able to take leave of the Capitol and head off once again across the sandy flatlands, rolling hills, and rugged mountains of Virginia. The dogwoods and azaleas will be losing blooms in another week or so, but the lilacs will begin coming into their own for much of May and June.

Breathing new life into what winter stalls is what April is all about. That's great when it comes to Virginia's foliage. But when we're talking about Virginia's legislature, let's all agree that March is a better time.