Sunday, January 31, 2010
Cultivating civility
Elizabeth Strother
Recent columns
- Independent voice is silenced in merger
- TOP takes a hard knock
- Lagging on college access
- Alzheimer's drains minds and finances
From the RoundTable blog
Former Lt. Gov. John Hager and veteran political reporter Bob Gibson were in town last week, spreading the gospel of civility as the way to resurrect politics that work for Virginia.
I want to believe, but my faith is shaky. Still, two more credible salesmen would be hard to find.
The conservative Hager fended off grass-roots opposition from more conservative Republican Party activists in 2007 to become state party chairman, only to lose the post less than a year afterward to a red-meat, rhetorical bomb-thrower (ousted himself 10 months later).
Gibson was a political writer at the Charlottesville Daily Progress for more than 30 years, and still hosts a show on public radio's WVTF devoted to Virginia politics.
What, I should be jaded about the state's political gridlock when they who have been so immersed in it are not?
They definitely, refreshingly are not.
Gibson now is executive director of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia, and Hager the current chairman of its state advisory board.
The institute's mission, as posted on its Web site: "to improve political leadership in Virginia, thereby strengthening the quality of governance at all levels of government."
One way it tries to do that is by bringing together emerging political leaders for training that grounds them in public policy issues and ethics, while cultivating the spirit of bipartisanship needed to govern after campaign battles are over and races won.
"Ninety percent of what goes on in the General Assembly doesn't have to be partisan," Gibson pointed out. "Our folks do get along well, they co-sponsor measures." When members accepted into the institute's 10-weekend Political Leaders Program become alumni, "They understand the other side a lot better and form these very valuable friendships on the other side."
No doubt.
Plus, he predicted, "There's a good chance the new governor will reach out to the other side."
Cause for hope, to be sure. And yet -- there is that 10 percent of what goes on in the General Assembly that is partisan, no way around it, and will affect Virginians in critical ways. How to finance a transportation system that already fails to keep up with the demands on it? How to reconcile a yawning budget deficit after core state services already have been cut to the bone?
The nonpartisan Sorensen Institute takes no position on how those questions, or any policy question, should be resolved -- only the position that policymakers of every political stripe should have a realistic understanding of the issues and others' concerns, work together and keep Virginia's interests above those of their party.
"The folks I deal with in both parties are people who believe in doing things for Virginia and believe the nonstop politics is a bit much," Gibson said. "It's so refreshing to deal with young people who are coming up in office and believe the system will work. ... We're trying to engage those people who believe it can work."
It's possible. If a new generation of politicians does not get caught up in today's zero-sum politics, the General Assembly might dare to set aside rigid ideology and deal pragmatically with the challenges ahead.
"I'm a firm believer the process can be the way it used to be, and there can be a coordinated effort," Hager said.
Maybe. I hope so; but friendship and understanding won't bridge a $2 billion budget gap -- and no-tax campaign pledges of the kind Gov. Bob McDonnell made on his way to a landslide victory at the polls don't leave much room for compromise.
But I stray onto a partisan battlefield.
To give the very good work of the Sorensen Institute its due requires looking beyond the current political fray to the prospect of a new day and changed political climate that, as Hager's comment suggests, would be more like the old.
"I think it's a long-term process," Gibson said. And the institute is doing much more than working with up-and-coming legislators. Its leadership development alumni include some local elected officials, appointees to government boards and commissions and civic-minded people in the private and nonprofit sectors.
The institute also offers candidate training for political newcomers and leadership programs for high school and college students, building competence for the future.
As Hager put it, "You plant little trees to grow big trees."
And hope they bear good fruit.
Strother is on the editorial board of The Roanoke Times.
