Sunday, December 27, 2009
Fralin found satisfaction in serving constituents
As Del. William Fralin exits office, he reflects on his work and says he is excited about the GOP's future.
General Assembly 2011
Among the major issues: The state's continuing efforts to provide services with fewer dollars and Gov. McDonnell's plan to privatize liquor stores. Session ends Feb. 26.
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Del. William Fralin, R-Roanoke, announced on the last day of the 2009 General Assembly session that after three terms he was stepping down from his seat in the legislature because of increased work responsibilities.
He'll be succeeded by Bill Cleaveland, a Botetourt County lawyer and fellow Republican, who was elected in November.
Fralin's legislative tenure was marked by his work on education and child welfare issues, as well as a controversial 2004 vote when he and 16 other House Republicans split with their party in favor of a state budget pushed by then-Gov. Mark Warner.
Q: With Republican Bob McDonnell now coming in as governor and a new, bigger Republican majority in the House, do you now regret your decision to step down?
Fralin: My usual line is: It's like that great philosopher John Madden said when he quit calling football games, "I miss it, but I don't regret it." I do miss parts of it, but it was something I had to do for my family and for where I work. It's really the way the legislature was designed to work. People serve when they can and when they have the opportunity to do that, and then they go home and do other things.
I really enjoyed my time in the legislature. I tell people serving in the Virginia legislature is in my mind different from, I don't know, let's pick Nebraska. When you're in that building and in that environment, in a building designed by Jefferson, you're part of a legacy that goes back to the 1600s. It's just a unique privilege to be able to do it.
Q: What's going to be the part you remember most? What's your legacy going to be in Richmond?
Fralin: I think having an independent judgment but the compassion to try to help people in their interactions with government. One of the things you don't see, but which is very satisfying, is the ability to help your constituents when they have a problem with their state government. To be able to help them out is great.
A lot of my legislative focus came out of that, particularly when it relates to things like foster care bills; bills having issues with timeliness of decisions by insurance companies, particular when those are terminally ill; responsibilities where we're making sure we're not having a policy that forces parents to give up their children to obtain medical coverage for them for mental health issues. ...
School safety issues -- those were very much in the public arena when I first got elected, and I think we did a lot making sure we're reporting those accurately, making sure that we have Internet safety awareness integrated in the curriculum of our schools. And some of the accountability stuff to make sure the graduation rates are uniform across the state, so that we can see which schools are doing a good job in graduating kids and which are not -- not in a punitive way but so we can see where we need to concentrate our resources. ...
The other thing, the last piece would be that I hoped to have been known as a fierce advocate for the Roanoke Valley and Western Virginia, and make sure we obtained our fair share in Richmond. I think that my colleagues would say if they wanted to get something passed that was going to adversely affect Western Virginia, they better try to talk to me first.
Q: You've received a lot of criticism for your vote on the 2004 budget. Do you still think that was a good decision?
Fralin: There's no doubt it was a very important decision. If you remember back at the time, I think given what we were faced with -- which was an intransigent Senate and a governor that was committed -- I believed we were going to shut the government down.
To me, regardless of your affiliation or ideology, that fundamental failure would have been catastrophic to things like our bond rating, to things like the ability of citizens to believe in their government to be functional.
That was probably a once in a generation kind of a situation. Given what I knew at the time, I think it was the right decision and certainly understand that some people don't agree with that.
Q: What do you think about the current direction of the Republican Party, nationally as well as in the state?
Fralin: I'm actually kind of excited about the Republican Party. I give Bob McDonnell a lot of credit for this. Bob decided he is who he is. He's a conservative person and he's going to govern that way, no doubt about it.
But he's also a solution-oriented, pragmatic person. He's going to come up with solutions to our problems that are conservative in nature. I think they will work. To me that's very exciting.
It's going to be a stark contrast to what's going on in Washington, where the slow, steady, monolithic growth of the federal government over the last 100 years has been exponentially increased in the last year.
I'm not pointing fingers, but the objective fact of the matter is the health care takeover, taking over the banking system, bailouts, pay czars, all those things going on ... we as a party are going to offer a stark contrast to that. I think it's one that Americans and Virginians in particular are going to find much more appealing.
Q: Do you have any parting advice for Bill Cleaveland?
Fralin: I think Bill's going to be great. Bill will be his own person and should be.
I went to see [former 17th District Del.] Vic Thomas after I was elected. The advice he gave me was the exact advice I gave Bill Cleaveland: Pay attention to the people. Do what you think is right. And the chips will fall where they'll fall, but they'll fall in your favor if you do that.
