Sen. Scott Surovell’s a great guy and an excellent legislator who I’ve known for over a decade, but…I’ve got to go with Del. Sally Hudson on this one. In fact, it’s glaringly obvious that the disadvantages to the current Virginia legislature model FAR outweigh the advantages. As Del. Hudson points out, in an absolutely crucial point:
“Part-time legislating leaves our public servants outgunned by the full-time lobbyists who have the time & resources to do this work year-round…Little wonder Virginia ranks among the top states for passing boilerplate language lifted from copycat industry bills.”
So yeah, bottom line, it’s time – actually long past time – to professionalize the Virginia legislature, by lengthening sessions, paying members more, increasing full-time professional staff, enacting strict ethics and campaign finance reform, etc., etc. Of course, given that this is a revolving-door, corporations-above-all, you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours, “Virginia Way” state, good luck ever accomplishing this. But it SHOULD happen, nonetheless…
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