The Pilot, Warner and Marrs

The “ladies” who run the Virginian Pilot go weak in the knees over Governor Mark Warner. Well, that’s not quite right. You see they go weak in the knees about just about everyone in the governor’s fraternity .. er party. So I attribute today’s editorial page gush to hormones run amuck, like the girls in Tom Wolfe’s new book “I Am Charlotte Simmons.” Nothing else can explain why the editors today came out for less accountability in government; for the public’s right to not know.

Like freshmen girls discussing a good looking guy: “Oh my God, he’s so hot!” the editorial begins:

“Gov. Mark Warner should be commended for his prodigious, if not always popular, effort to restore the citizenship rights of men and women who have broken the law and paid the price.

Warner has restored to nearly 2,000 ex-felons the right to vote, hold public office, serve on a jury or act as a notary public. Not every person who does time goes to the trouble to get his rights back. But for those who do, the restoration signifies their willingness to play by the rules and to stay on the straight and narrow. “

But, there’s an “evil” member of the dorks club who doesn’t like our White Knight.

“Recently, Del. Brad P. Marrs, a Chesterfield Republican, filed a duplicitous [sic] court petition seeking to force Warner, a Democrat, to release thousands of pages of documents pertaining to the restorations.

[snip]

On the surface, the delegate’s argument had some merit: Why shouldn’t the public be allowed to know the reasons for reinstatement? Even with allowances for keeping some purely personal details private, the public would be served by knowing the basis for the governor’s decisions.

But is the public’s right to know, transparency in government and officeholders’ accountability not a good thing? Well, no, not if your motives are political, and if you are a Republican (or a dork … same thing).

“But Marrs’ true motivation for this battle seems to have come in comments to Virginian-Pilot staff writer John Hopkins. Saying the controversy could be an issue in the upcoming governor’s race between presumptive party nominees Jerry Kilgore and Timothy Kaine, Marrs notes: “If it helps to get Jerry Kilgore elected, then I would be pleased with that result.”

In other words, Marrs’ intent was to make political mischief, not to strengthen public access to government records. That’s the kind of cynicism that’s passed off these days in Richmond as governing and lawmaking.

[snip]

On this issue, Marrs’ partisanship is embarrassingly naked.“

Shocking; politicians having political thoughts. Surely not in Virginia!
Coming so close after the embarrassing spectacle of Dan Rather’s attempted “hit” on President Bush’s re-election campaign, you would think that news organizations would be more careful about blatant partisanship. But you would be wrong.

Hormones trump reason, and if you’re not careful, you get to walk that “walk of shame.” Of course that would not be new for the ladies of the Virginian Pilot. They know the way well.