The headline above, for those without the historic reference point, refers to an iconic front page of the New York Daily News – “Ford to City: Drop Dead” – after the administration of President Ford in 1975 declined to bail out the insolvent Big Apple. And now, on to the topic at hand . . .
“Thanks for nothing” may be the muttered response of Vienna Town Council members, as it appears to town’s two state legislators – one new, the other newish, in Richmond – are not going to lift a finger in support of a key town-government priority of allowing Vienna to return to the much preferable springtime elections.
State Sen. Saddam Salim and Del. Holly Seibold seem to be putting Democratic political partisanship ahead of the common-sense argument that local-government elections should not be commingled with state and federal races.
Responding to a GazetteLeader inquiry, and we thank him for that, Salim gave as the reason for opposing the Town Council’s request his view that the community benefits from higher turnout.
Guess one would have to ask the populace of North Korea about that. Their elections always record MASSIVE turnout, but are citizens reaping any rewards? Causation does not imply correlation, in North Korea or in Northern Virginia.
There’s still time for Salim and Seibold to see the light, do the right thing and support legislation allowing towns to go back to stand-alone spring selections if they so choose. Unlikely they will, but hey – we’re optimists!
If they don’t, Vienna residents will have reason to wonder if their representatives in Richmond have their best interests at heart, or merely are partisans toeing the Democratic line at the expense of the broader needs of their constituents.
