All results / Stories / Delegate Kenneth R. “Ken” Plum
Column: Balancing the Budget
Adjourning a 60-day legislative session without approving a biennial budget may seem like Washington-style failure to some, but to those who work closely with the process taking more time to balance the budget reflects the realities and limitations of the tremendous task involved. Contrasted to federal budget-making, there are no continuing resolutions or the ability to print or borrow money.
Column: Over a Cup of Coffee
My pre-session public hearings are always informative. The hearings help me gauge public opinion on a variety of issues. And constituents provide excellent suggestions on state government.
Commentary: Every Two Years
I told the several people who were present that I thought we needed a new Fairfax Resolves, remembering the resolution that the citizens of Fairfax County had drawn up to list their grievances against England before the revolution.
Commentary
Affordable Care Act
Another phase of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) became effective this week. Although controversial among some politicians who refer to the act as “Obamacare,” it is proving extremely beneficial for those who have had limited or no access to health care. As the benefits of the program become more obvious, these same politicians may regret associating the president’s name with a program that is on its way to making huge improvements in health care for Americans.
Richmond Diary
Governor McAuliffe Sets the Stage
Each year the Governor of Virginia addresses a joint assembly of the House of Delegates and the State Senate in a speech not unlike the President’s State of the Union address except that the Governor provides a “State of the Commonwealth” as well as his recommendations for legislative action. Last week I heard the 35th such speech since I have been a member of the House of Delegates. I think Gov. Terry McAuliffe made the best of any of the speeches I have heard over my career in the legislature.
Opinion: Voter Fraud at the Highest Levels
Over the last several years there has been a proliferation of bills introduced in Virginia and in many other states to prevent voter fraud. Conspicuously missing from the debate on these bills has been any specific examples of voter fraud having been committed. In fact, the greater problem with voting has not been that persons have been fraudulently voting; voter participation in Virginia and the nation has been embarrassingly low. The emphasis needs to be on getting more people to vote and not to make the process more cumbersome and bureaucratic so that it discourages voters.
Column: Preparing for the Holidays
Column: The holiday season is busy for most everyone regardless of faith and family traditions and the holidays we choose to celebrate.
A Silver Line Train for the Holidays
As I drove across the Wiehle Avenue Bridge over the Dulles Access Road a couple of weeks ago, I was sure I saw a Metro railcar on the brand new Silver Line tracks. I hurried to the post office and returned to the scene, parked my car in a nearby lot, and walked to the bridge to record the historic moment. By then it was dusk, and search as I might I could not find a railcar. I began to doubt myself. Had I worked on the project so long that I was seeing things?
Commentary: Back Home
With the adjournment of the General Assembly session on Feb. 23 I am back home in Reston, but my legislative duties for the year are far from being over. Following the Saturday conclusion of the annual session, on Sunday morning I moved from the furnished apartment I had leased for most of January and February. I was living in Richmond in an apartment house that was built at the edge of the falls of the James River and was there long enough to develop a daily routine.
Commentary: Smoke and Mirrors
One of my mentors in my earliest years in the General Assembly was Delegate Dorothy McDiarmid who served off and on from 1960 to 1989. First elected on a platform of keeping the public schools open during racial desegregation, the gentlelady from Fairfax Mrs. McDiarmid went on to successfully add kindergarten to the public school system of the state and to chair the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Her supporters gave her the campaign slogan, “The Lady Has Clout.” Delegate McDiarmid taught me to look carefully at political proposals for many lacked substance and were simply “smoke and mirrors.”
Column: A Different Perspective
Listening to two or more eyewitness accounts of an incident helps us understand how perspective influences the way we see things. Accounts can differ based on the physical location of a witness in relation to an event, but the testimony of someone who saw what happened can also be influenced by that person’s beliefs and attitudes towards the persons and circumstances involved.
Commentary: Education as the Priority
All the important bills the General Assembly considered in the first half of its annual session pale in comparison to the most significant action it will take this week in adopting a $100 billion budget for the biennium.
Commentary: Also on the Ballot
With all the buzz about the presidential election, some voters may be surprised to learn that there are other electoral contests and issues on the ballot. At the request of many people, each year I write about the ballot facing voters and share my intentions on how I will be voting. It will come as no surprise to anyone that I will be voting for President Obama for re-election. This campaign as much as any has been about the clear role of government, and President Obama reflects views that I hold that our society must be open to opportunity for all and not to a privileged few. There is no reason to stay home from this vote. It does not get any more fundamental than this one.
Commentary: General Assembly 2016 Session Underway
After the usual business of organizing for a new legislative session, the General Assembly got underway without major incident.
Commentary: A Circus Show
The purpose of the legislative session is serious business and not entertainment like the circus. There are times, however, that it may be difficult to tell the difference.
Ironically Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus moved into the Richmond Coliseum for its annual stand at the same time last week that a few blocks away the General Assembly concluded its annual meeting and members packed up and went home.
Commentary: The Passing of an Era
Last week I made a journey to Norfolk, Va., to say a final goodbye to a former colleague in the House of Delegates, Thomas W. Moss, Jr., who passed away.
Column: Wind Energy
Wind energy needs to be a part of the renewable mix of energy sources in Virginia and the nation.
With the federal Clean Air Act requiring higher air quality standards, many fossil-fuel power plants will be closing or converting to other fuel sources.
Commentary: Paying for Our Schools
The recent tension between the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and the School Board over approval of the budget for the public schools left one big factor out of the equation for funding schools—the role of state government in financing public education in the Commonwealth. Public education as defined in the state constitution is a partnership between state and local governments.
Column: A Hundred Fifty Years Ago
The first person I ever knew who wrote a weekly newspaper column was a teacher in the high school I attended who wrote a column during the period 1961-1965 entitled, “A Hundred Years Ago: The Civil War Day By Day.” He did not have to think of a new topic every week; he simply reported what was known to be going on a 100 years before during that week.
Column: Community Educational Resources
As a former teacher and educator, I like what I have been seeing recently of the vast array of educational resources in our community.