Letters: Are Politicians Putting Own Careers First?

Are Politicians Putting Own Careers First?
Editor, Times-Dispatch: So the VITA/Northrop Grumman deal has problems.

The only reason for privatizing a public service is to open up the de facto government monopoly to private-sector competition, thus reducing cost (or inefficiency). For this contract, if memory serves, Gov. Mark Warner in his last months in office rammed through a $2 billion deal with only two bidders, one of whom dropped out. So much for competition.

Only a handful of concepts are salient in privatization, such as the "yellow pages test," asset ownership, transaction costs, and adverse information. While a successful contractual relationship is always a two-way street, a poorly wrought or hastily executed contract is not the bidders' fault.

Not all public services are necessary or desirable. Big government tends to force monopolies on the citizens and becomes self-necessitating as the scale of its centralized services will preclude the letting of highly competitive private-sector contracts.

Neither should all public services be outsourced -- I believe even the quintessentially laissez-faire economist Milton Friedman concluded transportation belongs in the public sector.

Finally, a politician who finds privatization or for that matter any policy decisions difficult, whether the final decisions are yea or nay, due to lobbying pressures is clearly stating his career is more important than doing what is right for the public.

John Schuler.
Richmond.

In McDonnell's now infamous thesis at what is now Regent University, he wrote of the detrimental effect of working women on family. Then, in 1989, McDonnell reinforced his low opinion of working women by voting against "equal pay for equal work." During his entire career, McDonnell's poor regard for women revealed itself in his unwavering view on abortion. He advocates no abortion, even for females pregnant by rape or incest.

Should citizens of Virginia, especially its women, trust McDonnell because he was only 34 when he wrote his thesis? Although I hope his attitude toward females has improved because of time spent with his wife and his daughters, I am skeptical that his evolution has been very significant. His voting record and obstinacy regarding abortion speak to little change.

Before

The Times-Dispatch crows too loudly about former Gov. Doug Wilder's failure to endorse gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds, let us consider how Wilder left the City of Richmond. No citizen of the city -- no matter race, ethnic background, or creed -- was proud of Wilder's arrogance or his wasteful spending when he barred School Board employees from their jobs and attempted to evict the school administration from City Hall. Virginia's pride in the nation's first elected black governor turned to ashes as he displayed small-mindedness and obstinacy as mayor. Will no endorsement hurt Deeds? I doubt it.

C. Nancy Cook.
Richmond.

The congressional representative is right. Voting on legislation without have read an entire bill should be a crime. This goes for every piece of proposed legislation, not just the health care legislation currently at issue.

We elect men and women to go to Washington to represent us. They are paid employees of the people. Their job description includes proposing legislation, studying proposed legislation, and serving on and attending meetings of committees. They are to engage in debate on proposed legislation, and, when appropriate, to vote. While paid, they are not tenured. Members of Congress, like all workers, must be responsible to their employer (the American taxpayers) for carrying out their job duties. Whether a corporate executive or a worker at the corner book store, one must show up and do the job he or she is being paid to do. Members of Congress are no different. As our employees, they must do the work they are paid to do and they must be accountable. I suggest a system that identifies and disqualifies votes by representatives who have not read the legislation. If a congressman cheats, three strikes and he or she is out (of a job). David H. Worrell Jr. Bon Air.