02/16/11: The Byrd machine’s continuing influence

This op-ed appeared in The Virginian-Pilot on the date shown.

OUTSIDE the entrance to the General Assembly Building is a statue of a man in whose shadow Virginia continues to labor. Harry F. Byrd Sr., the former governor and U.S. senator, looms large in the northeast corner of Capitol Square, near the offices of our 140 legislators.

As the result of a series of constitutional amendments adopted in 1928, Byrd, who served as governor from 1926 to 1930, reduced the number of statewide elected offices to its current five: governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and the two U.S. senators.

By contrast, our neighbor to the south, North Carolina, has eleven. The fewer statewide offices, the less likely that political machines — other than Byrd’s, of course — could develop.

But by having fewer offices, we also end up with fewer candidates for offices who are known across the state. This is the position Virginia finds itself in as we look to elect a replacement for retiring Sen. Jim Webb. Neither of the two major parties has much of a bench.

Republicans will choose the party’s nominee by primary. Already announced are George Allen and Jamie Radtke. Said to be considering a run are at least three others: Bob Marshall, Corey Stewart and Bert Mizusawa.

The method of nominating a Democratic candidate has yet to be determined. A lot of names are being thrown around, although no one has declared as a candidate. Among the names are Tim Kaine, Tom Perriello, Rick Boucher and Gerry Connolly.

Don’t feel bad if you recognized only two or three of the nine names just mentioned. Only two — former governors Allen and Kaine — have run statewide before. They already have spent millions to increase their name identification, an important step in winning an election. Should any of the others emerge as a candidate, it will be largely due to similar spending.

And we wonder why campaigns are so expensive.

Byrd was able to control Virginia politics for more than 40 years due to his network of constitutional officers. While he called them his “loose organization of friends,” Byrd’s “courthouse clique” was instrumental in helping him maintain his grip.

Elected by the people — and accountable only to them — the constitutional officers in each locality are almost above the law. The intervention of Gov. Bob McDonnell last week in the case of the Goochland treasurer gives a hint to the difficulty faced by the voters in removing one of them.

In that case, the treasurer was arrested on a charge of embezzlement but refused to resign.

Permission from Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was required in order for the State Police to investigate. Only after the governor asked the attorney general to start removal proceedings did Treasurer Brenda Grubbs resign.

It was as the leader in the fight against state bonds for road construction in 1922 that Byrd came to prominence. His election in 1925 was the beginning of the pay-as-you-go approach to funding road construction.

Between that and his commitment to low taxes, Virginia finds itself with one of the lowest gas-tax rates in the nation and a backlog of road projects. If approved, the latter will be partially addressed by the issuance of state bonds.

Virginia, like the General Assembly Building, still lives in the shadow of Harry F. Byrd. Those who point to his death in 1966 as the collapse of his organization fail to realize just how much of it lingers today.

Clarification

“History,” Winston Churchill said, “is written by the victors.” It should not, therefore, be of surprise that the claim that black explorer Matthew Henson was the first to reach the North Pole, as I wrote two weeks ago, is treated with suspicion (“Misplaced credit to explorer,” letters, Feb. 8).

Henson accompanied Robert Peary on his 1909 expedition. Almost a year earlier, Frederick Cook said he’d reached the pole, a claim widely discredited although still argued. In a 2003 National Geographic profile of Henson, he is said to have arrived at the pole 45 minutes ahead of the ailing Peary. In its historical information, Arlington National Cemetery, where Henson’s remains were re-interred in 1988, identifies him as reaching the pole first.

That Henson’s name is not as well known as that of Peary or Cook is a testament to how history gets written.