Political Notebook: “This isn’t a good-bye column”

By Bob Gibson

Published: April 5, 2008

There is wisdom in a messy desk, but it’s hard to find.
Cleaning out a desk after 31 years, OK, four desks really, but this one is quite the messiest, yields nice little nuggets of what made yesterday’s news a few years back, having escaped the fleeting flirtation of an editor’s knife and the lure of the landfill.
Wisdom can reside at the bottom of a story, the back corner of a drawer, the last page of a legal pad full of base notes.
There’s Mary Ann Elwood’s roast of Mitch Van Yahres three years ago in which she said of her good friend she knew the retiring delegate “when he knew more about trees than politics.”
Despite appearances, “he knew what he was doing,” she said. His red plaid shirts “took him all those times back to the legislature [as] a man of the people.”
The former city Democratic Party chairwoman shared Van Yahres’ political fashion secrets. “Don’t ever wear colors named for foods,” she said she learned from him. “Red, yes. Cranberry, no. Pink, yes. Salmon, no. And, never, ever “wear suspenders with a belt unless you are a clown.”
Elwood and Van Yahres could engage in politics playfully and teamed with many people in Charlottesville over the years to advance the lives and fortunes of people, especially low-income black residents previously shut out of things.
One of the city’s kids who did well in life is Paul Harris, the son of a gregarious city school nurse. Harris rose quickly in the area’s Republican Party ranks and was elected to serve with Van Yahres in the General Assembly.
Each became an inspirational speaker who could move people to see his point of view. They worked together on a process to screen candidates for election as judges, something the General Assembly even today finds somewhat difficult to pull off.
Each came to respect the other and they worked well together despite their differences. Van Yahres proudly wore the label “liberal” while Harris calls himself a conservative in service of faith, family and freedom.
Both could respect the political wisdom of Mick Jagger, who put to music the basic truth, “You can’t always get what you want.”
Politics is, first and foremost, about people.
I have been very fortunate in 31 years of newspaper work to be caught up in the energy of politics.
Covering the events, struggles and issues that have changed Virginia has afforded me a look at the little daily decisions that shape and reveal the character of those pushing change in many directions.
Tucked underneath the 1992 list of General Assembly members, my notes from this column 16 years ago turned up a story about H. Ross Perot outpolling both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
That poll, like many others this year, proves that polls definitely are not predictive and that anyone who goes by polls in the springtime of a presidential election year might find November a quite different story.
Other polls showing L. Douglas Wilder with a huge pre-election lead over Republican J. Marshall Coleman also reflect the faults of believing in the magic or the accuracy of polling.
Wilder beat Coleman, but by a tiny margin as plenty of people who told pollsters they favored Wilder might not have voted for him. People sometimes tell pollsters what they think they want to hear.
As governor, Wilder came in with a liberal image and left with one more conservative. He battled a huge state budget shortfall without raising taxes. He battled fellow Democrats at least as often as he battled Republicans. He was the third Democrat in a row to live in the mansion and was followed by two Republicans, who, in turn have been followed by two Democrats.
There is a ping-pong pattern of cycle and recycle to Virginia politics.
Rule 27 in Virginia politics is that former governors don’t always like each other.
That goes as strongly for governors of the same political party.
This state produces former governors faster than any other, which tends to create a traffic jam of would-be senators.
Only two of them are lined up at present to try to serve in Washington, but former Govs. George Allen and Chuck Robb have occupied the non-Warner seat in the Senate for 18 of the last 20 years.
The past 31 years have been wonderful here at this newspaper. It’s hard to leave the people you love.
I feel lucky to have had a front-row seat to be able to observe the state’s political figures as individuals. The ability to host many dozens of them on live radio call-in shows is an added bonus that helps understand how they relate to voters by watching them handle questions.
I feel more fortunate to have worked all these years with the reporters and editors who have made this a great place to work.
I’m grateful for all the people who have read this column over the years and to those who have called, written and/or blogged their comments and suggestions.
Journalism, like politics, does not happen in a vacuum. The trades are interactive, and becoming even more so.
The editors and publisher I enjoy working with here are kind enough to allow me the privilege of continuing to write op-ed columns, just as the public radio folks with whom I work are encouraging continued participation in that most interactive medium.
And blogging has become a passion, if not a paying profession.
So this isn’t good-bye as much as see you soon from another front-row seat.

Bob Gibson is becoming executive director of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia as of April 21.