The Republicans in Augusta County want to do something about the county courthouse, but the Republicans in Staunton won’t let them.
So a Republican from Augusta County introduced a bill in the State Senate. But a Republican from Rockingham County objected.
This is what happens when you leave Republicans in charge.
Meanwhile, a court has ordered Augusta County to do something about its county courthouse, and judges, most people know, don’t like it when people don’t heed their court orders.
Meaning, this should be easy, but nothing with government is easy, and as much as Republicans like to blame Democrats for everything under the sun, this one’s on them.
The latest here is Republican Sen. Mark Obenshain pushing for a change in a bill introduced by Republican Sen. Emmett Hanger that would allow for a referendum in the fall.
The Hanger bill would have included on the ballot wording laying out how much it would cost the county to build a new courthouse and also how much it would cost to renovate the current courthouse in Downtown Staunton, and also stipulated that voters would have access to those estimates at least 60 days before the election.
Obenshain’s objection: that existing state code has “specific provisions that deal with how the issue is to be phrased to the voters.”
Aha, existing state code.
You know, it ain’t carved in stone, senator.
Anyway, his amendment removes that harmful deviation from the statutorily prescribed method, because god knows what would happen if people actually knew what they were voting on.
Hanger conceded as his bill was being mucked up by an interloper with no dog in the fight that he liked his bill “a whole lot better” before Obenshain’s amendment.
The legislation heads to the House of Delegates, where there’s even odds that some other Republican hall monitor will take a turn at it.
The easier solution would be if the local Republicans in the county and the city could just come to some sort of working agreement, but they can’t even agree on a time that works to get together to talk, much less the rest.
But, hey, y’all voted ‘em in knowing that they don’t like government; it’s right there in their party platform.
Ain’t their fault stuff ain’t gettin’ done; it’s yours.
Story by Chris Graham
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