Megasite silence far from golden

The News Virginian / News Virginian
Published: October 24, 2007

Few principles in government are more basic than this: When officials decide to spend the public's money, the public should know about it. Many elected representatives somehow arrive at the conclusion that government money is theirs rather than taxpayers'. Occasionally, officials take it a step further, deeming it appropriate to make some spending decisions behind closed doors.

Count in that group incumbent Augusta County supervisors Tracy Pyles and Larry Howdyshell. Pyles, for his part, says he is for open government - but not all of the time, apparently. Not, for example, when the county privately commissioned a $440,000 study into a so-called megasite on 1,600 acres in Northern Augusta. Pyles, Howdyshell and others tried unsuccessfully to keep the 2006 study a secret.

That has spawned perhaps Pyles' stiffest challenge in four campaigns, this one coming from Republican Travis Smithdeal. He cites Pyles' silence on the megasite study among the driving factors in his decision to run for the Pastures seat. "I felt like it was us and them," Smithdeal told The News Virginian, referring to elected officials and the public. Supervisor Nancy Sorrells says she felt much the same way after expressing her desire to disclose the study.

The megasite controversy also pulled former county Supervisor Charles Curry into the race, to challenge Howdyshell. Ironically, Curry endorsed Howdyshell for the North River seat before retiring in 2000. Curry says people frustrated over the megasite study urged him to run again, and he obliged.

Pyles and Howdyshell have argued that making the study public would have jeopardized a potential deal involving Toyota that could have brought 2,500 badly needed manufacturing jobs to the region. That contention carries the approximate weight of a spoonful of whipped cream. Whether disclosing the study would have killed the deal (it crumbled anyway) should have been irrelevant. The principle is clear: Public spending demands a public vote.

Under Virginia's very closed open records laws, government officials are permitted to conceal projects that are still in the talking stages. In some circumstances, officials even may go into closed session to consider investing public money. The thinking is that disclosing details of negotiations would give competitors — either cities or other companies — an unfair advantage. Whether legal under some loophole, signing off in secret on spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in public money is a violation of the principle and spirit of open government.

Elected officials should know that choosing silence over openness, particularly regarding spending, is the wrong way to go. Those who do not acknowledge as much with their actions should expect to hear the resounding voice of voters at the polls insisting otherwise.

Based on that thinking, we back the following candidates in three of Augusta's four contested races:

Pastures: Smithdeal. Pyles' knowledge of the issues regarding education, transportation and agriculture is likely superior to that of Smithdeal, a political neophyte. But we think Smithdeal has the requisite intelligence to perform effectively. Mostly, we like that when he saw what he perceived as a public wrong in the closed-door decision to commission the megasite study, he decided to do something about it. We urge voters to do the same.

North River: Curry. A savvy, veteran politician, Curry is a tireless advocate for agriculture as well as smart growth strategist that will preserve the county's character. Augusta would be well-served by his return to office.

Riverheads: Sorrells. We commend Sorrells for backing open government, at least in spirit. Her challenger, Republican Michael Shull, is on the right track in calling for more affordable housing and looking for companies large and small to locate here. But Sorrells so far has done nothing to warrant her being ousted from her post; indeed, she has shown courage regarding what we consider to be an issue of fundamental importance.