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By JOHN GOOLRICK
I’ve always agreed with the philosopher who said, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,” but Gov. L. Douglas Wilder may be taking his agreement a bit too far.
Speaking as one who, for various reasons, has to write columns a week in advance of publication, Gov. Wilder’s flip flops are causing serious credibility problems.
Just a week ago I wrote that Gov. Wilder had planted his feet in cement in taking on his arch-rival, Sen. Joseph Gartlan of Fairfax. I noted that the governor had indicated he wasn’t interested in any compromise with such people.
Before the column even appeared in some publications, Gov. Wilder decided he would make significant changes in a controversial state Senate redistricting plan that critics such as Sen. Gartlan and others said penalized Northern Virginia, a region whose votes helped deliver the governorship to Gov. Wilder.
Though Gov. Wilder strongly denied he had caved in to political pressure and criticism, the facts would seem to indicate otherwise. He was editorially blasted by such disparate newspapers The Washington Post and The Richmond TimesDispatch. Then he arranged a meeting between his two closest advisors, chief of staff Jay Shropshire and state Democratic chairman Paul Goldman, and four Northern Virginia senators.
That meeting came complete with maps and new redistricting plans calculated to give the fast growing Northern Virginia region increased Senate representation.
The new plan favored by Gov. Wilder will be put to the General As
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