Hamstrung in Virginia

Governors should be allowed to run for reelection.

DEL. HARRY R. "Bob" Purkey, a Virginia lawmaker, is one of those quixotic keeners who plug away at lost causes year after year, enduring the joshing of colleagues who regard them as quaint figures of fun. In fact Mr. Purkey is a perfectly sensible man whose hobbyhorse -- changing Virginia's archaic constitutional rule barring governors from running for a second, consecutive four-year term -- may finally have its day.

For 15 years or so, and in various forms, Mr. Purkey, a Virginia Beach Republican, has tried to coax the commonwealth into the modern age by doing away with the rule prohibiting sitting governors from running for reelection. He and his allies have come close. One such bill passed the House of Delegates in 2003, then died when a few Republicans switched votes. A similar attempt cleared the Senate in 1995 but collapsed in the House. And an earlier, pre-Purkey effort seemed tantalizingly within reach when it passed both houses in 1984, only to fail the following year. (To amend Virginia's constitution, a bill must gain legislative approval in consecutive years, then be approved by voters in a referendum.)

Now Mr. Purkey and his fellow Republican legislators are in negotiations with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), and both sides appear serious about a compromise. In return for the constitutional shift, which would enhance the chief executive's power, future governors would cede to the legislature the right to make some appointments to certain high-level state commissions -- a right now reserved exclusively for the governor. If a deal can be worked out and passed by the General Assembly this year and next, it would go on the ballot in 2008. And if voters approve, the governor elected in 2009 -- not Mr. Kaine, who would still be bound by the old rule barring reelection -- would have the option of running for reelection in 2013.

Those wedded to the old system say a two-term provision would produce governors distracted by the prospect of reelection. A corollary is that governors seeking reelection spend too much time raising money, creating the potential of conflicts of interest.

Those objections are easily outweighed by the main arguments for two-term governors, which 49 other states seem to have grasped: simply, that governors worried about reelection are also more accountable to the state's voters. And that while money in politics can have a corrupting influence, that applies also to candidates who are not incumbents. The one-term rule yields governors who are lame ducks from the moment they take office, hard-pressed to forge and implement long-term policies or strategies for economic development. And because of Virginia's biennial budgeting process, each new governor is hamstrung for the first half of his term by his predecessor's budget.

It's a screwy system. In addition to Mr. Kaine, three of his four most recent predecessors favor scrapping it to allow governors to run for reelection. So do leading business groups. This year, after so many failed attempts, let's hope Mr. Purkey's efforts are not in vain.