When 165,000 People Speak, Do Lawmakers Hear?

Many organizations and activists spend years and tens of thousands of dollars to get state lawmakers and voters to pay attention to their causes.

Bryan Ault, a computer programmer from Alexandria, did it in less than a month.

Ault, 28, is the mastermind behind the online petition calling on Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and the Republican-controlled General Assembly to rescind the steep fees on bad drivers that took effect July 1. If lawmakers don't, the petition says, they will be voted out of office.

The petition, which has more than 165,000 signatures, represents one of the most successful citizen uprisings in Virginia in recent memory.

Although some Republican strategists have sought to play down the petition's impact, Kaine and state legislators were walloped by the sheer number of signatures.

With the number of signers falling off dramatically in recent days, the question now becomes, what does it mean for the fall campaign that one of every 46 Virginia residents has pledged: "We will not vote for any state delegate or state senator who voted for this bill, or for any delegate or senator who does not take action to repeal" the fees?

The conventional wisdom in Richmond is that the petition won't mean much by Nov. 6, when the seats of all 140 delegates and senators are up for election. By the time people vote, the statehouse crowd says, immigration, the fallout from the Virginia Tech Review Panel's final report and local issues will have captured voters' attention.

One thing is certain: The statehouse crowd has grossly underestimated the fee issue from the beginning.

"I'll take notice when it reaches 70,000," one legislative aide said when the petition had 36,000 signers three weeks ago.

Less than a week later, the petition had swelled to more than 100,000 signatures after generating nearly 2,000 an hour on some days, forcing Kaine's spokesman to declare: "We hear you."

On July 19, when the petition and fees became national news, Kaine and House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) held a rare joint news conference to respond to the uproar. They pledged that the General Assembly would revisit the issue in January but ruled out a special session before then.

By essentially ignoring the petitioners' calls to repeal the fines immediately, Kaine and Howell have all but said that the 165,000 people who signed the petition are bluffing by vowing to take out their frustrations on incumbents come Election Day.