Contact: Peyton Knight
(202) 543-4110 or
pknight@nationalcenter.org
For
Release: August 30, 2006
Washington, D.C. - The office of Senator George Allen
(R-VA), speaking through the
Richmond
Times Dispatch, has responded to
concerns
raised on August 18 by the National Center for Public Policy Research
regarding S. 2645, "The Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area
Act of 2006."
Our response:
John Reid of Senator Allen's staff told the
Times-Dispatch: "I don't think [the National Center for Public
Policy Research has] read the legislation... this bill is directly consistent
with the principle of protecting personal, private property rights."
It would be no more appropriate for the National Center to criticize
a piece of legislation without reading it than it would be for a Senator or
Congressman to introduce a bill without reading it. We have not done
so.
Mr. Reid may be referring to Section 10 of S. 2645, which states, in
part: "Nothing in this Act shall be construed to modify the authority of
Federal, State, or local governments to regulate land use."
Unfortunately, Section 10 does not prevent harm to property
rights. We reluctantly suspect the provision is a cosmetic measure
designed to immunize the bill's sponsors from expected criticism by property
rights and limited government advocates.
Section 10's "property rights protections" do not extend to land use
restrictions and property acquisition performed by local officials at the
behest of the new "management entity" the bill creates. In short, the
Senator's office is literally correct that the bill itself
does not harm property rights, but the bill creates a new federally-funded
"management entity" charged with activities that are likely to do
so.
In short, the bill subcontracts the dirty work.
Re-reading the legislation reminds us of another troubling aspect of
this bill.
Section 3 states:
"The management entity for the Heritage Area shall be The Journey
Through Hallowed Ground Partnership, a Virginia corporation, the Board of
Directors of which shall include representatives from a broad cross-section of
the individuals, agencies, organizations, States, and governments that were
involved in the planning and development of the Heritage Area before the date
of enactment of this Act."
Why does the bill limit leadership in the management entity to a
pre-selected group that presumably shares a common ideology?
Though Jefferson's Monticello home is among the assets the new
Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership would be tasked with preserving,
Thomas Jefferson himself would have been ineligible to serve on its board of
directors.
# # #
For more information on this issue, see "The Journey Through
Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area: An Example of How Pork-Barrel Politics
Can Threaten Local Rule and Property Rights," by Peyton Knight, available
online at http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA540HallowedGround.html,
or "Assertions vs. Reality: The Journey Through Hallowed Ground National
Heritage Area Act of 2006," by Peyton Knight, available online at
http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA548.html.
Web: www.nationalcenter.org