Tom White and I conferred by email and we are endorsing both of the constitutional amendments – Amendment 1 because it will preserve a state statute that requires public eminent domain taking to be for a public use and not to increase property values or for urban planning. I do not trust politicians to make that choice when the developers can promise the moon and provide more tax revenues if we get rid of those pesky ordinary property owners. There is simply too much chance for public corruption – something that our Commonwealth has blessedly little of – among local officials.
As for Amendment 2 – this allows the legislature to avoid religious holidays in setting veto sessions and that seems right to us.
So, vote YES for both amendments!
Elwood "Sandy" Sanders is a Hanover attorney who is an Appellate Procedure Consultant for Lantagne Legal Printing and has written seven scholarly legal articles and was an adjunct at T. C. Williams School of Law. (None of these titles imply any endorsement of Sanders’ views)
