VA Senator George Allen is bored in the Senate

Meet Senator George Allen (R-VA)
Allen is considered by many to be a frontrunner for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination. But he is apparently bored representing Virginia in the Senate..

“I made more decisions in half a day as governor than you can make in a whole week in the Senate,” Senator Allen said earlier this month as he dashed into a recent Republican fund-raiser in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Over eggs and hash browns with a Republican crowd in Davenport, he lamented about being in the Senate, “It’s too slow for me.”

Maybe its because he, along with a lot of other politicians, are campaigning in Iowa instead of representing their constituents.

Unsuprisingly, Allen also stated that, despite being a Virginian, he wishes he was “really” from Iowa. (Hes “really” from Los Angeles County, CA.) Hmm…

I don’t mean this to be just an attack on Allen. This is also not a statement of support for his 2006 opponents Harris Miller and James Webb – a former Secretary of the Navy.

But I am frustrated at the negligence that many citizens of Appalachia recieve from their elected officials. Virginia can do better. George Allen can do better. Virginia has plenty of issues that need adressing.

Say for instance, mountaintop removal coal mining and some of the worst air quality in the country.

North Carolina is no better. Since our inception, power has been held down east and in the piedmont. Mountain schools are dead last in funding, our issues are backlogged in Raleigh, and we have some of the worst poverty rates in the country. Our representatives need to hear from us more often, and we need to hear from them more often.

About JW Randolph

Raised on the banks of the Tennessee River, JW's work to create progress in his home state and throughout Appalachia has been featured on the Rachel Maddow Show, The Daily Kos and Grist. He served first as Appalachian Voices’ Legislative Associate and then Tennessee director until leaving to pursue a career in medicine in 2012.