CLINICS AND GOOD SENSE

Gov. Mark Warner signed a bill Thursday sharply restricting locations of
future methadone clinics - reasoning, he said, that the measure "represents
a common-sense solution to a difficult issue."

Well, perhaps - if the difficult issue he means is the General Assembly's
budget impasse, a crisis that's calling all of his leadership skills into play.

After all, both houses of the General Assembly passed the ill-conceived
clinic bill by hefty, veto-proof margins. Perhaps it is just common sense
for the governor to go along. With legislators still twirling the cylinder
on a game of budgetary Russian roulette, Warner may want to save his
arm-twisting for brokering a budget deal.

How else to explain characterizing as common sense an attempt, born of
constituent panic, to control local zoning decisions from Richmond?

How dumb is the clinic legislation? Well, Northwest Roanoke residents
seized by fears about a planned methadone clinic persuaded the company to
look for another site. But so much of the city is off-limits, that might
not be possible.

The GOP-controlled legislature abandoned its guiding principle, "government
that governs least, governs best," just when it actually would have made sense.