Obenshain politically exploits ECP decision

Pigs and Pearls

Are there no ethical leaders? Is there no one in leadership with integrity? I empathize with my readers as they groan and mutter to themselves, "Not another column about ethics." Believe me, it is as hard to write about the moral shortcomings of those I once respected as it is to read my polemics. The recent statements and actions of Mark Obenshain and the JMU Board of Visitors are simply more potholes in a road that desperately needs to be fixed. This is, after all, Virginia.

In a sense, I am questioning whether there are any real leaders anymore. First, I wrote about how some JMU administrators, including one who is highly respected for his leadership qualities, accepted raises while the university undergoes financial difficulties. Then just last week, I wrote about how Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose is defying the Montgomery County Ethics Commission and its ruling that he cannot profit off of the Washington, D.C. sniper case.

Now we have yet another local example of poor leadership. On Friday the board gathered to deliberate about policy issues at JMU. The board voted to raise student tuition once again, making three tuition hikes in one calendar year. JMU President Linwood Rose also presented a letter from Virginia Delegate Robert Marshall, R — Manassas, who strongly questioned the university's policy of providing ECPs at the university Health Center.

Enter Obenshain, a member of the board. The son of a prominent Virginia republican, Obenshain serves the local Harrisonburg community as a lawyer. This year Obenshain is running for the Virginia State Senate's 26th District seat. He just survived a surprisingly close primary race in which, as the Daily News-Record reported April 19 and 23, his pro-life credentials were questioned.

Obenshain had a choice Friday. He could have thought about the issue of the ECP as a member of the board, where his main responsibility is to serve the needs of JMU students. Such a stance would have befitted the dignity of his position and of his character.

But Obenshain the politico won the day. Why not use this situation to solidify his conservative republican base against potential challenger and conservative businessman Rodney Eagle? Why not make a motion to create a decision that only a lawyer — or a politician — could appreciate? Why not think of himself first and forget about his responsibilities as a leader in the JMU community?

And so Obenshain the political candidate moved that the board order the Health Center to discontinue dispensing ECPs. However, he protected himself by allowing the Health Center to continue to prescribe ECPs. Students merely have to go to a "community pharmacy" to have their prescription filled.

Now Obenshain the board member may say that students may still get prescriptions from the Health Center, and that access to ECPs has not been denied. Obenshain the political candidate, however, may now claim to have taken a stand in defense of the lives of innocent children. He can now show the pro-life lobby that he is a staunch opponent of all things that look like, smell like, seem like or hint of abortion.

Such language is hollow at best. The board's decision is really insignificant because JMU students need merely to get a prescription for ECPs filled at the Health Center and then walk 15 minutes down Cantrell Avenue to CVS to have their prescription filled. They will pay more at CVS than at the Health Center, but college students will never be considered as victims of high drug costs as their grandparents are.

The emptiness of the board's action, however, will be lost upon conservatives in the 26th Senate District. Obenshain knows his future constituency. He knows that they dislike having to analyze and critique two candidates for personality differences and tangible disagreements in policies. Instead, the people of the 26th District and of the entire Shenandoah Valley would much rather be manipulated emotionally by candidates with calls to patriotism, nationalism, xenophobia, old time religion and beating back imagined attacks on the traditional White Anglo-Saxon Protestant order.

The board's action Friday is now a mighty arrow in Obenshain's political quiver. Obenshain may have doubted his ability to exploit leads in money, influence and grassroots support, but now he may securely march toward victory in November. Eagle simply has no possible recourse against Obenshain's fait accompli.

Once again JMU students are mere pawns in a larger political game. Last spring, City Councilman Hugh Lantz played both sides of the JMU card in his successful re-election bid. Lantz converted a proposal to re-zone JMU students out of Old Town into an image of being tough on rowdy JMU students, an image that resonated well with some of Harrisonburg's more elitist and conservative residents.

At the same time Lantz presented himself to JMU as a loyal alumnus who had assisted JMU's exponential growth through his seat on the City Council. Lantz easily won a third term.

Is such realpolitik behavior effective? Absolutely. Is it illegal? No. Is it ethical? No. Does anyone seem to care if it's ethical? Negative again.

Abuse of one's position for personal gain is ethically wrong. It is wrong for JMU administrators toreceive raises while the university hikes tuition and cuts programs. It is wrong for Moose to profit from his position as the spokesman for the Washington, D.C. sniper investigation. It is wrong for a politician to use his office to manipulate public opinion for his own personal gain.

I do not think that public servants are an extinct species. I do think that they are dying. However, when politicians merely need to wave the bloody shirt, Old Glory or some inflated support of a pro-life position in order to win the spoils of high office, perhaps it is not the politicos who are at fault.

It might just be the apathetic public that allows them to get away with it.

Adam Sharp is a sophomore modern foreign languages major.