By Lewis Loflin
Southwest Virginia's economic struggles make it ripe for political exploitation. The table below, sourced from U.S. Census data, shows population decline, high poverty rates, disability, and uninsured numbers across the region from 2010 to 2018 - proof of a struggling area that politicians use to justify pet projects while funneling public money to cronies.
| Location (VA) | 2010 Population | 2018 Population | Change | Poverty Rate | Disability Rate | Uninsured Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buchanan County | 24,098 | 21,221 | -11.9% | 27.9% | 16.3% | 12.5% |
| Dickenson County | 15,903 | 14,523 | -8.7% | 25.0% | 19.5% | 11.5% |
| Scott County | 23,177 | 21,534 | -7.1% | 17.6% | 17.5% | 11.0% |
| Russell County | 28,897 | 26,748 | -7.4% | 20.2% | 16.2% | 11.0% |
| Lee County | 25,587 | 23,541 | -8.0% | 28.2% | 21.1% | 12.3% |
| Wise County | 41,452 | 38,012 | -8.3% | 23.3% | 19.4% | 11.6% |
| Tazewell County | 45,073 | 45,068 | -0.6% | 18.1% | 16.2% | 11.6% |
| City of Norton | 3,993 | 3,958 | -0.8% | 22.3% | 16.8% | 11.4% |
| Smyth County | 32,208 | 30,472 | -5.4% | 17.7% | 17.2% | 10.7% |
| Pulaski County | 34,859 | 34,066 | -2.3% | 14.8% | 11.5% | 9.8% |
| Wythe County | 29,235 | 28,754 | -1.6% | 13.8% | 13.3% | 12.2% |
| Washington County | 54,876 | 54,502 | -0.7% | 13.9% | 13.3% | 10.8% |
| City of Bristol | 17,835 | 16,482 | -7.6% | 21.3% | 16.3% | 13.8% |
Source: U.S. Census, www.sullivan-county.com
This stands as a historical record of how politicians exploit struggling regions. Here's the scam: Virginia's "closed session" laws let officials hide deals transferring public assets to private hands - often their buddies. No press, no recordings, no public access. In Washington County, you couldn't even speak to the Board of Supervisors without an invite or pre-approval until 2009, when they finally reinstated public comments. Good for them.
In Abingdon, the taxpayer-funded industrial development board meets at the Chamber of Commerce, piling on more "closed session" backroom deals. In Bristol, the highest-paid public official (still on the payroll as of 2008) now runs the Bristol VA/TN Chamber of Commerce. Then there's the city utility's college scholarship program for local high school grads - sounds nice, but the Bristol Herald Courier (2008) found it favored kids of city officials and employees, sidelining regular folks. All rate-payers, including Washington County residents, footed the bill.
City officials' response? They admitted the program was meant for kids they wanted to stay - meaning their own. The Bristol Herald Courier also called out nepotism in 2008: City Council members' kids were landing cushy city jobs. Some scholarships even went to students at a private Christian school tied to public employees on its board. Let me stress: this is all legal.
Public officials often help friends set up nonprofits to snag state and local grants - or dodge property taxes. Bristol Virginia and Tennessee, for instance, sank $5 million in highway funds and city taxes into renovating the Old Train Station. Five years later, by 2008, it sat empty. As of 2025, it's still empty.
Millions in economic and tobacco grants have funded nonsense like the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, entertaining the local elite. What does a theater have to do with training displaced tobacco workers? Nothing. Tourism development here is taxpayer fraud - economic development isn't about profitable businesses or jobs; it's about government handouts.
Published: December 19, 2008, Bristol Herald Courier
That week, Congressman Rick Boucher was on local TV hyping his latest vote-buying scheme: a museum in Southwest Virginia, funded with transportation dollars. He'd already diverted $1.5 million of those funds to the Bristol Train Station. Boucher, Senator Warner, and Tennessee politicians keep misusing transportation money this way.
Take Boucher's $750,000 for horse trails in a national forest. Virginia can't maintain existing highways or build new ones, yet we let officials buy votes with "free money," claiming laws force them to spend transportation funds on non-transportation projects. Who's to blame? Us, the voters, acting like pigs at the trough. The only fix is telling both parties to stop. - Jerry C. Bristol
Update November 2009: The Bristol Train Station opened in 2009. But Boucher's 2009 transportation funding request for Bristol wins my Pork of the Year: $900,000 for a "Multimodal Transportation Terminal and Trolley System." The plan? Pave a city lot, build a covered waiting area with restrooms, and buy three 18-43 passenger trolleys (two running, one backup) to shuttle people downtown - supposedly for "economic growth" and the environment. The Virginia side gets the infrastructure; Tennessee's is already done.
Maybe they can trolley past our $6 million empty Train Station, or the $10-12 million (under construction in 2009) country music museum the "stars" wouldn't fund. Boucher's diverting another $18,359,891 in highway funds - none of it filling potholes or creating lasting jobs.
Update 2021: The Country Music Museum, costing over $12 million, has produced nothing. The Train Station remains empty. No trolleys either.
Acknowledgment: I'd like to thank Grok, an AI by xAI, for helping me draft and refine this article. The final edits and perspective are my own.
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