Four prominent Virginia politicians gathered last week for a Leadership Arlington forum to discuss the current political climate in Virginia, as well as budget and transportation issues.
Del. Vince Callahan (R-34), former Sen. Joseph Gartlan (D-Fairfax), Sen. Jay O'Brien (R-39) and Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple (D-31) answered questions about the general assembly's budget impasse from Arlington business leaders, civilians and activists.
Sen. Gartlan, who admits he has a certain amount of freedom now that he is retired, spoke candidly about problems in the assembly. "A collision has occurred," he said, due to "extreme partisan division in both houses."
THE CRUX of the budget problems lies in transportation funding. Sen. O'Brien cited the "funny formula" that is used in the Senate to compute appropriations. "Northern Virginia gets 18.8 percent of funding," he said, "but the amount of revenue contributed is 40 percent." He and others would like to increase the Northern Virginia allotment to 28 percent, which is reflective of its population.
Del. Callahan took similar issue with the problem of appropriations. "I've got no problem raising taxes as long as every dime of it remains in Northern Virginia." The legislators seemed to agree that increased taxes are likely. Sen. Whipple added that "what the Senate believes is necessary is a long-term, reliable, sustainable and increased source of funding for transportation."
Del. Callahan explained that there should be no need for such an impasse, when the House of Delegates has offered "proposal after proposal" to resolve the budget issue. "We want to pass what we call a caboose bill, which is a bill that does the funding for the remainder of the fiscal period, which expires June 30." An alternative proposal offered by the House would take transportation, which amounts to 1.5 percent of the total $74 billion budget, out of the budget to resolve separately, "and they have refused to do that," he said. Sen. O'Brien explained that the Senate had just separated the caboose bill from the budget, however, so it remains a viable option.
The conflict appears to have less to do in this case with Democrat versus Republican ideology. Sen. Whipple said that "the primary disagreements for the moment are between the House Republicans and the Senate Republicans."
Sen. Gartlan's take on the situation is bleak. "Under the new house rules promulgated by the Speaker, bills can be sent to subcommittee and killed without a vote ever being recorded." He called this process "legiscide" and said "you can't run a legislature that way."
"I DON'T like what the house is doing with the subcommittee votes," said Sen. O'Brien, but it "happened the whole time under the Democrats." He argued that this process is not new; it's just that "the Republicans are in power now."
Sen. O'Brien said that the main problem with getting a consensus in Richmond is that assembly members no longer have the freedom to discuss issues candidly in private without it turning into a press conference. "I remember the day it changed," he said. After the Freedom of Information Act was passed, a meeting was held between legislators and "it was believed that we should have an open meeting," he said. "It hasn't been the same since."
While a lack of candid dialog is part of the reason the Northern Virginia delegation is less cohesive, there are other factors at play as well. Sen. Whipple argued that the geographic spread means that "people are going to have different views," and that transportation isn't as important in more rural areas as it is in Northern Virginia or Hampton Roads.
Even as a unified delegation, however, Northern Virginia legislators only make up about a quarter of the legislature. "Twenty-five percent is a large number, but it's only 25 per cent," said Sen. Whipple. "If we could form a coalition with Hampton Roads we could control the state," said Del. Callahan.
According to Sen. Whipple, it is important to "send a message to other parts of the state," that "transportation affects everybody's daily life" in Northern Virginia. She added that "Northern Virginia has gotten by far an excessive share of federal funding," which is going to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and Springfield Interchange projects.
Problems with the budget itself are also of a constitutional nature. "According to Article 4, Section 12 of the Virginia constitution, each bill can have only one object alone, not two, so you're not appropriating money on one hand and raising taxes on the other hand," said Del. Callahan.
THE EFFECTS of this conflict could have larger repercussions than just the budget, according to Sen. Gartlan. "Until the conditions I alluded to are addressed, I really don't think members of the Northern Virginia delegation are going to be free spirits to call the shots as they see them," he said, "particularly in the House because of the retaliatory actions of the Speaker." He compared the legislature to baseball, saying, "You can't play the game that way. You need equitable application of the rules and respect for those rules." He cautioned against "a real loss of faith by the people of Virginia if this thing keeps up."