The Fairfax Extra of The Washington Post offers an excellent overview of the upcoming county’s budget decisions. Though the main story is short (I presume Extra Editor Steve Fehr has limited space), sidebars and photos help reporter Peter Whoriskey lay out the dilemma county supervisors face between cutting services or taxes. See:

*Service cuts suggested by the county executive
*List of tax increases
*Taxes and school funding over the past few years
*Departing superintendent’s parting words in washingtonpost.com’s online chat

I await the anti-taxers vote on which services they want to cut.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer ruled yesterday that jurisdictions in the state performing gay marriages are breaking the law but that valid gay marriages or civil unions performed in other states must be recognized by the state. Such idiosyncratic decisions by varying jurisdictions and officials and the speed with which this issue is advancing make it a fascinating story.

But I’m keeping one eye over my shoulder to ward off the catastrophe gay unions will have on the “institution of marriage.” Surely there must be something behind the right’s criticism. Surely?

This morning we posted the stories and comments about the Va. House GOP calling for a referendum on taxes.

Well, never mind.

Today, House conference committee negotiators said they weren’t any longer demanding a referendum.

Apparently cooler heads, particularly Del. Vince Callahan (R-Fairfax), prevailed. But the fiasco raises a couple of questions.

If Callahan really is a cooler head, why was he front and center at the press conference yesterday when Speaker Bill Howell presented his ultimatum? This guy is hard to figure out. Maybe he used the time tested strategy with Howell: Something about enough rope.

And where is the rudder in the Republican party? As I said in this morning’s post, it seems they’re just throwing out ideas to see which they can sell. But nobody’s buying them. This has to raise questions among not just moderate Republicans, but conservative business people who depend on a party leadership that can develop strategies and deliver a cogent message. It also must make some of the GOP electorate uneasy with a House that even with overwhelming numbers has become impotent, or at least seem a little silly.

There’s no guarantee that the Senate will get what it wants. But so far, the House GOP will be seen as losers and Warner, unless he really fumbles in the next few months, a winner.

This has got to be good for Democratic Party Chairman Kerry Donley and company as they try to attract candidates for the ’05 elections. There should be any number of folks chompin’ at the bit to take on some of these yahoos.

Quotes on Budget Impasse
“We’ve been here 40, 50 days, and all this [about Virginia’s troubled finances] has been all over the media, all over the state. To pass the buck to the people of Virginia at the 11th hour, without background . . . is not, in my view, what typically responsible Triple-A states do.”
–Senate Finance Committee Chairman John H. Chichester, R-Stafford in Richmond Times Dispatch

“The speaker and I don’t really like the concept of a referendum but find ourselves in circumstances that require thinking outside the box,”
— House GOP Leader H. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem in AP story

“I’ve never heard of a budget process where before the conferees are even meeting you’ve got one side saying, ‘We’re going to change the whole way government operates or we’re going to shut down government,’ That’s what they’re saying, impasse or referendum? I totally, categorically reject that.”
–Gov. Mark Warner in AP Story

“I’ve been here for 42 years and I’ve never seen anything like it.”
— Del. Lacey E. Putney, an independent from Bedford whose legislative tenure is a record in Virginia. in AP story

“I think the people sent us here to do a job and we should do it, but instead of walking out of here without a budget I’m willing to revisit that issue.”
— Delegate Johnny S. Joannou, Norfolk Democrat in Virginian Pilot

“[It’s] legislation by improvisation…[and]… disingenuous. We’re in a position where we’re about ready to shut the government down and we’re looking for someone to lay it off onto.”
— Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County in Roanoke Times

Opinion
An editorial in the Hampton Roads Daily Press calls the referendum idea. “inane” and provides perspective with respect to the two who thought up this hair-brained idea – Sen. George Allen (R) and former Gov. Doug Wilder (D):

The pattern continues. While decrying “big government,” Allen spends with the best of them. He just signed onto a $318 billion highway package, exceeding President Bush’s proposal by $62 billion. (What, no referendum for that one, senator?) Explaining his vote, Allen said, “I care about spending restraints too, but I also want to get Virginia its fair share!”

Then we have Wilder, the de facto populist, who now says he would not have supported Gov. Mark Warner’s election had he known about the governor’s tax plans. For his part, Wilder fondly recalls his own administration as an exemplar of frugality, overlooking the fact that he effectively raised taxes by allowing state college and university tuitions to soar to the heavens. He also infamously raided the transportation fund to avoid being inconvenienced by tax proposals.

A Virginian Pilot editorial lists some of the cuts the House budget would require.

Callahan is Key
If a conference committee actually meets and works at a compromise, Fairfax Republican Vince Callahan, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, is the one who can break the stalemate. He can be reached at (804) 698-1034 or by email.

Another slight problem with the referendum idea: Virginia code defines a referendum as a special election, and special elections can’t be held on the same day as a primary election, according to the Danville Register & Bee. So we’re going to hold an election on some meaningless date when about 5% of voters will likely show up?

GA: Open or Closed for Business?
Sen. Edd Houck(D-Stafford) has amended the bill exempting the General Assembly from the Freedom of Information Act. (If I were a delegate, I wouldn’t want people to see how that body works.) Houck’s amendments would keep open committee and subcommittee meetings, and legislative work sessions, while allowing the Joint Rules Committee to decide which other meetings could close their doors. Houck’s bill also exempts party caucus meetings from FOIA.

Get this: New Va. law says Girls Scouts can’t sell cookies inside polling places.

College of William & Mary students lost their bid in federal court to register to run for city council in Williamsburg.

A story where there was none: That’s the reaction of a couple of letter writers to The Post today. They comment on a recent front page story that John Kerry has accepted money from “Benedict Arnold” companies he rails about. He received $119,000 in 15 years!. Bush raises that much in 15 minutes and delivers a quid pro quo. As one writer puts it, “This is balance?”

But even Jim VandeHei writes a positive story about John Kerry this morning. Kerry must have done something big last night. Now Dems need to worry. With no opposition for the nomination, will Kerry again start parsing everything he says to appeal to centrist voters? He’ll run from being called a liberal, run from the gay marriage issue and run from abortion, gun control, etc. I think people are smarter than either candidate will give them credit for. The main issue we care about is security – secure jobs at home and security from terrorists abroad. I think most folks know that Bush hasn’t really made us any more secure from the threats outside our country. Even our friends hate us now. But Kerry needs to come up with something more than tax policy and the UN to fix the economy and our foreign relations. He needs to be honest with folks that a lot of manufacturing jobs aren’t coming back unless we’re all prepared to pay a lot higher prices for things. Just like Virginia lawmakers need to tell Virginia farmers that if they raise their children to work in the tobacco fields, they should be prosecuted for child abuse. There are a lot of dying occupations in this country. We need to birth new ones. That isn’t a cheap, easy or a quick thing to do.

Neither will be repairing our ties abroad. To do that we must exert pressure on our so-called friends and enemies alike. At the top of the list in the former category are Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The Washington Post editorial page blasted Va. Speaker Bill Howell’s call for a tax referendum, now that his horse and buggy House has painted itself into a corner. Many complain that The Post’s editorial page is not the liberal clarion it used to be. While that’s true, it’s probably a good thing. I find the page unpredictable, meaning that while you may disagree as often as not, it’s more interesting and certainly much more fair and balanced than Fox News ever is. It pulls no punches this morning.

The report of the referendum idea on B1 is well done with a sense of history, and therefore, perspective. During the gubernatorial race, Warner favored a referendum, and just a couple of months ago, Howell called referenda “passing the buck and not making the hard decisions.”

House GOP seems to develop its strategies at the bar the night before. At first it was this sales tax exemption idea (which frankly isn’t bad but oversold in terms of dollars it will raise). Now it’s a referendum. Howell and Co. keep throwing things up against the wall to see if something sticks. This ain’t pasta, it’s the AAA rating and Virginia’s future they’re playing with.

MoveOn, whose ad (“Child’s Play”) criticizing President Bush for his budget deficits was rejected by CBS for airing during the Super Bowl, will begin airing new ads Thursday in markets across the nation. Among the ads taking Bush to task for his policies will be the censored ad, which ran on cable during the Super Bowl half time. (Which is probably why most progressives missed JJ’s wardrobe malfunction.)

The Senate Finance Committee has published a comparative analysis of the House and Senate budget bills. The two documents are Download file“>here and Download file“>here. No guarantees as to their accuracy. A Senate Finance staff member said a more detailed analysis should be available in a few days.

(If you prefer, you can get the documents on the Committee’s web site.)

The two documents don’t always seem to agree with one another. For example, the table suggests the House bill adds $72 million to K-12 education, whereas the bullet-pointed analysis suggests the House is actually cutting K-12 education by $1 million.

Call your legislators with questions, concerns and most of all, YOUR OPINIONS. Find your legislator here. Below are the budget conferees:

BUDGET CONFERENCE COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
The Honorable John H. Chichester
(804) 698-7528
district28@sov.state.va.us

The Honorable William C. Wampler, Jr.
(804) 698-7540
district40@sov.state.va.us

The Honorable Charles J. Colgan
(804) 698-7529
district29@sov.state.va.us

The Honorable Walter A. Stosch
(804) 698-7512
district12@sov.state.va.us

The Honorable Vincent F. Callahan, Jr.
(804) 698-1034
Del_Callahan@house.state.va.us

The Honorable Lacey E. Putney
(804) 698-1019
Del_Putney@house.state.va.us

The Honorable Phillip A. Hamilton, Chair
(804) 698-1093
Del_Hamilton@house.state.va.us

The Honorable M. Kirkland Cox
(804) 698-1066
Del_Cox@house.state.va.us

The Honorable Johnny S. Joannou
(804) 698-1079
no email

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
The Honorable William J. Howell
(804) 698-1028
Del_Howell@house.state.va.us

Last Tuesday I posted “What’s With The Post’s Lisa Rein?” here, noting that she has quoted anti-tax advocate James Parmelee in at least 20 stories in the past two years. She’s not the only one at The Post with Parmelee on speed dial. A Lexis-Nexis search turns up nearly 100 instances over the past two years of Parmelee being quoted in the paper’s stories – about once a week.

Last week, he was a star. Not only did he appear in Rein’s story, but he was quoted in two different stories (here and here) yesterday and had his picture with his name in the cutline.

Worse, his quotes do nothing to illuminate the questions, and Post reporters allow him to make uncorroborated statements, as in the story about the state’s budget debate:

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t fund the disabled children or not fund the hospitals and nursing homes,” said James T. Parmelee, a tax opponent who sits on the board of the state’s Department of Medical Assistance Services. “But there are more effective ways we can provide these services — so that people on the waiting list can receive what they need, but we can also balance our budget without raising taxes.”

OK. What ways? Did reporter Chris Jenkins even think to ask? (Download file“>Read more.)