Va. Speaker of the House Bill Howell (R-Fredericksburg), Dels. Robert Orrick (R-Thornburg), Ryan T. McDougle (R-Mechanicsville), Mark Cole (R-Fredericksburg) and Sen. John Chichester (R-Stafford) declined to attend the town hall meeting in Stafford County last night.
Sen. Chichester sent a written statement to the group of more than 200 people who gathered in the auditorium at Massaponax High School. In the statement, he justified the Senate budget plan he authored. Organizers of the meeting were uncertain as to why he didn’t attend, though one reason was thought to be his involvement in continuing budget negotiations now that the House of Delegates is set to vote on a plan that raises about 25 percent of what the original Senate plan proposed.
As for the Speaker and his delegates, they apparently had better things to do. Without being specific, Howell told one of the organizers he had to be in Alexandria last night. Several speakers expressed disappointment at the delegates’ absence, including one of two speakers who expressed concern about rising taxes. He was asked to attend by one of the missing-in-action delegates. Even that speaker said the 42 speakers who were willing to raise taxes had legitimate points.
Read more about it here.