{"id":1378,"date":"2004-04-22T12:05:39","date_gmt":"2004-04-22T16:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/000af36.netsolhost.com\/wordpress1\/2004\/04\/22\/virginia_news_16\/"},"modified":"2004-04-22T12:05:39","modified_gmt":"2004-04-22T16:05:39","slug":"virginia_news_16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/2004\/04\/22\/virginia_news_16\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Augusta Free Press says<\/a> \u201cAside from Gov. Mark Warner, Democrats have been eerily silent on the budget impasse.\u201d <\/p>\n

But the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cTwo Democratic senators, Linda T. Puller of Fairfax, a Warner confidante, and attorney general hopeful R. Creigh Deeds of Bath, said the governor is pressing the 16-member caucus to side with the maverick Republican delegates.<\/p>\n

“We’re getting a lot of pressure from the governor to cave,” said Puller, noting that Senate Democrats are holding out for, at a minimum, full funding of the state’s $1 billion-a-year obligation to local school systems.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And the Virginia Pilot writes<\/a>: <\/p>\n

The chamber’s 24-member Republican majority is split. Led by Chichester, most of the GOP is seeking a compromise of $1 billion in increases in sales and cigarette taxes. About six or seven Republicans, however, have vowed to vote against any hike. <\/p>\n

Conversely, most, if not all, of the 16 Democrats are refusing to go below about $1.6 billion in new levies. “We don’t want to shortchange colleges, public schools and mental health services,” said Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw ,” D-Fairfax. <\/p>\n

Several Democrats predicted all 16 would vote as a bloc. “We’re very solid,” said Sen. R. Edward Houck, D-Spotsylvania\u2026. <\/p>\n

“We’re convinced that the needs of the state are so great that we will not have done our jobs if we don’t come out of this session with substantially more money than the House is offering,” said Sen. Patricia S. Ticer, D-Alexandria.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Washington Post writes<\/a> this morning: <\/p>\n

Some political adversaries say Warner’s tendency to tweak bills rather than veto them reveals a wishy-washy leader who attempts to have it both ways on controversial subjects. His supporters say his actions are those of a centrist businessman who remains uncomfortable with overly partisan positions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Quotes of the Day:
\n\u201cI dream of things that never were, and ask why not?\u201d
\n–The late Sen. Robert Kennedy<\/p>\n

“I keep talking to senators of both parties and telling them to lower their expectations.”
\n–Gov. Mark Warner<\/p>\n

“I knew Bobby Kennedy. Bobby Kennedy was a friend of mine. You’re no Bobby Kennedy.”
\n–The late Sen. Lloyd Bensten<\/p>\n

Correction<\/strong>: The quote by Lloyd Bensten above was actually said of President John Kennedy, not his brother Bobby. Lesson learned: When \u201cGoogling\u201d to fact check, one may find others as mistaken as the Googler.<\/p>\n

Well, at least Del. Athey has the courage<\/a> of other people\u2019s convictions. <\/p>\n

Del. Clifford L. “Clay” Athey Jr., R-Front Royal, who is in his first term, said he doesn’t think he would have voted for the no-car-tax plan if he was in office in 1998 because it didn’t include an alternate stream of funding. <\/p>\n

But if the Senate puts a cap or rollback into the budget, Athey said he still would not vote for it. <\/p>\n

“I believe there is some validity to saying the car tax, those reimbursements, are draining the state economy,” Athey said. “But we inherit both good things that our predecessors did, and the bad things.” <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Could Del. Bobby Orrock come around<\/a>? <\/p>\n

Del. Bobby Orrock, R-Caroline, originally voted against the bill. He said yesterday, however, that if the Senate sends the Parrish bill back in the same form it was introduced–when it raised $972 million in new revenues–he would vote for it.<\/p>\n

“I would support that if that’s what it takes to get us out of here,” Orrock said. <\/p>\n

He also supports capping car-tax payments, but doesn’t like the idea of a local-option sales tax.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here\u2019s<\/a> what the Assembly did yesterday on Warner\u2019s bill vetoes and amendments.<\/p>\n

How the Senate<\/a> and the House<\/a> voted on the civil union amendments and how the House<\/a> voted on the 21-day rule. (The Senate unanimously upheld Warner\u2019s amendment.)<\/p>\n

“Far better for Virginia than fostering the tobacco industry would be weaning the state from economic reliance on it.”
\n—Roanoke Times<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u201cIt needs to be said,\u201d yes, but differently<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t tread<\/a> on me. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Augusta Free Press says \u201cAside from Gov. Mark Warner, Democrats have been eerily silent on the budget impasse.\u201d But the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports \u201cTwo Democratic senators, Linda T. Puller of Fairfax, a Warner confidante, and attorney general hopeful R. Creigh Deeds of Bath, said the governor is pressing the 16-member caucus to side with… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1378"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1378\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}