Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 7, 1991 TAG: 9104070147
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Some observers say the setback could haunt the Democratic governor, but others predict Wilder will turn it to his advantage.
"This raises a potential roadblock for Wilder. It exacerbates the evidence that he might not be doing all that well inside his own state," said Robert Holsworth, a political scientist at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
"This will not necessarily knock him out of the presidential race, but it poses a serious problem for him."
Others said Wilder once again will display his skill at maneuvering on issues to enhance his political image.
"There isn't a governor in the country that hasn't had a disagreement with the legislature," said state Sen. Robert Scott, a Newport News Democrat and Wilder ally.
"I don't think this had any effect" on Wilder's national ambitions, Scott said. "If it does anything, it helps him."
Wilder proposed 86 amendments to the $25.6 billion spending plan passed by the Democrat-controlled General Assembly in February. Many of the amendments deleted funding for legislators' pet projects, including road widenings, college programs and tourist attractions. He also proposed cutting tuition aid for college students by $3.6 million.
Wilder insisted that legislators vote on the amendments in a block when they met in a special veto session Wednesday. The House of Delegates went along and narrowly approved the budget package. The Senate, however, took up the changes individually and rejected two-thirds of them by lopsided margins.
Wilder's political enemies were gleeful after the embarrassing setback for the governor.
"Implications for 1992?" asked Sen. Joseph Gartlan Jr., D-Fairfax County and a frequent Wilder critic.
The governor issued a terse statement that accused the assembly of killing one amendment that would have increased school funding by $15 million. The Senate had approved that amendment, but Wilder said he considered his budget package dead because other amendments were rejected.
Senators said the state could send more to schools and finance the other projects by dipping into Wilder's $200 million reserve fund. In speeches around the country, Wilder has touted the reserve as evidence of his fiscal conservatism.
The governor has until May to either sign the budget bill without his amendments, veto the entire plan or veto certain items. Wilder has not said what he will do.
The budget setback came six days after Wilder announced he was forming an exploratory committee for a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1992.
He has been stumping on a platform that emphasizes his refusal to raise taxes and his insistence on spending cuts to counter Virginia's economic slump.
The impact of the budget setback on Wilder's national ambitions is "not part of our perspective," said Laura Dillard, Wilder's press secretary.
"What he's doing on the budget is based on what he believes to be in the best interest of the people of the commonwealth," she said.
Some say Wilder still will be able to push his fiscal responsibility message by accusing legislators of being the big spenders.
"He's going to come across, I think, looking like the real conservative that he professes to be in this area," said Republican Sen. Joseph Benedetti of Richmond.
"If he plays it smart, he can turn it to his advantage to a nationwide audience," said Mark Rozell, a political analyst at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg.
"A lot of successful presidential candidates had terrible relations with their state legislatures," Rozell said. "National audiences don't tend to give a great deal of credence to those events."
But analysts said the budget mess could hurt Wilder if it links him to former President Jimmy Carter, another governor who had stormy relations with his Georgia legislature and later with Congress.
"Down the road it raises the issue of how well would he get along with Congress," Holsworth said.
by CNB