Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 11, 1992 TAG: 9202110290
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROB EURE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
UNDER BILL, GOV. WARNER COULDN'T PICK SENATOR
Democrats in the House of Delegates sought Monday to address what could become a ticklish problem should Republican U.S. Sen. John Warner be elected governor next year: Who would get to name his replacement in Washington.Virginia political junkies have been puzzling quietly for several weeks over who would get to name Warner's interim replacement in the Senate - Democratic Gov. Douglas Wilder in the closing days of his term, or Warner as a newly sworn governor.
Already fearful of the popular Warner leading the ticket for Republicans in 1993, Democrats want to change state law so that Warner would have to quit the Senate before his swearing-in as governor.
Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton, warned of a scenario in which Warner is elected, stays in the Senate until his inauguration and immediately appoints fellow Republican Rep. George Allen of Albemarle County to succeed him.
Allen won the 7th District seat in Congress last fall, but his chances for re-election were eliminated when Democrats put his home in a reconfigured district with veteran Republican Rep. Thomas Bliley of Richmond.
Cranwell tacked the Warner amendment to a measure that would bar politicians from serving in two elected jobs at once.
Cranwell's amendment would require that any Virginia officeholder elected to a new office resign his first job within 30 days of his election.
Because there are roughly two months between the election of a new governor and his inauguration, that would give Wilder the power to replace a Gov.-elect Warner. The state constitution allows the governor to fill a vacancy in the Senate with an interim appointment.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY POLITICS