Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 13, 1994 TAG: 9403130075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG SCHNEIDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
Allen's top staff spent much of the day in a small committee room shepherding the Disney legislation while other key issues took care of themselves. It was a fitting way to end a session in which Allen managed to score on most of his campaign priorities without taking a personal role in virtually anything but Disney.
Allen was allowed that luxury, many legislators agreed, because his landslide win in November set the agenda that everyone had to follow: get tough on crime, create jobs and push conservative values.
"I sensed that the mood of the General Assembly after his election was very much in sync with him and the priorities he had," said Sen. Mark Earley, R-Chesapeake. "I see very little of substance where he's failed to get what he wanted."
Allen-tinged topics that saw success this year include:
Setting aside $30 million toward a settlement with federal retirees who paid more than $700 million in illegally collected state taxes during the 1980s.
Forcing public colleges and universities to hold tuition increases to 3 percent or less.
Lowering the amount of alcohol in the blood that makes a driver legally drunk from 0.10 percent to 0.08 percent.
Imposing a mandatory life sentence without parole on anyone convicted of a third violent felony.
Forming a commission to overhaul the welfare system.
Requiring girls younger than 17 to notify their parents before obtaining an abortion.
All that, despite the fact that even a teammate such as Earley admits "The majority of [Allen's] personal time has been spent on the Disney project."
Democrats, who control both houses of the legislature and who were working on welfare reform and anti-drunken-driving bills long before Allen was elected, view his solitary focus with frustration and disdain.
"He's been invisible," said Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum, D-Roanoke. "And some things he's done have shown a certain distressing immaturity."
Allen incensed delegates in the majority party Thursday with a letter chastising them for not supporting a pair of crime bills. One raised the penalty for using a gun in a crime, the other imposed tougher sentences on repeat violent offenders.
The governor warned the Democrats that using "parliamentary ruses" to defeat the bills "will tell Virginians that their elected leaders still don't get it."
"That's certainly a political threat," said Del. Kenneth Melvin, D-Portsmouth. "This is the first time I've heard from him, other than Disney."
The letter only made Democrats all the more inclined to kill the bills, which they promptly did. It was another example of the political butterfingers Allen displayed at times during the session.
When his staff discovered an extra $72 million in tax revenue in the state budget, Allen announced the find without first laying out something to spend it on. That let Democrats have first crack at the money.
"I don't think he's made any dramatic faux pas, but I think everybody agrees his administration was not ready for the convening of the legislature," Melvin said.
Even other Republicans, most notably Senate Minority Leader Joseph Benedetti of Richmond, have criticized the youthfulness and inexperience of many of Allen's staffers.
"There were problems in the beginning," Benedetti said. "They had difficulty covering committee meetings, finding people with the right expertise" to answer the questions of lawmakers.
"But I think they've worked very hard at getting up to speed."
Where they worked the hardest, of course, was in negotiating a package of incentives to bring the Disney's America theme park to Northern Virginia.
Some would say the governor worked too hard on Disney.
"I felt the administration, in all due respect, wanted this deal so badly that perhaps negotiations were not done as well as they might have been," said House Speaker Thomas Moss, D-Norfolk.
Allen's rival for the Republican nomination for governor, Del. Clinton Miller of Woodstock, was even harsher: "When you deal in a political environment with that kind of fawning and acquiescence, you're putting yourself at a tremendous disadvantage."
But both Miller and Moss ended up voting for the Disney deal, and Allen came out of his first session seeing nothing but mouse ears and dollar signs.
"I'm very happy. The whole session's been so successful," Allen said in a news conference as the Assembly was adjourning around 9 p.m. The main topic he wanted to talk about was Disney.
The theme park "clearly was the most important issue," Allen said, and the legislators' approval of the incentive package "is one of the most important things they may do during their entire service in the General Assembly."
Until September, anyway, when Allen calls the legislature to a special session to consider abolishing parole. But that's down the road; on this night, the first Republican governor in 12 years was feeling generous.
"They all can take credit" for what's been done, Allen said. "Everyone can take credit. Everyone who voted on every single one of those ideas can take credit. . . . I'm glad they all came on board."
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994
by CNB