Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 20, 1994 TAG: 9409200073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Alerted by reports that the Democratic majority planned to stall the session for a week so they could hold public hearings about the issue, Republicans sought an amendment early in the day to continue the session. But the amendment was defeated, with Republicans voting in favor of it and Democrats voting against it.
`What we're about to embark on needs reasonable, rational, examination in the context of how we're going to pay for whatever we do,` said House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell (D-Roanoke). `I don't think we should strap ourselves to any particular time frame.`
But Republicans maintained that any kind of recess would constitute a transparent stalling tactic by the Democrats, who want to rob Allen's initiative of its momentum.
`To think that we can go home after a day or two and then come back like a herd of amoebas and then go home again...I find that (idea) repugnant,` said Raymond R. Guest, Jr. (R-Front Royal).
Democrats will likely seek a week-long recess when the General Assembly reconvenes today. On Monday, they took every opportunity to criticize Allen's Proposal X, charging that it ignores crime prevention and would bankrupt the future of the Commonwealth.
Allen, who campaigned on a platform to end parole, and has staked his governership on the issue, planned to address the joint assembly at 1 p.m. But he was held up for two hours while legislators bickered over the recess.
`You are here in this session to make a choice,` Allen told the assembly. `Compassion for criminals versus compassion for victims and law-abiding citizens.`
Allen threatened to veto a Democratic alternative plan under which inmates would serve minimum sentences without parole, or a plan promoted by Lt. Gov. Don Beyer to abolish parole retroactively.
`Do not send me a bill that fails to abolish parole...Do not send me a bill loaded down with pork-barrel spending...do not delay,` he said.
Allen's speech was interrupted nine times by applause from legislators, most of whom wore ABOLISH PAROLE NOW! stickers on their lapels. A few conceded that Proposal X will probably pass untouched.
Monday's much-heralded session began with a `kick off` sponsored by Allen and Attorney General James S. Gilmore. For more than an hour, a largely white crowd of about 200 people - some holding photographs of crime victims, others brandishing Allen-issued posters demanding legislators to `Abolish Parole Now` - sang `The Star-Spangled Banner` and applauded crime victims who told of their experience s.
The crowd gathered on both sides of roped-off corridor leading to the General Assembly Office Building. The passage - the quickest route from the office building to the capital - became a gauntlet of Allen supporters through which legislators had to pass on their way to the session. Several Democrats said they avoided the gauntlet by sneaking though a side door.
Across the street, about 50 members of an inmate advocacy group opposing the plan held signs too small to read. `GOVERNOR, GIVE THE CHILDREN HOPE,` said one. At an earlier rally held by Citizens United For the Rehabiliation of Errants (CURE), the president of the Richmond branch of the NAACP, Rev. Michael Williams, announced his intention to fast until the special session ends.
`I'm offering myself as a sacrifice,` he said.
Under Proposal X, parole will be abolished for all those caught commiting offenses after Jan. 1, 1995. All inmates would serve at least 85 percent of their sentences, with violent and repeat offenders facing up to seven times longer behind bars.
by CNB