ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 12, 1995 TAG: 9512120063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITER
STATE SEN. JANE WOODS, who had threatened to leave the GOP, says she won't after all. But she didn't promise to support her party, either - which leaves the state Senate deadlock as unpredictable as ever.
The Republican Party did not lose one of its members in the state Senate on Monday.
And these days, that's a significant development in the Capitol Square saga - considering the delicate composition of the General Assembly.
State Sen. Jane Woods, a moderate Fairfax County Republican, announced at a Capitol news conference Monday that she will not bolt the GOP. Unhappy with the GOP's rightward bent, she had considered sloughing her party affiliation in favor of independent status.
Woods' non-defection was called a victory by Republicans, who are hoping to exploit the 20-seat tie the two parties face as the General Assembly prepares to convene Jan. 10.
Democrats cast the development in a less-momentous light: All it means, they said, is that nothing has changed.
One of two senators thought to be possible party turncoats, Woods was in a position to clear up some of the fuzziness about just which party will rule the state Senate next year. But despite her announcement, little seems resolved.
Significantly, Woods wouldn't promise to vote blindly with her party when the Senate votes next month to elect a floor leader, committee chairmen and other leaders
So what historically has been a formality could become a political riot.
While Democrats can count on Lt. Gov. Don Beyer to break the 20-20 tie to elect the Senate leadership, they can't get that tie without support from their conservative members - namely Sen. Virgil Goode, D-Rocky Mount. Goode told some senior senators in private last week that he will not commit to supporting the party on the organizational vote.
That means the Senate would convene next month with a 19-19 tie to elect its leadership, and two unpredictable senators, one from each side, who could go either way.
Woods said she expects the membership to reach some compromise, and Goode won't talk at all.
Goode, a 22-year veteran of the Senate, angered many Democrats last year when he opposed U.S. Sen. Charles Robb for the party's U.S. Senate nomination.
Woods said she is staying with the Republican Party despite it "being pulled in what I believe to be wrong directions." A moderate, Woods said she will work to counter the more right-leaning elements of the party.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Woods. color.by CNB