ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 10, 1996 TAG: 9601100071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITER
Legislators trickled into Capitol Square on Tuesday, hopeful that the heavy blanket of soppy, gray muck surrounding them soon would be gone.
There was snow everywhere, too, which compounded the commotion.
The General Assembly opens its annual lawmaking session today, with signs that members are digging out from the partisan funk that has enveloped them the past year. Many senators and delegates arrived Tuesday still weary from 1995's election-year nastiness, promising at least a truce, if not outright cooperation.
"I don't think on our side there's any thought of picking fights for the sake of picking fights," said Del. M. Kirkland Cox, R-Colonial Heights.
"If the war starts, it's not going to last long," predicted Richmond Sen. Joseph Benedetti, Republican Senate leader.
There are no snow days in the General Assembly; opening on the second Wednesday of January is mandated by the constitution. Scuttlebutt abounded about the political parties trying to force votes while legislators from snowbound counties are out of town.
Flurries Tuesday complicated the matter, adding to the foot of snow already on the ground in Richmond.
But clerks of the Senate and House of Delegates said none of the lawmakers they contacted expected to arrive late because of the snow. State troopers or the Virginia Department of Transportation will be called on to chauffeur legislators to the Capitol if necessary, House Clerk Bruce Jamerson said.
But even less predictable than the weather could be the state Senate, in which the parties each hold 20 seats and are considering a first-ever sharing of legislative power. The Senate could vote to organize today, but might wait a few days to count votes and make plans final.
Continuing to confuse the issue: Democratic Sen. Virgil Goode. The Rocky Mount conservative, who has pushed for shared power while Democratic leaders scramble to keep control, missed his party's organizational meeting Tuesday. Goode's vote for organizing the Senate could make the difference. It could not be determined Tuesday whether Goode had reached Richmond from Rocky Mount.
Democrats said they hope Goode will attend when the party meets again today before the General Assembly's noon opening. "It's still not clear what he is going to do," said Sen. Stanley Walker, D-Norfolk.
In the House of Delegates, in which the partisan fireworks are typically more spectacular, legislators showed signs of mellowing. The House now has 52 Democrats, 47 Republicans and one Independent.
Take Del. Morgan Griffith, a Salem Republican starting his sophomore term. He was unopposed last fall but campaigned with vigor for the Allen agenda anyway. Tuesday, he roamed the General Assembly building, where legislators keep their offices, delivering boxes of popcorn to new members of the House, Republicans and Democrats alike. "I don't know a lot of them," he said, "so I thought this would be a good way to meet them."
There are small signs the Allen administration is likewise serious about reaching out to Democrats. Del. Robert Hull, D-Falls Church, was surprised last month when he bumped into a pair of Allen aides who said they were looking forward to working with him. Then, a few days after Christmas, Hull received a birthday card from Allen.
"That's never happened before," Hull said.
Allen spent much of the day polishing his State of the Commonwealth address, which he is scheduled to deliver to a joint session of the General Assembly at 7 tonight.
All around Capitol Square, people braced for today's opening session.
In the Capitol, Assembly pages learned the drill of passing out bills and taking food orders from legislators. The clerks tidied up the paperwork. Crews conducted a few last-minute tests of the sound systems.
In the General Assembly building, the usual sound of chatter was accompanied by screeching file drawers and pounding hammers - the giddy newcomers and hardened been-theres settling in for a 60-day haul.
On the west side, in a third-floor office overlooking a vacant lot-turned-city park, Virginia Beach rookie Ed Schrock sat ramrod straight in dark pinstripes, his tie neat and tight. A dozen or more framed photographs were tacked to one wall with meticulous precision.
"After 24 years in the Navy, I've learned that you hang them up the day you get here because they might move you out the next day," Schrock said.
On the north side, Virginia Beach veteran Ken Stolle sat in an open-collared denim shirt, surrounded by file folders and boxes. His pictures were leaning on the furniture. Stolle had chosen an office larger than his last - a right of seniority.
"The first one's always more exciting, I guess," Stolle said.
Three floors higher, there was very little office-shuffling among the handful of legislative leaders who enjoy roomy suites with some of the best views in Capitol Square. Republican leaders had hoped to snatch the plum views for themselves by winning majorities in each chamber.
House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, got a mischievous twinkle in his eye as he strolled past the office of his Republican counterpart, Vance Wilkins. "Watch this," Cranwell said.
He swung his head into Wilkins' office and boomed with mock surprise: "I thought you were supposed to move down to the speaker's office."
Staff writer David M. Poole and the Associated Press contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart: Citizens' agenda. color.by CNB