ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 3, 1997 TAG: 9702030087
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
Running on pure adrenaline, Dick Cranwell shuttles from room to room on the sixth floor of the General Assembly office building.
He's got the captains of industry huddling in his office. The union bosses holed up around the corner. And the insurance company representatives cooling their heels across the hall.
"Now I know why the Israelis and the Arabs have so much trouble getting together," Cranwell quips, his voice oozing the coalfield drawl of his childhood.
On Sunday, Cranwell again demonstrated that he is the General Assembly's dealmeister extraordinaire. In dizzying negotiations conducted on three-hours' sleep, Cranwell settled three issues that for years had festered without resolution.
If the deal holds, Gov. George Allen would be able to take credit for reducing unemployment taxes. Labor unions would achieve their long-held goal of raising benefits for laid-off workers. And state courts would get new rules for deciding when workers deserve to be compensated for job-related hearing loss and repetitive injuries.
"Dickie Cranwell is a miracle worker," said a labor lawyer who participated in the negotiations.
Cranwell has the seniority, the smarts, the clout and the audacity to make his sixth-floor suite crucial to just about every piece of major legislation that comes through the Assembly.
This is the time in the annual General Assembly session when Cranwell thrives. With his colleagues weary from trying to meet a Tuesday deadline for action on hundreds of bills, Cranwell has shifted into overdrive.
He labored at the House Courts of Justice Committee until nearly 4 a.m. Sunday.
He was then back in his office before 8 a.m., wide-eyed and revved up to make peace between the warring factions of business, labor and trial attorneys.
Cranwell had brought all the parties to him by introducing a bill that combined two unrelated items - Allen's call for an unemployment tax break for businesses and workers' desire for compensation for the cumulative trauma of repetitive motions, such as pain and weakness suffered by some keyboard operators.
His gambit was to persuade Allen to accept a compromise on repetitive trauma in exchange for a tax break.
Sunday morning, Cranwell isolated the factions in different rooms, shuttling back and forth and pressing each side to give.
Allen officials - backed by industry groups - refused to budge unless Cranwell agreed to decouple the unemployment tax from the repetitive injury guidelines.
Cranwell eventually relented, losing a considerable amount of leverage. But he pressed forward, hoping to salvage an agreement.
Shortly before noon, he was ready to bring everyone together in his office. "Let's get a deal," he exclaimed.
Under the deal, employers would save about $175 million in unemployment tax premiums over the next five years. That is less than the $199 million savings Allen sought, but the Republican governor accepted the compromise.
"These adjustments will provide real relief to Virginia businesses," Allen said in statement.
In turn, labor unions secured a modest increase in unemployment benefits that are among the lowest and least accessible in the United States.
"Our standing in the nation is pathetic," said Danny LeBlanc, state AFL-CIO president. "This bill goes a little toward correcting that."
The most fragile part of the agreement would allow employees suffering from hearing loss and repetitive trauma to file worker's compensation claims, provided they could prove with "clear and convincing" evidence that the condition is work-related.
Allen refused to endorse the repetitive trauma compromise, leaving open the threat of a veto.
Cranwell refused to gloat over the deal. He was plotting the next step in the legislative chess game that won't end until Feb. 22.
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart: How they voted. KEYWORDS: MGR GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997by CNB