THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 20, 1994 TAG: 9412200336
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY WARREN FISKE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
When Hunter Andrews feels offended, somebody usually pays a big price.
That somebody may be Gov. George F. Allen, who outraged the imperious chairman of the Senate Finance Committee by failing to consult with him before releasing his state budget proposals.
On Monday, Allen publicly unveiled his budget plans to the General Assembly's money committees. The moment the governor exited, Andrews established a venomous tone that marked the remaining four-hour hearing. Andrews, a Hampton Democrat and arguably the most powerful lawmaker in Virginia when it comes to state spending, said he requested a meeting with Allen in late October to discuss the budget. In the past, when Andrews requested such meetings, governors were eager to comply. But Allen, the first Republican chief executive in 12 years, reacted differently.
``I was told that I could not get a meeting with the governor before Nov. 30,'' Andrews said in a Tidewater accent so aristocratic that it would sound at home in the House of Lords.
A few weeks after making the request, Andrews received a form letter from the governor's office requesting an official reason for the meeting and inquiring about any documentation that Andrews planned to present.
Andrews refused to respond.
Andrews did get in to see the governor on Dec. 7 and requested advance information on the budget proposals. The senator was spurned, and said he was told that Democratic governors never extended the same courtesy to Republican lawmakers.
Adding to the insult, the sartorially conscious Andrews said he had to brush his suit after sitting in a chair ``made of animal hair'' in Allen's office.
Although Allen briefed key Republican leaders on his budget plan Sunday morning, Andrews complained that neither he nor any Democrat was invited. The governor called Andrews and offered to send an aide to Hampton on Sunday afternoon to brief the senator. Andrews brusquely declined.
In a short speech Monday, Andrews complained that Allen was trying to shut out Democrats from the budget process. ``I believe in bipartisanship,'' he said. ``If the future is going to be partisan, everyone should be aware of it.'' There was a touch of irony to his complaint. For years, Republicans have accused Andrews of locking them out of budget deliberations.
When he finally heard Allen's plan to cut taxes and borrow money for prison construction, Andrews denounced it as ``exactly the kind of no-fingerprints budgeting that made Washington famous - or more precisely, infamous. It's the kind of budgeting that gave us a $4 trillion national debt.
``I do not intend to be a party to it in Virginia.'' ILLUSTRATION: State Sen. Hunter Andrews, D-Hampton, is chairman of the Senate
Finance Committee.
KEYWORDS: GOVERNOR ALLEN BUDGET HUNTER ANDREWS by CNB