THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 12, 1995 TAG: 9501120412
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 144 lines
Time was when the Virginia General Assembly was a genteel debating society in which Democrats looked suspiciously like Republicans and, for some, the hardest choice was deciding which reception to attend at night.
Times have changed.
The philosophical direction and political control of a state are on the line this year, and already the 1995 Assembly session appears unlike any other.
Welcome to Day 1.
9:30 a.m.
Linda Byrd-Harden, executive director of the Virginia NAACP, is digressing from a press conference on banks to launch an angry tirade against the policies of Gov. George F. Allen.
Allen's plans to cut $403 million from the budget and to overhaul welfare are ``demonizing the poor,'' she charges.
Byrd-Harden admits that she doesn't know where Allen stands on the specific legislation she's addressing.
But she's convinced that Allen's philosophical bent makes him an opponent. ``Look at his pattern. . . We can safely say he is going to go with anything that promotes big business and penalizes the poor.''
Democrats, she adds, aren't much better. ``The Democratic leadership is running scared. They want to be closet Republicans and they're ready to come out of the closet.''
10:30 a.m.
Betty Hansel, a Kempsville homemaker and Family Foundation member, is getting her orientation tour of the Capitol grounds.
Hansel and 10 or so like-minded souls are being shown where to pick up copies of bills, where to leave press releases, where to find committee meetings.
An ardent Allen backer, Hansel has two immediate goals - defeating riverboat gambling and seeing that parents are notified when their teenagers get abortions. But her real concern is more global: ``To see our nation become less violent. . .to see family traditions be truly established so that our children have a hope for the future.''
11:30 a.m.
On the third floor of the Capitol, Allen's staff is preparing for Wednesday night's televised State of the Commonwealth address.
Press Secretary Ken Stroupe is getting ready to head over to the mansion to help Allen practice his lines. Deputy press secretary Melissa Herring Dickie is working on technical details for the telecast.
``The message is that this is a time of reckoning for the General Assembly,'' Stroupe says.
Noting the relative calm of the office, Dickie adds, ``It's like the calm before the storm.''
That's just a figure of speech, she quickly adds, not a prediction.
12 noon
Both houses convene. There are 22 Democrats and 18 Republicans in the Senate; 52 Democrats, 47 Republicans, and one independent in the House. All face re-election this fall.
12:20 p.m.
Following tradition, a delegation of lawmakers - including the Assembly's three most powerful Democrats - heads to the third floor to formally notify Allen that the Assembly has convened.
Allen isn't there.
Describing the moment later, Democratic House Speaker Thomas W. Moss Jr. says the delegation was informed that Allen was at the mansion preparing for his speech and ``dressed in a casual manner,'' not ready to receive guests.
The group delivers its message by telephone. Moss calls the moment the day's first break with tradition.
12:38 p.m.
Debate begins in the Senate on a resolution setting timetables and procedure for the session. Usually, this is a routine matter. But this year, Democrats want to give extra power to the speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate, both Democrats. Democrats need some Republican support to pass the measure because two-thirds of the members have to approve.
Sen. Malfourd ``Bo'' Trumbo, R-Fincastle, complains. Only the governor should be able to introduce legislation late in the session, he argues.
12:50 p.m.
The Senate adjourns for 15 minutes so Republicans can caucus.
During the recess, Sen. Joseph V. Gartlan Jr., D-Alexandria, explains that Democrats may adjourn - blocking Allen's speech to the legislature - if Republicans don't agree to the change. ``It's delightful,'' chuckles Gartlan, a critic of many of Allen's proposals.
Meanwhile, two Republican senators have scurried to the third floor to confer with the governor. He's not there, but aides tell them to do what they have to do.
1:15 p.m.
After several procedural moves, Republicans vote as a bloc against the notion of giving more power to the House speaker and the Senate president pro tempore. Led by Democratic Majority Leader Hunter Andrews, Democrats move instantly to adjourn for the day. Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr. gavels the session to a close.
1:30 p.m.
``It's a serious change in the way the General Assembly has operated,'' says Sen. J. Brandon Bell II, R-Roanoke County, predicting that Senate Republicans will not back down.
Across the Capitol, House Democrats laughingly applaud an announcement that the Senate has adjourned.
``The Republicans have accomplished something a lot of Democrats quietly would have liked to accomplish: . . . keep George from speaking,'' says Del. Jay W. DeBoer, D-Petersburg.
3 p.m.
In the governor's office, Dickie begins calling television stations and newspapers to tell them that the governor will deliver his speech from his conference room.
The Allen troops know the Democratic leadership is meeting to explore ways of getting around the impasse. But in this game of political one-upsmanship, they hold a trump card.
``We had to make a decision,'' shrugs Stroupe. Television cable lines have to be in place for the telecast, and Allen couldn't wait for the Democrats to decide, he says.
Stroupe's office has already been stripped of its desk. The desk belonged to former Gov. Mills Godwin Jr. in the mid-1970s when the opening of one General Assembly session was delayed for an hour because of a bomb threat.
Allen thinks it would be a nice touch to speak from behind that desk.
4:30 p.m.
Her office is ``part and parcel of the governor's thrust to fundamentally change government, and to provide tax relief for working families,'' Becky Norton Dunlop, Allen's Cabinet secretary for natural resources, is telling the House Appropriations Committee.
What Virginians want is ``smaller, less costly, and less intrusive government,'' she argues.
``Leaner, meaner,'' suggests committee chairman Robert Ball, D-Richmond.
``Leaner, more efficient, kinder, gentler,'' counters Dunlop.
7 p.m.
Delegates are milling around the House floor. It is clear the traditional appearance by the governor is not to be.
Shortly after the hour, Allen's voice issues from the sound system and members stream downstairs to find television screens. House Majority Leader C. Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, stays behind, listening to the speech.
Afterwards, Cranwell wanders downstairs to his office and waits for reporters to seek him out. ``I think the conflict the Republicans in the Senate created today was calculated,'' he says. ``I think you're seeing a lot of fluff. They want the gravy but not the gristle.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
The sergeant-at-arms in the House of Delegates, Donald ``Spec''
Campen, holds the Mace of the House and directs a visitor during the
opening of the session at the Capitol in Richmond on Wednesday.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY STATE OF THE COMMONWEALTH SPEECH by CNB