THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 10, 1995 TAG: 9502100522
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GREG SCHNEIDER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
Hands clasped over his stomach like a Bavarian burghermeister, House Speaker Thomas W. Moss Jr. chortled after every vote as Republicans fled their governor's budget proposals.
98-0.
``Whoooaa, look at that one.''
Majority Leader C. Richard Cranwell frightened a tiny, blond-haired page by barking, ``How we doin'? Give me a high-five.''
And dark-suited Jay W. DeBoer put on an undertaker's grin to snarl, ``Ooohhhhhh, we're so bad.''
Thursday was D-Day and Bastille Day and the Fourth of July all rolled into one for Democratic delegates. Less than a month ago, most were afraid to even crease the pages of Gov. George F. Allen's budget plan, but now they were dismantling it on a molecular level. Loudly.
``Oh, George, where are you now?'' said Norfolk Del. William P. Robinson Jr. to no one in particular.
Allen was in Washington, fighting the Environmental Protection Agency. But his real foes were the four Democratic Young Turks - actually, they're middle-aged - who scripted the big potboiler: Whittington W. Clement, from Danville; Glenn R. Croshaw, from Virginia Beach; Thomas M. Jackson Jr., from Hillsville; and DeBoer, from Petersburg.
Clement gets credit from his peers for being the first to see the nefarious possibilities in a floor vote on the governor's budget. He, Jackson and Croshaw - who are among the Next Wave of designated Democratic leaders - spent lunches and elevator rides tossing the idea around.
On Wednesday, just 24 hours before the deadline for acting on the budget, the Democratic caucus told them to see what they could come up with. They conscripted the studious DeBoer to work out the parliamentary details.
The quartet spent three or four hours in Clement's office. They settled on a basic plan - force a vote on the governor's budget cuts, minus his tax cuts - and then they ran all possible Republican responses past DeBoer. Finally, they put it to Cranwell.
The tart Roanoke County lawyer says he praised the four for doing excellent work. According to Croshaw, the words were more like ``damn good idea.''
According to DeBoer, ``this big grin came across his face, and he said, `I like it.' ''
It's all part of Democratic legend, now. This Thursday has replaced last Thursday - when House and Senate money committees nixed Allen's proposed tax cuts - in the pantheon of naked partisan aggression.
The rout left Republicans in a momentary frenzy, as pale-faced delegates shouted ``Yellow! Yellow!'' like watchmen on a sinking submarine. They were exhorting their colleagues to push the yellow ``abstain'' button as the roll call sped by.
Minority Leader S. Vance Wilkins Jr. stammered a motion for a 16-minute recess to hold an outside meeting with his party, then lost his way walking across the Capitol. Twice.
Robert Nelms, a Republican from Suffolk, all but apologized when he stood to question one of the Democratic amendments that stripped out an Allen spending cut.
``I was taught a long time ago, when you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you should do is stop digging,'' Nelms said. ``So maybe I should sit down now and stop digging.'' He voted with the Democrats.
Four and a half hours later, though, as the session ended, Republican grimaces had become steely. The GOP needs only three seats for a first-ever majority in the House. After Thursday, this November's elections could be especially sweet.
``They've got the power to do this now,'' seethed Republican H. Morgan Griffith of Salem, ``but we'll have the power to do it after '95. They're teaching their future masters well.''
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