THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 7, 1995 TAG: 9504070520
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE AND ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
General Assembly Republicans finally got what they wanted Thursday: a vote putting most Democratic lawmakers on record opposing Gov. George F. Allen's plan to distribute lottery profits to local governments.
The House of Delegates voted 57-42 - largely along party lines - to reject the lottery plan. Two Hampton Roads lawmakers then tried to revive it in the Senate, failing 22-16 - again with a mostly partisan vote.
In other action, Allen said he would sign a bill making it easier for Virginians to obtain concealed-weapons permits, even though the House retained a prohibition on firearms in places that sell alcoholic beverages.
But Allen said he would veto a bill prompted by federal legislation that would allow citizens to register to vote by mail.
The debate over giving lottery profits to localities dominated the second day of what is usually a one-day special session. Because a House committee had killed the lottery proposal, its fate was sealed and the debate was strictly an exercise in election-year politics - the factor that lengthened the session.
GOP lawmakers pressed the issue in hopes that Democratic resistance will become a key issue in Assembly elections this fall, helping Republicans capture their first-ever majorities in the legislature.
Scott Leake, executive director of the Joint Republican Caucus, said the notion of returning lottery profits to localities is the kind of issue that makes focus groups sit up and take notice.
``It's what we call a `damn right' issue,'' Leake explained. ``If you were to ask people if they think lottery profits should be returned to localities, they would reply, `Damn right.' ''
Democratic lawmakers sought to minimize that reaction by framing the lottery issue as a question of fiscal responsibility - calling it irresponsible for Allen to recommend giving away lottery profits while proposing new state debt to build prisons.
House Majority Leader C. Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, accused Allen of trying to ``mortgage the future of our children to the hilt so we can play some political gamesmanship.''
Even Senate Majority Leader Hunter B. Andrews, D-Hampton, who prides his reputation as a gentlemanly statesman, could not resist the chance to decry publicly what he called Allen's ``ill-conceived re-run'' plan.
``It looks like this administration stumbles from half-baked thought to half-baked thought, desperately hoping that something will stick,'' Andrews said. ``Today, we have this week's top priority.''
A Democrat-initiated alternative adopted some of Allen's $15 million in proposed cuts and used the money to pay for an $11 million juvenile correctional facility in Chesterfield County. Allen had proposed selling bonds to build the prison.
Most Republicans wound up endorsing the Democrats' plan, which passed the House 91-7.
In the Senate, Republicans Mark L. Earley of Chesapeake and Kenneth W. Stolle of Virginia Beach tried again to attach the lottery plan to the budget, but failed after a rancorous debate.
Republicans again claimed title to the public will: ``This is clearly the desire of the people - that we act responsibly,'' Earley said.
And the Democrats called it political charades: ``None of us will be shamed into believing that we don't help localities,'' said Sen. R. Edward Houck, D-Spotsylvania.
The lottery proceeds are fertile ground for creative political interpretation, because there has been no guarantee of what happens to the $300 million that lottery games raise each year.
When the lottery began in September 1988, the Assembly dedicated the profits to constructing buildings at colleges, state parks and mental health institutions. The pavilion at Smith Mountain Lake State Park, for instance, was built with lottery money.
But the lottery-fueled construction projects dried up when a national recession created a shortfall in the state budget. To avoid raising taxes, the Assembly shifted the lottery profits to the general fund, mingling them with other revenue sources that pay for a wide array of state programs.
Little wonder, state lawmakers say, that they are so often hit with the question: Where did the lottery money go?
Earlier this year, the Democrat-controlled Assembly tried to answer that question by dedicating all lottery profits to public education.
Republicans, however, called the move a ``shell game'' because it did not increase money for education; the lottery money simply displaced other money in the general fund.
Allen, a Republican, proposed a five-year plan in which the state would give up the lottery profits and return them to local governments, which could use the money for education, law enforcement or tax relief.
Del. J. Randy Forbes, R-Chesapeake, argued Thursday that the Allen plan would result in real increases in state support for education.
Republicans in both chambers noted that the idea of giving lottery proceeds to localities was so popular that 22 of 40 senators and 93 of 100 delegates have sponsored bills in recent years that would accomplish just that.
But Cranwell insisted that Allen's plan would cut so deeply into state revenue that the governor would be forced to abandon the state's commitment to helping rural and inner-city schools keep pace with their affluent suburban neighbors.
After the vote in the House, lawmakers hurried to the back of the chamber for photocopies of the recorded vote, stockpiling them for election time.
In the Senate, word spread before the debate began that approving the lottery plan would mean reconvening for a third day. Few Democrats stayed in their seats to listen.
There was only one reason, Houck said, for the tenacious debate: ``This is a sound bite for November.''
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY LOTTERY VETO SESSION by CNB