THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 30, 1995 TAG: 9506300014
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Why, after the General Assembly leadership implored him to call a special session to resolve the critical and difficult issue of the Lake Gaston pipeline, did the governor refuse to do so?
Why, after we honored his extraordinary request to limit the special session to the Lake Gaston pipeline, did the governor continue to refuse?
And why, after House and Senate special committees worked literally night and day for weeks to bring all parties to agreement in time to meet the 60-day deadline, did the governor refuse to call a special session in time to meet that deadline?
Why did the governor continue to refuse to call a special session after House Speaker Thomas W. Moss Jr. and other General Assembly leaders, myself included, spoke with him at least a half-dozen times to assure him that we would take up only the pipeline issue. We also assured the governor that we, as individual legislators, support the pipeline.
As the governor - a former House member - knows, the Constitution requires that all bills be presented on one day, amended the second day and voted on the third day in order to guarantee that the public's business is done freely and openly, with ample opportunity for citizens to express their opinions and for legislators to discuss and debate the issues.
Why then did the governor refuse to acknowledge the fact that it takes a four-fifths vote of both houses - 80 votes in the House and 32 in the Senate - to waive the constitutional requirement and bring the pipeline agreement to a vote in only two days? Or that with feelings running high on both sides of the issue and both sides of the aisle, there is serious doubt whether it would have been possible to get the votes?
The Lake Gaston pipeline has been a bone of contention for almost 13 years. Finally, we reached a compromise that could go before the General Assembly. We bent over backward to accommodate the governor's concerns. The one thing we could not do is agree to set up a process that would completely block any public access or comment.
The governor says he supports the pipeline, but it is hard not to conclude that he was unwilling to take the political heat from rural opponents or to back the deal when he didn't have the votes in the General Assembly anyway. And it appears that North Carolina had begun to back away from the settlement as well.
Now, despite the efforts of all parties to cooperate, the governor has flatly refused to call a special session. Every time we reach an accommodation, the governor backs off at the final moment and hurls accusation and invective at us. All we can do is tell him again - as we have repeatedly, in public and in private - that we stand ready to grapple with the difficult issue of the Lake Gaston pipeline. The rest is up to him.
HUNTER B. ANDREWS
Hampton, June 29, 1995
Editor's note: Senator Andrews, D-Hampton, is the majority leader of the Virginia Senate. by CNB